Letter to Kyle: Months Two and Three

Dear Kyle:

So first off, I need to apologize for not getting a "Month Two" letter done. I'd like to claim it was because I was at the tail-end of radiation and chemo and that I felt worse than I've ever felt in my life (with the possible exception of the amazing three day hangover I once had), but the sad reality is that I'm a slack puke. 'sorry.

In mid-May, you, Grandpa Fred, Grandma Issie, and Mommy all went to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. This was your first ever visit to the Magic Kingdom and you had a great time. You even tried to pick-up a princess.

Kyle and Snow White.

Also in mid-May, you and Mommy took pity on my poor chemo-ravaged feet and gave me a pair bunny slippers. But not you any bunny slippers, you got me Monty Python and the Holy Gail killer bunny slippers which are very cool. Thank-you.

"Cruel shoes"

We also got a new addition to our family in May - Hoppy the Cuban Tree Frog. Grandpa Fred rescued Hoppy from the neighbor's house and let him go in the bushes in front of our house. By strange coincidence, you were studying frogs at school that week, so Mommy got Grandpa to re-capture Hoppy. She put the frog in a box and then ran out to buy a frog cage. By the time you got home from school, Hoppy was in his new cage happily eating crickets. You named him "Hoppy" and said that we needed to keep him.

The next day, you took Hoppy to school with you. He was such a huge hit that your teacher asked to to bring Hoppy back to school the next day. Now Hoppy lives in the kitchen and we buy him a bag or box of fresh crickets a couple times a week. He seems to like it with us: he's gotten noticeably bigger and he "sings" to us at night and in the early morning.

Early in June, your school buddy Jesiah hooked you up with a red shark "tattoo" just like Armando did the week before. This time however, I was smart enough to get a picture of it:

Kyle's tat

One of my old Georgia Tech buddies, Mark, dropped by in late June. You were a bit bummed that he didn't bring his three lovely daughters with him, but you were happy to have somebody new to "entertain".

In general, life seems to be going well for you. You still like school, you are still excited by all things dinosaur, and you are starting to eat (and like) new things.

This next month is gonna be rough because I go in for surgery in the middle of July, but Evil Uncle Nomo, Aunt Kerry, Grandpa Fred, and Grandma Issie are all coming down to help out while I recover. I think you will have a lot of fun even if I'm not in the best of shape.

Love,
Daddy

Eviction notice

To: Frank the tumor
From: Doug (the landlord)
Re: Eviction from premises (the colon)

You are here-by ordered to leave Doug's colon on or before 17 July 2008. If you have not vacated your abode by that date, you will be forcibly removed by Dr. M (the rectal/colon surgeon) on said date.

Gone baby, gone!

Way back in April, I had and MRI done and the doctors found a "suspicious" spot on my liver. Well, on 2 June 2008 I had a follow-up MRI to see how the spot reacted to the chemotherapy. If it got smaller, it was most likely cancerous and would have to be remove along with Frank.

Today I saw my oncologist, Dr. G, and he said the spot was ...

<insert drum roll>

gone! That's right, it's not even there any more.

This means either:

A. the spot was wiped-out by the low-dose chemo (very unlikely)
B. the spot was a "false positive" and wasn't really cancerous (more likely)

So that means the my surgeon, Dr. M, will not be slicing a bit off the top of my liver when he goes in to evict Frank. However, Dr. G will ask him to take a look at the top lobe of my liver and maybe "palpitate" the spot. Sounds fun, but it beats losing a chunk of my liver.

Feeling good

So my friend Jimmy complained to me today at lunch that I haven't posted anything for a few weeks. Well, there's a good reason - I'm feeling pretty damn good.

That last week of radiation and the week that followed were bad, very bad. But since then I've been improving a lot. I have energy, I can sleep through the night, the sores on my arms have healed, my hands and feet don't hurt, I have and appetite, and the food that I eat stays down and is fully digested.

This is the best I've felt in months and I've just been enjoying it (while it lasts).