Adam Recovery Part Deux

 Howdy... it's December 29th and 2023 is winding down... And guess what? I'm still here! And I'm quite obviously very grateful for it... and for you! I just wanted to write a few things as '23 comes to a close and give y'all a few updates. Treatement for 2023 is done (had the last one last week) and I also had my last CT scan for the year. TLDR - it's good. More detailed - nothing has changed since the last one. Any remaining "spots" on the liver appear to be scar tissue and (thank you modern medicine) Keytruda seems to be doing its job. (Must be - I'm typing this...) I think I have 2 more treatments to go (it's a 2 year program and I started in March of '22) and by my count, somewhere around March 15th will be the end... Then (so they tell me) I basically am "done" and just come back for them to monitor me. Cured? Nah... I don't/won't use that word (falls into the "fool me once" category) but it's no matter.

It's Spring... or here in NJ... Spring one day, Summer another and tomorrow it could possibly snow. We get 4 Seasons here - sometimes all in one week. So, what's new with me? I'm quite glad you asked. Last week I had another of my friendly 6 week visits for treatment. And I fucked up the timing - "allowing" me to spend about 45 minutes more there than I needed to. Oops. Anywho. On treatment day, I typically have 3 appointments.  Blood work (getting jabbed once) Meeting with the Dr. Treatment (more jabbing.) Quite often (ok, most times) one or more of these things run late. And so, true to form, the Dr was behind schedule. So far behind that she actually just came into the treatment area to meet with us there. And she said... Since my numbers have been heading the right way (down) and since not much changes, she can either (a) no longer see me on a regular basis or (b) continue to meet with us in the treatment area, since the chances are there isn't much to tal

Happy Anniversary! S o, 1 year ago today, I had back surgery and learned of the term "pancaked disc" - who knew that was even a thing? I watched the Super Bowl (Sorry NFL "big game") by myself from a hospital bed a few days later. And, I honestly thought there was a really good chance it would be the last one I'd see. So, cheers to the good kind of drugs and to the "magic" markers in my system that allows me to have immunotherapy instead of chemo. As I've said many times, I don't control this ride - I just get to go on it. But, I sincerely thank you all for reading my thoughts and posts - really. As for me, I'll be rooting for my box pool this Sunday -- go 4/2! (or is it 2/4??) anyway... I'm happy to be rooting at all.  😁

 So, sorry for not writing sooner, but no news is good news. And, since I'm late anyway - Happy New Year! Well, around this time last year (give a week or so) I wasn't sure I'd be here to do that. Anywho... just had a telemed call with the oncologist.  And he actually used the word "miraculous" in regards to my numbers and treatment. He said he wished all his calls were going to be like this one. So - I guess I'm doing OK... (Hey, I try not to get too high or too low... as I've said - I'm just here for the ride. I'm not driving this bus.) And there's the update du jour. Feel free to reach out (and touch someone as the pervy old AT&T commercials used to say.) But y'all know how to reach me.  I'd still love to see more of you folks this year - LMK. Thanks for reading, -a

 So, every 6 weeks I have a "new" routine... Drive to Basking Ridge Check in... wait (they're always running behind.) Blood work... Wait... See Dr who has results of blood work (OK, that part is impressive. They get the results within an hour.) Says "all good... keep going" (or a variation thereof) Wait... Go to infusion area. Get infusion (takes about 45 minutes) Go home. The whole process kills off about half a day - but so far it's keeping me alive - so who's complaining? Anyway... that's not the point of this post (I'm getting serious Alice's Restaurant vibes here.) The point of the post is about the draft... just kidding... The point is that one of the blood work tests is something called CA 19-9 (or Cancer Antigen 19-9) A "normal" range is 0-40 and in February mine was 52... yeah, that' not good. Anywhoo... my last test (12/7) was 15.. So, according to the medical experts on the Googles - that's a good thing... I quote

So, last night was the last regular season softball game. With rain-outs and Holidays, I've been able to play about 3 games in this shortened season.  But, I've only been hitting and wobbling to first and then getting a pinch runner. However, last night... I actually played the field. First base. For the entire game.  I think I had about 3 put-outs (lots of fly balls) PLUS an assist. Once I'm on the field, I tend not to think (yes, I know... you don't need to say it) - so bending over for a ground ball and flipping it to the Pitcher covering (nice job by Keith) didn't bother me. It's more of a just "do it" instinct.  I figured 1B would be "safe" to play. No bending over, move a couple feet to my left and catch it. OK, so in the 2nd inning, I get a ground ball... and another in the 5th. And I made both plays. Maybe I feel better than I thought. Maybe my brain said "fuck it - just make the play."  (I don't think I'm physically