Day + ^%$#

It's funny, when I first threw that title up there with the Day + $%^&#, I honestly figured it would be a few weeks, if not a couple, and we'd be in real day + territory in no time. Who would have thought that we'd be here 4 months later and I'm still no closer to remission benchmarks than I was when I left the hospital for the "quick" two week break back in May? I certainly didn't. I think you all fully understand my level of frustration when it comes to things not moving forward at the pace I would have wanted, so I'll leave it at that, but there is a ray of hope out on the horizon.

The results are back from the VQ scan, the VO2 Max, CT scans and all other pulmonary tests, and we finally have a clear way forward. I never thought I'd be excited about going under the knife, but if it means that we can finally close the door on the pneumonia I contracted 4 months ago during chemo, I'll do cartwheels. So back to results...after finally having all of the information my doctors needed to make the decision on how to move forward, we're here. The decision has been made to surgically remove the lower lobe of my right lung which contains all of the infection. Once that is out, my lung should be squeaky clean and we can FINALLY move forward with treating my leukemia.

All of the test results told the story that my lungs are in good health and that they should be able to handle the short and long term ramifications of surgery. It does mean I will lose some lung capacity for the rest of my life, but the remaining right lung and of course the left, should be able to somewhat compensate for what has been lost. The lung won't regenerate with actual lung function, but can expand to replace what has been taken out. Bottom line is I won't be running marathon's any time soon...or ever for that matter, but if I can live somewhat of a normal life that includes a hearty level of exercise, I think I'm ok with that. But even with all of that said, it's still hard not to think that all of this was so unnecessary and how unlucky I was that this crazy form of fungal pneumonia just decided to sneak in and cause all of this havoc. It's not like my plate wasn't already full of crap, but that's when you just shake your head and say the same thing you've told yourself a million times over the last few years. Everyone has their own version of crap. This is mine so I have to deal with it as best as I can.

So that's what I'm doing and that's how we'll get through this. The earliest they could get me in for surgery is two weeks from Thursday which would be August 19th...and trust me, I pushed to have it done ASAP, but this was it. Anyway, the 19th it is. I don't have many details on what the surgery entails and how it will be performed, but I do know that I will spend 5-6 days in the hospital and another 4-6 weeks of recovery after that. I would love it if they could start my leukemia treatments during recovery, but that will be up to the docs. We'll see what happens.

Outside of that I've been feeling really good lately. Evey and I have been taking Floyd out just about every day for some really cool hikes in our area which range anywhere from 3-6 miles at a time depending on how ambitious we are. Floyd loves it, we love it and it couldn't be better for my health. So that's it for now kids. Thanks again for your incredible support. Things seem to finally be getting on track which couldn't make me happier. More updates to follow...