Vince's Journey

Was a very big day in my lymphoma 'journey'. After an inconclusive CT scan it was decided that I have a PET scan to determine if the chemotherapy treatments were working. This was following my 4th treatment and CT scans determined that some of my lymph nodes did not appear to be shrinking as well as others. Dr. Leming said it could be the result of scaring around the nodes but the only way to know would be to do a PET scan. So on the morning of April 17, 2006 I went to Christ Hospital for the scan followed by an appointment with Dr. Leming in the afternoon. You can only imagine the anxiety we had built up inside us. I had been going through treatments since early January and if they weren't working as expected it would be a huge set back. Unfortunately, When we met with Dr. Leming he did not have the scan results. We were pretty disappointed (and frustrated) and we let him know it. He said we were reading too much into the scans but said he would get the results ASAP and let us know. Later that afternoon he did call and his first words were "I'm looking at a very boring scan!" I asked if boring was good and he said boring is great - there are no signs of the lymphoma, you appear to be in remission!! I started to cry on the spot. It was the news we had been wanting to hear since I was diagnosed. Later that night Judd had a volleyball match at Roger Bacon High School. I was able to share the news with him and many of our friends from his team. Following the match we went to Dairy Queen and celebrated with a blizzard, something I've done every year arounf April 17 since 2006. This past Friday I went to the same DQ in St. Bernard with some colleagues from work and Mike Emming - the friend who helped establish the tradition 5 years ago - joined us. It was very nice of him (and my co-workers)to take the time to celebrate this special anniversary with me.

This weekend we went skeet shooting at Elk Creek Range and Vineyard with a group of friends. it was cold, windy and rainy but we had a great time. I had never shot a gun in my life but I was able to hit 7 skeets out of about 20 shots. Julie hit 2 out of about 15 shots. I couldn't tell you who hit the most but i can tell you there were many, many skeets that didn't break until they fell harmlessly to the ground. Following skeet shooting, we went to the Vineyard and then had a great meal back at our lodge. It was a very relaxing evening and we headed back to Cincinnati this morning.

Abbey has made her college choice - she is going to be a Dayton Flyer! We're very excited that she chose Dayton and know she'll fit in quite well up there. I think it was a tougher decision for her than I thought it would be - we visited St. Louis last week and Abbey enjoyed the visit. I don't know what the deciding factor was but I think she'll beappy h she's only 45 minutes from home once she starts her freshman year in August.

Last week a little girl in our neighborhood was diagnosed with leukemia. Since I'm riding the Lake Tahoe ride in June for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society I've decided to ride in honor of this little girl; Maya Collins. She starts chemo treatments this week so please remember her and her family in your prayers - they are about to go through a very difficult stretch.

We're looking forward to the family being together for the Easter break. Aaron and Judd will both be home Wednesday night and won't have to go back to school until next Monday. It will be great to have everyone together although I'm sure they'll be running around visiting their friends. As long as we can have one dinner together and it can seem like old times - I'll be happy.

Graduation day for Judd is May 8. If anyone knows of a company that could use an entry level graphic designer please let us know - we just might have the right man for them!

Have a great week and wishing you all a Hapy Easter!

Vince