Vince's Journey

I just got home from Rituxan treatment #3 so I thought I'd let you all know that it went well and I only have one more to go. My next appointment is scheduled for April 28 @ 10:20 am and after that, we'll take some scans and see how well the Rituxan has done it's job. i was at an LLS board meeting recently and was talking with Dr. Frank Smith, who heads up the pediatric oncology department at Childrens Hospital in Cincinnati. Frank is one of the smartest persons I've ever met and he has the ability to explain things to morons like me in a way that I can somewhat understand. I was telling Frank that I'm having four treatments of Rituxan and hoping that it will knock out the affected lymph nodes in my abdomen and he basically said it is an amazing drug and has changed the way my disease is treated. That made me feel pretty good. I know Rituxan has done the trick before and I'm hoping it's well on the way to doing the trick this time, as well. So, next Wednesday will be treatment #4 - I'm really looking forward to having these treatments over.

Jules and I took a donor couple from Xavier to see Mary Poppins last night. They took some liberties with the story as it compares to the movie and they added some new songs, but for the most part it was a very well done show. The best part was when Bert literally dances upside down during the 'Step in Time' number. You can see the strings that are allowing him to do this gravity defying feat, but it was still pretty darn impressive. (Nothing like Donald O'Connor in 'Singing in the Rain' but he probably got to do several takes to get it right.) The theater critic in The Enquirer didn't give the play a very good review but don't listen to her, it is well worth the time to go see Mary Poppins. (And if last night is any indication, there are plenty of great seats available!)

It was great to see Kate get the boot on Dancing With the Stars. She was absolutely horrible. Now she can go back to being an exploitive mother but I doubt that happens, either. She'll probably land a spot on another television show as producers try to cash in on her train wreck of ap personality. On Idol the viewrs also got it right as Tim Urban was sent home. My guess is Aaron and Big Mike wil be the next 2. My final four is Crystal, Siobhan, Lee and Casey. Siobhan is in big need of hitting a homerun next week; I don't know what Shania Twain song best fits her style (I'm thinking none of them!) but I'm hoping someone does 'That Don't Impress Me Much' just to hear Simon say the same thing about the performance. Really, I think they're all going to struggle with Shania Twain week - I can't picture Big Mike singing anything from her, same with Crystal - it may be a tough, tough week.

On 'Survivor', JT pulled the all time biggest bone head move in Survivor history by giving an immunity idol to the piece of shit, Russell. I will be stunned if JT doesn't earn a spot on the jury this evening as a reward for his complete and utter stupidity. The Villains are going to pivck the Heroes off one by one and I predict the final 4 or 5 will all be villains. I'm also shocked that the Villains decided to keep the Outback Steakhouse fan, Sandra, over Cortney. Cortney is the biggest loser to ever play Survivor - she is a waste, has no social skills and possesses ZERO athletic ability. No one will ever vote for her to win. Sandra is from the Army, is sneaky and spiteful and she knows how to manipulate a vote. Russell will regret not getting rid of her.

I've reached $5000 in my TNT fundraiser. That's to all who has helped. I need to do a drawing for this week's CD winner. I'll try to take care of this tonight. I'll try to post again on Sunday. Julie and I are going up to Columbus for a couple days to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We went to Cleveland to celebrate our 10th anniversary - I guess we're destined for Toledo when we hit 50 years! Talk to you all soon!!!

Vince