13th - My First Time

Thank you to Sonja and Matt Wagle for sending us the delicious cupcakes from New Jersey.  Thank you, as always, to Bridget Ruller for watching Cooper this morning while Stuart and I went to see Dr. Frenette.

Despite all my positive posts in the past, today was the first time I really felt free of cancer.  As you know, I had my "end of treatment" PET/CT Scan on Monday morning.  Dr. Frenette shared the good news with Stuart and I this morning that the scan was "clean" (no evidence of disease).

So what is the plan from here?  From a medical standpoint, I will have my port-catheter removed shortly, then have nothing to do until July.  At that point and on a quarterly basis for the next few years, I will have follow-up CT Scans.  That is noteworthy, as it marks the end of my affair with nuclear medicine.  On the personal front, I will be focused on becoming Stuart's husband again, rather than one of her children.  I mean that in all sincerity, as the cancer journey is hard on both the patient and the spouse.  Finally, I returned to work last week and I really do not feel like a missed a beat.  I have a great team and work for a great company, both of which have welcomed me back with open arms.

I will leave you with one funny story.  As I started to contemplate returning to work, I realized that I had lost so much weight that none of my clothes fit.  Sadly, the picture of me standing in my closet in my big boy suit and tie did not turn out well.  Instead, I will paint the picture using this shot of Tom Hanks' character, Josh Baskin, from the 1988 hit movie "Big".  The premise of the movie is that Josh, a 12-year old boy, wishes he was "Big" and wakes up one morning in the body of a 30-year old man.  At the end of the film, as an adult Josh starts to walk away from his tearful girlfriend (who is releasing him back to childhood) he begins to shrink and ends up looking like this...

Fret not Josh, if you are willing to spend $400 at your corner alterations store, you can have all your clothes cut down to size and you will look sharp...until you get big again!