, fish turning belly-up in the rivers, insane shootings (I'm thinking of Tucson, where a 22-year old -- TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD -- shot 19 people! Isn't he supposed to be out having fun?) and who-knows-what-else around the corner!Sorry, just a little black humor to get us going. I really AM hopeful for this year -- hopeful that it will be a year full of good work, good health and good fun!
(In photo, at left: Moi and Dylan on his 20th birthday, Dec. 26!)
Also in this new year I saw a front-page story in the newspaper about this new blood test that detects cancer cells better than any test we had been using -- it'll find one cancer cell among a billion healthy ones! Awesome. It's being tested now at the "big four" cancer centers in the U.S. -- Sloan-Kettering, M.D. Anderson, Mass General and Dana-Farber. I told my oncologist that if she gets her hands on it and she wants to try it out on somebody, just remember who her FAVORITE PATIENT is! (That would be me. Ha!)
Speaking of Dr. W-G, that's one thing she told me following my treatment. That the CEA blood test that's now used to monitor cancer patients (like me) won't detect cancer cells unless there are a significant number of them. It's useful, of course, but it ain't anywhere NEAR what this new test can do! And Johnson & Johnson, the drug manufacturer, is all ready to take this new test to market, as soon as the current studies are complete. (Using money from the "Stand Up to Cancer" campaign, BTW.) Awesome. Happy new year.
Anyway, I saw Dr. W-G last week and all is well. I'll call for the blood-test results manana. And I've got yet ANOTHER colonoscopy scheduled for Jan. 20 (I had one LAST January, too, and a year before that, as well!). I asked Dr. W-G how long I will have to have these annual colonoscopies and she said, "Until they don't find anything." OK, so they found one tiny polyp last year. Sigh. We'll see what happens this time.
So, happy new year to you! And don't worry -- 2011 will be totally awesome!
Until next time ...
P
