Good Morning, Angels.
I decided to go ahead and continue using the week of my update as the "chapter" and the entry for that week as the "part", hopefully, to keep these emails organized. Perhaps this is more for just me, but it may aid in searching for specific information. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.
I don't think I have yet mentioned that all insurance companies have resolved any issues that were slowing up the works, but in essence, that is what has happened. I'm glad to say that there are no current insurance problems that involve any waiting for treatment or testing. This makes it easier for me to just follow a schedule and make more definitive plans.
Today was the day of my latest MRI of the brain, which was ordered over six weeks ago for the purpose of checking to see if any cancer had returned to the brain and to check the status of the lesion that had been zapped with radiosurgery during the three sessions around Christmas. The results were positive in both regards. The lesion continues to shrink, indicating that they destroyed the cancer cells and that the body is ridding itself of the residue. Other than that, there is no evidence whatsoever that the brain has any new incidents of metastasis. No evidence of cancer in the brain at all. The neurosurgeon was pleased, and I have to admit I took it as great news.
If you ever have an MRI, I have a little advice for you. If they give you little sponge-like earplugs to dampen the noise, shove them as deeply into your ear canals as you comfortably can. I didn't do that on the right side and had to deal with a little more volume than necessary. I suppose I could say that luckily I'm used to loud music over the course of my life and it wasn't too much to bear. Still, the noise wasn't music per se. That is unless you consider outer-space like sounds to be music. Actually, I ended up playing with the sounds in my head and finding the musical patterns, thus keeping myself distracted enough to make it through the twenty-plus minutes of the machine sounds.
In the past six months, I've had many injections of dye, contrast, and radioactive substances injected in me for all the tests of this type, and there are more than just a handful. So, I have taken to drinking about two gallons of water a day to facilitate the flushing of my system. Everything I understand is that it's a good practice anyway, and I am certainly one hydrated individual.
Next Thursday, I'm going in to start the aggressive chemotherapy that has been continually postponed during all these delays, starting with the surprise brain issue and continuing with the insurance issues. Nothing appears to stand in the way anymore. I'll continue to keep my loved ones (you, whom I call my angels) apprised of the process and such. I'm hoping my stamina will help me tolerate this part of the story. It's necessary, in any case, since the cancer has already shown itself to migrate to other parts of the body.
Thanks for your continued support, prayers, good vibes, light, and Love. I'm one grateful son-of-a-gun.
Love genuinely,
Ken
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