Skip to main content

Good results confirmed! On the road again and the week ahead

The official pathology report is as good as I could possibly hope for.  The tumor was a benign grade 1 Gangliocytoma measuring 11mm x 6.6mm (or about 1/2 in x 1/4 in) in the right frontal lobe.  The doctor reiterated that this is very small and had it not been for the upcoming transplant, they would have just monitored its growth over time before taking any action.  But this still comes as a big relief that it wasn't more serious. They removed it entirely and my next step will be a brain MRI in about 6 months which will hopefully end this part of the journey.

I can’t express how fortunate I am to have such great and caring women in my life.  Connie for her unwavering support and always looking out for my best interest.  Tara our daughter and family PA (in process) for her always calm and cheerful demeanor, telling me the story of Phineas Gage, and who believe it or not has medical experience with craniotomies.  And my sister Julie for always being there for me, her concern and medical advice.

Today, October 27th, we packed up the car (again) for the return drive to Houston.  Our plan is to make today the big travel day, driving 11 hours to Dacatur, TX and then finish up the drive to Houston on Wednesday.  We remember seeing an In-n-Out Burger on the drive home so plan on making that dinner.  We're excited for that stop as its been a couple years since we've had In-n-Out.

The brain tumor will end up resulting in exactly a 3 week delay in the process.  I’ll be admitted to the hospital on October 31, rather than October 10 as originally scheduled.  Since all of the pre-testing I went through was within a month of the revised dates, I do not have to repeat those tests other than a COVID test on Wednesday.  

Onward!

Gary



Comments

  1. Excellent Gary. Thank you for the update. Big hugs to you and your family. Belle and Mike

    ReplyDelete
  2. On a humorous note Gary.....getting to see your brain....wow....now we feel like we really know you! :) :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good news Gary! As usual you come out smelling like a rose, prayers, love, and safe travels. Watch out for the snow in Amarillo...
    Nort and Susan

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to know, Gary! Have a safe travel to Houston. Best wishes ahead of your treatment, it will all be very smooth and successful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great news Gary. And yes indeed, you are surrounded by incredible people in your life. We think about you and your journey daily. Drive safe and we will be looking for the next update. Hugs to you and Connie.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is fantastic news! Thanks for sharing and bragging about your big brains. Go "animal style" on your In-n-Out for a truly gluttonous experience..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Story

 Hello Family and Friends, Thank you for following my blog and your love and support over the years and especially now during my Journey to a Cure.  I thought I would start this BLOG by telling my story and how I got to the point where a bone marrow transplant is the next best step in my cancer battle.  And hopefully a long term, durable cure. In September 2008, during a routine physical exam, my white blood cell count came back unusually high. The next month was busy with many doctor appointments, tests, learning, and ultimately a diagnosis - at the age of 44 I had cancer and specifically CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.   CLL is usually an older patient disease, a slowly progressing disease, and at the time already had some good treatment options.  Many CLL patients never need treatment and I had the “good marker”, 13q deletion to be technical. CLL is not hereditary (although my Uncle Marc did have CLL later in his life) and like many cancers the exact cau...

The Process

In prior posts, I’ve referred to the “process” of the bone marrow transplant.  And quite the complex, multiple step and lengthy process it is. The first step is to repeat a series of outpatient tests to confirm that I’m fit for the transplant.  This is ongoing for the week of October 5th at MD Anderson.  At the end of this testing, I will get a central venous line (CVC) inserted for the next steps and ultimately the donor stem cell infusion. I’ll check into the hospital on October 10 to begin the second step which is referred to as “conditioning”.  This involves chemotherapy to bring your immune system to zero in order to prepare for its replacement with the donor’s immune system.   During this time, the donor will be going through a procedure called Apheresis to harvest his stem cells from his peripheral blood. The cells will be cryogenically frozen and transported to MD Anderson.  The donor cells were collected on October 7 and now on the way to Houston. ...

The End of the Journey

I've been reluctant to post this final entry in my Journey to a Cure blog.   My journey began in October 2008 when I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during a routine physical.  Over the ensuing 14 year period, I've gone through 4 different treatment protocols and a stem cell transplant.  While I never let cancer define me, it consumed a lot of my time and energy over these 14 years.  To be honest, I rarely thought about life after cancer as it just didn't seem achievable.  Therein lies my reluctance, but I'm going to say it out loud for the first time - I'M CURED OF CANCER! Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. After my hospital stay for pneumonia in March 2022 and a case of the flu in May 2022, my health surprisingly took a positive turn in July of 2022.  During what had become a routine check up, my blood test results showed that I was starting to create my own white blood cells.  My immune system was finally coming back ...