Friday, April 18th

Good morning all.

I'll start with.. .Happy 22nd Birthday Erin!!

Well, treatment #4 is underway. I was feeling kind of crumby last night but I’ll attribute that mostly to a restless night of sleep on Wednesday. I slept a bit later this morning and I’m feeling much better today. I hope to get out for a mid-day stroll in this gorgeous spring weather we’re having today so that I can take in some fresh air.

As promised, I did get a hardcopy of the recent CT scan results so here are some of the hard numbers that were included. Lymph nodes decreased from 3.0cm to 2.4cm and lesions on the liver decreased from 1.3cm to 1.0cm as well as another that decreased from 2.8cm to 2.1cm. Nodules that had appeared in the lungs are multiple and small, remain unchanged, and Dr. Richards put in the category of “schmutz” that he is not concerned about because he’s not convinced that they are cancerous. Some are in the 4mm-5mm range and would have shown up on the PET scan if they were of concern. Of course these will be watched in follow-up scans. Dr. Richards cautioned that some people might look at these numbers and feel as though these don’t reflect a significant change. He said that he is “very encouraged” by these improvements and that they are indeed significant after only 3 treatments. Amy and I ensured him that we are thrilled with the results. He said that we’d reassess everything, including the treatment regimen, after another CT scan in early June after treatment #6.

Here’s a follow-up on my 15-minutes of fame via the LiveSTRONG Challenge newsletter from earlier this week. For those of you that don’t receive it directly you can view it here. We’re on the left side of the document and don’t forget to click through on the “read more” link at the bottom so that you can read the entire story. It does get harder and harder for me to read all this mushy stuff about me. Suffice it to say that I’m thrilled about what the Mintz’s Mentschen stands for and what we’re accomplishing already in these early stages of our training and fundraising. As I’ve told other TEAM members, the best part for me is my knowing that our TEAM will not be a one cycling season flash in the pan. I know that we’ll stay together for other cycling enjoyment for exercise, incredible camaraderie and friendships, as well as for other charity efforts.

To be continued.