Mike's triumphant return; ta da! (fanfare)

I'm back! The funny problem I had for about a month was caused by the treatments I've been receiving along with chemotherapy. It's a variant on what they call "Chemo burn" and can cause your skin to break out almost anywhere; which is why I was lucky. I only got infected in my hands. Of course that caused me to miss several pickup basketball games with Barak Obama, but he's old news anyway.

I am gratefull to Jody for keeping everyone up to date and keeping the communications open.

On Monday, Nov. 17 I saw the Oncologist, Dr. Schultz, along with the team (Carolyn, who comes for the moka coffee, Jody, who is my doctor's star visitor and Michelle who is the adult in the team).

Dr. reviewed the results of last Thursday's CtScan and said my condition is "stable", which, I guess, means that the treatment is holding the cancer at bay. For now, I can stop taking chemo and rely on the oral treatment that I take every day to prevent the cancer from becoming active again. Meanwhile, they will take chest xrays every 30 days and Ctscans every 60 days.

But enough about my fun and games, Al has started his new job as a Fire Lieutenant (see pictures below) and Marty is working about 90 hours a week. Krista and Kevin are doing great. Meanwhile, Carolyn and I are enjoying Paradise here in Oregon, Il. If you haven't been to Oregon, you need to stretch you imagination to understand the perfect 1970's beauty of it. Probably, nothing has changed here in 30 years and that's too soon.

Thanks, everyone, for letting me check in with my update. Please stay in touch.

Mike, (dad, gran'pa, uncle, brother), I love you all and look forward to seeing you soonest.