Vince's Journey

Wow. I can't believe it's been since the Super Bowl since I last updated this blog. I think because I've gone so long between medical updates I just kind of lost interest. Plus, I wasn't exactly sure if anyone continues to read the blog - I guess I felt perhaps everyone else lost interest. But I've recently connected with an old friend who keeps his own blog and he writes on his almost everyday. I'm not sure who, if anyone, reads his but you can count on him having something to say about the episodes that make up his daily life. So I thought I should probably get back at it - if no one reads, no big deal; at least I'll know I've thrown something out there if some one does want to read.

I did have a check-up with Dr. Leming last week. It went pretty well but he did tell me that my recent CT scans indicated that I have one lymp node that has actually grown by appx. 6 millimeters; obviously not what I was hoping to hear. Dr. Leming told me not to get freaked out about it, he said its basically the nature of the disease. He said I'm fine, healthy and that we'll just keep an eye on that particular node. He said he'd see me in 6 months and sent me on my merry way. I look at this recent development like this - I knew from the start that the type of lymphoma I have is very difficult (if not impossible) to get rid of. In fact, I think a better discription than being told the lymphoma was in remission would have probably been to say it's currently dormant. I also know that Rituxin has been very effective in keeping the lymphoma at bay so if I do have a relapse I'm very confident a couple rounds of Rituxin will take care of it. So my approach is to keep on doing what I've been doing, go back in six months and see how everything looks and go from there. I can't worry about what might be, if the doctor doesn't think I need to be worried about the small change in size then I'm not going to worry about it. Look at it this way; 6 millimeters is smaller than the size of my pinky thumbnail. I weigh about 210 pounds. When I was diagnosed I had numerous affected nodes and some were as big as 7 or 8 centementers long - thats about 3 inches. Still, I wasn't having any symptoms of the disease. So why worry about the latest news? Its just someting I have to deal with.

In other developments; it looks like Aaron will soon become a Billikin! He went over and checked out St. Louis University earlier this week and really liked the campus. Julie and I are going to go over with him next week for a final look and if everything goes well, he'll make it official. He is set to have all his tution covered and they offer engineering which is what he wants to study. He currently has a severe case of senior-itis and all we want to do is get this decision behind him and make sure he gets to graduation with no problems. He basically is in cruise control mode and doesn't see any need to apply himself any further (not that Aaron ever did push himself very hard in the first place). He's also playing lacrosse for Moeller and the team is off to a shaky start - they're 1-5 with 3 of the losses coming in overtime. Hopefully they'll turn things around after the spring break.

Judd is currently on ihs way to Kansas City to play in the university club volleyball tournament. He's having a great time playing this year and next year he's been selected to be an RA at UD. Hard to believe he's almost halfway through his college years.

Abbey is doing great at MND. She's set to be a lifeguard at The Beach this summer (providing she can pass the test) and will have to get herself outside to get ready for the upcoming field hockey season.

I'll try to do updates more frequently. Here's hoping everything is great with you and your families.