Sounding the ALL CLEAR!

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Mike's polyp was benign.

No colon cancer!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to start drinking.

Results on Wednesday

Results of the biopsy from Mike's colonoscopy will be in on Wednesday afternoon. He has an appointment with the Gastroenterologist at 4 p.m. We'll post information as soon as we can.

Some good news - Gregory finished his 5th grade D.A.R.E. program.

You can watch a short clip below. The little girl giving Gregory the high-five is Rachel. Her older brother has high functioning autism. She helps Gregory stay focused in class sometimes.

Colonoscopy Today

Mike is home from his colonoscopy this morning.
They found a polyp. One. Small.
So they removed it and sent it for biopsy results.
NOT to Quest. Almost though.
But I stopped them and told them I couldn't afford to hear results if they sent it there. So they helped me circumvent the exclusivity contract the hospital has with Quest.
Officially, I took the sample to Lab Corp. In actuallity, they came and picked it up. Good thing. I hate running around with someone else's polyp.

Colonoscopy

Appointment next Wednesday (March 18) for Mike's procedure. It will take the whole morning and he'll be at home resting afterward. We're hoping to find a clean colon - no more cancer. I'm not sure when the results will be back, but at the latest, we will find out at his April Oncologist's appointment.

Now for something completely different:

The little fellow above is called a Peter Pepper. I just had to post it. You can buy the seeds online but they are not too easy to grow. I'm not even tempted.

NO Quests!

File this under lessons learned. Turns out that some doctor's offices (who shall remain nameless) do not check the insurance before sending out lab work. This results in rather large bills which are the responsibility of the insured. Meaning us. At 100%.
Not only that, the money does NOT go toward any kind of deductable.
It's just not covered. At all.
So from now on, we ask for, no demand, Lab One or OUR Lab. NO Quest Diagnostics allowed! Any docs out there who send Michael Antram's tests to Quest are going to foot the dang bill themselves.

On the fun side: Philip turns 17 tomorrow. Well, as close as Philip can come this year. No leap year. So, party at our house with a bunch of high school kids. Oh goody.

New Appointment Today

So today is the first of the colon appointments. This is just a consult. I'm not sure what that means exactly. I guess that's why we need a consult. As close as I can tell, they are just going to say, "You need an appointment for a procedure." Insurance must pay for consults or they would just say this over the phone.

In other news...
The picture on the left is Mike and I at the St. Viator School Foundation kick-off party - this year.
Yes, I know. Our kids have not been at that school for years. Yes, they are still abusing me. Yes, I am still taking it. However, I have just admitted I have a problem. First step toward recovery, right?

Sir Robert Byron Bird

Please Note: I have not updated for a while so there are two posts for today. This is the first.
I have been researching our fine Antram roots and as we knew, they run pretty deep in North America. While I was researching, I ran across an Antrim (on his mother's side) who had also done an incredible job of researching the family. In fact, he wrote a book about it; An Antrim Family History. So this is the second book on the American Antrams or in his case, Antrims, the first being the one by Harriet Antram. All are related anyway. He co-wrote the book with his mother, Ethel Antrim Bird.
He was kind enough to autograph and send me one of his two remaining copies. Other copies of the book have been filed in the Library of Congress, Rutgers University, and other prestigious institutions. Which sounds like quite an accomplishment unless you know a little more about the author.
Robert Byron Bird, Professor Emeritus of chemical and biological engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is better known for his textbooks on Chemistry and the Japanese language .
And... he's a knight of the Netherlands. He was granted Knighthood into the Order of Oranje Nassau by Robert de Leeuw, consul general of the Netherlands in Chicago on Behalf of Queen Beatrix. (http://www.news.wisc.edu/9195) Among his other accomplishments:

• Fulbright Fellow and later a Lecturer and Guggenheim Fellow in the Netherlands
• Fulbright Lecturer in Japan
• Taught elementary Dutch informally, has co-authored two college Dutch readers, and was co-founder of the Dutch Club of Madison
• Elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Received honorary doctorates from Lehigh University, Washington University, Technische Hogeschool (Delft, Holland), and Clarkson College of Technology
• Member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Otto Laporte Award Recipient
• One of the founders of the Rheology Research Center
• Benjamin Smith Reynolds Award for outstanding teaching of engineering students
• Has an award named for him: The Byron Bird Award for Excellence in a Research Publication
• He has also been an avid hiker and canoeist and is 82 years old and signs his e-mails "Bob."

He went out into the aftermath of an ice storm recently to take his book to the post office so that I could add it to the Antram collection for my sons.

I find I can call him naught but Sir Robert.