Remission?

I've received a few inquiries about what the new PSA score means to Mike's cancer. Is he cured? No. Is he in remission? Good question.

I think an analogy is in order. Think of the PSA score as the number of people that respond to a fire. When the score is high, there's big trouble going on. Lots of people trying to help/respond/contain the damage. It's simply a count of responders in the body. The higher the score, the worse the fire. A normal PSA is below 1. Mike started at 68. We're down to 1!

The treatments he's receiving are like an outside source of water needed to put the fire out. As the fire is contained and doused, people leave the scene. The score goes down. That's good.

HOWEVER, the fire itself is not the problem. The building is still burned to a crisp. No amount of water can make the building look and act as if nothing happened. Not only that, but the fire got into the main infrastructure of the city. The local fire department had no effect on it because their hoses were burned, their trucks melted, etc. The fire is out but the damage is irreperable.

The hope is that the arson that started this blaze will lay low for a while since everything is soaking wet. This is as close to "remission" as it gets. The cancer stops growing. We keep throwing water on the area and hope that things stay cool for as long as possible.

So now we wait. And yes, at some point the arson may show up again.

PSA Down to 1 !

One. Uno. Singular. Lone. Prime. Digit. ON.

Crestor

Mike had an appointment with his internist today. They went over some bloodwork from the last appointment. Mike's cholesterol was a tad high (268) so the doctor put him on Crestor. We'd had it checked a few months ago and it was not that high. He put Mike on red yeast at first but that did not help so now it's Crestor.

On a sad note: my Grandpa Harry Griffin passed away yesterday early in the morning. We will most likely be taking a trip down to So. Cal. He was 89 years old.

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.