Two More Words!

Well, it's been 6 months and one day since I had my PET scan and Dr. Glenn pronounced the cancer "all gone".  At that time she put me on a 6 month schedule for follow-up scans, so today I went back for my first official scan since getting the good news on Jan. 19.


This time around I was booked for a plain old CT scan, not the full blown PET scan, for a variety of reasons.  Suffice to say that the CT is "good enough" ongoing, and uses much less radiation (a PET scan is more like the equivalent of 300 x-rays!).  So, at 11:30 AM I began drinking the first of two bottles of barium contrast dye that coats the stomach and the "innards" and allows the scan to be more effective. Mind you- this is a milky, gross tasting (yes, it's 'flavored', but Brussels sprouts are also 'flavored', and they're GROSS!), awful concoction.  But, it's necessary, so you just deal with it.  Next time I swear I'll refrigerate it- it can't make it any worse!  So, anyway, drank this nasty stuff from 11:30 to 1:00, at which point we did the scan.  Also had to do an IV of iodine contrast dye, which makes the body VERY warm VERY fast.  At least it doesn't last- so that's good.


From there I went down and had my blood draw for my labs.  Then, Lisa and Barry met me at Huntsman and we went to grab a bite to eat for lunch at TGI Friday's.


Came back, had the poking and prodding that goes along with the examination (including checking all areas where lymph nodes are present to see if any appear to be enlarged and can be felt externally).  All seemed well there.  My heart rate was 61, BP was 124/78, and O2 was 97.  The nurse pronounced me "healthy", and I realized again the benefits of all this cycling I do!  :-)


Dr. Glenn then came in, had a nice smile on her face, and told me that the chest, abdomen and pelvic CT scans had shown no cancer at all.  "All Clear"!  Those are the two more words!


Now, at the risk of sounding ungrateful, which I'm not- Lisa and I knew that would be the outcome.  We've been very calm, and have felt that the Spirit was comforting us and letting us know all would be OK, and it is!


So, that's the news for today.  Thanks to all who have reached out via e-mail, text and phone today!  I'm happy for the news, and even more happy for all my family and friends and their support.


***CHECK THIS OUT***


Also, I've been waiting for this day to come so I could get the word out. Each year I raise money for Huntsman Cancer Hospital via their Hometown Heroes program.  I'm doing so again in conjunction with LOTOJA this year, but this year it's personal (when I raised money last year I had not yet been diagnosed, so hadn't become a "cancer patient").  So, here's the deal- scoff if you'd like, and make fun, but I'm going on record saying I'd like to raise $20K for cancer research in the next two months.  Yep, you got that right- $20 THOUSAND DOLLARS!


Here's the math- between my address book, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I think I can get to darn near 1,000 people (not to mention if they repost, retweet, forward, etc., etc.).  If each of those folks would give $20 for cancer research, I'd have met my goal.  If only half give $40, I'm still there.  If all I raise is $2,000, I'm still happy as I've raised additional funds to research and fight this disease.


So, I'll be Tweeting and Facebooking about this, and sending e-mail out to all soon to get it going.  I'm also trying to line up some corporate sponsors for some dollars, if not at least some raffles of some decent products to help drive some participation.


Stay tuned, and let me know if you'd be willing to donate at least $20 to help in the fight against cancer (but know you're welcome to donate more if you can and would like!).


My Hometown Heroes page is here- click and check it out...


http://www.huntsmancancerfoundation.org/toddhandy

Much love!
Todd