To date...

First of all I just really want to thank everyone who has been keeping track of Gil & I. We appreciate all the prayers and words of encouragement...keep it coming. We need all the positive reinforcement we can get, even if it is a little hard & humbling to accept. (the picture is from Scott Neumeister's B-day at Byblos restaurant on Nov. 18)

Now, just to get anyone who has missed it "up to speed", here's the reader's digest version of what's been going on.

Sometime in late August, Gil noticed a swelling on the side of his neck. Thinking it was an overdevloped muscle or some wierd painless pulled muscle, he went to Dr. Ray who became concerned.

From there he had a CaT Scan done on Sept 9th, which, at first, he was given the impression all was good. We later found out they saw multiple suspicious lymph nodes.

A "fine needle aspiration" was done (which someone really needs to redefine "fine" needle). Dr. Jerry scared him a fair bit asking if he had ever been diagnosed with Cancer before.

Oct. 14th, he went to surgeon Dr. Berry who was unimpressed with the lump on Gil's neck, but knew the lymph nodes had to go. He figured they were just reactive...used up; he was surprised to find they were malignant. (surgery was Oct. 20th with a follow-up on Oct. 28th)

Nov. 17th he went to see Dr. Ball oncologist, but once we did...it was 0-60! (FYI - our exchange student, Jason, was hosted by Dr. Andy Hano his first year here - Andy & Dr. Ball are partners in medicine)

The week of Thanksgiving:
Nov. 21 - bone marrow test & consultation with Dr. Berry to put in a port (under right collarbone for chemo treatments)
Nov. 22 - Port put in
Nov. 24 - I ran the Turkey Trot 5k (32min 56 sec) and hosted Thanksgiving dinner

The next week...
Nov. 28 - muga scan (heart scan?)
Nov. 29 - another (but different) CT scan
Then Dec. 1st he had his first Chemo treatment with a white cell booster shot on Dec. 2nd (see previous post).

The next few weeks include even more stuff
Dec. 7 - Cardiologist
Dec. 8 - Blood work
Dec. 9 - PET scan & Echocardiogram (?)
Dec. 13 - Radiologist
Dec. 15 - 2nd Chemo

Well, I'm probably posting more info. than Gil really feels anyone needs to know, but it also helps me remember. This is also probably a good place to chronical stuff just in general...we can look back on this in a year and see what was going on.
Anyway...on with my day (Thanks Phil & Deah and everyone for giving us the rest of the day "off").
Till next time!