The New and Improved "Big House"!

Been a while since I've been to the Big House and when my Buddy Mike called letting me know he had an extra ticket, I was all over it!

Turns out today's game was the official "Re-dedication Game" as they've just spent 200 million dollars renovating the stadium. I'm also proud to say I was part of the largest crowd ever to watch a college football game, over 113,000 people showed up! The best part is we won in convincing fashion over a top 25 team, Go Blue!

Hoping Meechigan football is back!! So far, so good...







So far, it's been a fun weekend. Yesterday had a chance to check out a giant festival right in neighboring Royal Oak called Arts Beats and Eats. They have several different stages set up with all types of genres of music playing, great food from local restaurants and of course arts and crafts from Michigan's finest. It's a great way to wind down the summer and hope to get back and check it out tomorrow.

Hoping to continue to ride this wave of good health and more uplifted spirits!

Hope everyone is having a nice weekend :)

Xavier Rudd

Went to see this guy in concert last night and it was awesome! The other two guys he plays with were incredibly talented (percussionist and bassist). He plays a diggery doo and I think I want one now! Kinda makes me want to visit Australia.

Good Times :D

The Report Is In!

And... It's confirmed!! Nothing new and the existing lesions are reduced. The hottest area is my paraspinal tissue next to my T-11 vertebrae and probably the source of the pain in my back.

So, I'm going to be wolfing down my pills every night with vigor hoping that this continues.

Let's keep on rolling :D

Reduction!?

Well, according to my team, pleasantly suprising, I have total disease reduction! The question mark in the title means I still have not seen the actual report and until I do, Im going to refrain from getting too excited. I'm not trying to play Debbie Downer here, it's just that I want to make sure I have all the information. The last couple of times I've been scanned, they never told me about the new activity in my neck. The trial coordinator Sean verbally mentioned to me that the nodes that were lighting up previously had gotten slightly smaller and are showing uptake in the 3's instead of 7.

So, the unofficial word is I have a total disease reduction (the total mass of my tumors) of 32% since I started the trial in April! If the actual report comes back and there aren't any other hot spots that weren't mentioned in the discussion this is pretty encouraging news! Dr. O'Connor mentioned that I'm a hair (actually a couple of milimeters) away from partial remission, wow... I have't heard the word remission in a long time... So you know, a partial remission means my total disease (I have 4 spots that are considered large enough to be considered disease) would have reduced by 50%. So, perhaps by the next scan I can get there...

Anyway, again, don't want to get overly excited but it's nice to hear some decent news for a change.

Accordingly, I went out and tore it up with some friends last night in the West Village. Went to this awesome authentic Italian restaurant called Gaetana's where I ate probably the best shrimp scampi I've ever had... After that, went to this really cool place called Casa La Femme. It was crazy, they actually bring in fresh sod every week to put down on the floor. So, even though you're inside, you feel like your outside ;)

So, time to wrap this up. Need to get ready for a long day of traveling as I need to go catch the airport bus and have to deal with a connecting flight in Myrtle Beach. I'll be getting home late tonight.

It'll be much nicer though now that I can exhale (hopefully) a little bit.

Cheers!

Chris

Waiting...

Just had my scan and went for a Carl's cheesesteak after to feast after fasting. I'm back at NYU now waiting for the results. I thought I saw a glowing spot on my neck when I peered through the window of the radiology room. My expectations are low. I guess I'll find out here within the hour.

Maybe its coincidence or and omen but the room they put me in at the Hope Lodge yesterday is the same exact room they gave me the first time I was here. Will this be the end of my New York adventure?

Stay tuned....

Time is flying

I just realized (from a nice message from a friend) that it's been over a week since I posted. I guess you could say I've been busy...

Don't have anything interesting to report except life is good and I'm feeling relatively well. My scan is this week and the scanxiety hasn't quite kicked in yet thank God.

I leave Wednesday for New York and have my PET/CT scan this Thursday morning with a consult with Dr. O'Connor after. I don't expect good news but remaining optimistic. The whole neck thing and my armpit situation just doesn't seem right. I am, however, feeling pretty good these days physically so maybe there's something to be said about that. This probably has to do with this being my off week from the pills but who knows...

I think I need to bust my camera out again and take some pictures! I realized how much fun I have with that by going through some of my older entries earlier this afternoon. Hard to believe I've been doing this blog for as long as I have. It's interesting to go back and read and remember what my mindset was like for that period of time. I'm so glad I started this blog and have to say I'm really proud of it. Can't tell you how many nice messages and e-mails I've gotten from people all over the world. It really keeps me going knowing people are actually following my story and really rooting for me! I feel really blessed :)

So, unless anything interesting happens between now and New York, I'll update. If not, I'll share the results of my scan Thursday or Friday and subsequent plans.

Good Night,

Chris

Cricket Symphony

Just sitting out here on my deck with Chili enjoying a beautiful Michigan summer night. The crickets are insane out here! They really don't have them like this out West or even Florida it seems... There's also plenty of firefly's out here too and was laughing earlier as Chili chased after a couple.

I'll be enjoying my deck a little more now that I was able to snag a nice old gas grill from my neighbor who lives a few houses down... She was having a garage sale and sold it to me for 10 bucks, what a steal! The thing works great and even has the original tank which still has gas in it! Can't wait to do some grilling...

Last night was fun as I had a chance to go see Kid Rock at DTE (Pine Knob). I'm not really a huge fan but have to say he puts on a great show. People here in Michigan love the guy and I have a lot of respect for him for the love he gives his home town. The people watching was great! Kid Rock appeals to such a wide audience...

Looking forward to having a better week this week as prior to last night, it was a struggle pretty much all week. I think I'm in a better place now after getting myself back together from the threat of disease progression and some personal setbacks. Life can be such a roller coaster, jeez...

Thanks again for the support in reading this and to those of you who are kind enough to leave nice comments. I really appreciate it :)