The Latest Surviving Updates!

November 30, 1997
OK, I guess I have to eat my words! I got sick. Just a cold, but it was the cold I had boasted about not getting. Oh well! I missed Thanksgiving at my parents house, and I really had hoped that I could make up for last years abdominally radiated holiday. I will just have to shoot for next year.

It just dawned on me that my checkup at the hospital are completely off schedule, because of all the testing they had to do. I still have my PET scan to do and it is time for my 8 month checkup, so I better just make plans to go in and let Dr. Hoppe look me over. I know that I am fine, ell actually I do have a weird feeling due to a dream I had last night. Either I had cancer or someone else I know had cancer, but either way, cancer was involved. I don't normally dream about cancer, so a small tiny part of me wonders if my subconscious is trying to tell me something. Of course, I did take a heftier dose of cold medicine than I usually take, so perhaps my brain was under medicated duress. Who knows? Like I said, I feel fine. And that is it for now!

November 21, 1997
I just got back from doing an hour run/walk on the treadmill, and I am in the midst of eating a big multi-lettuced salad topped with a variety of veggies. Sounds rather healthy, don't you think? I also got my final dental work done, which means I sport several youthful white crowns that match my newly bleached teeth. Plus, my blood counts last week were normal, maybe nearer to the lower end of normal, but they were normal. One of the true tests of my health is that while Brittany has been down with a cold this week, I have been slobbering-close to her and have not caught it. I did not even worry about getting it, and it's no big deal if I do get sick. My HD-induced fear of germs has subsided!

Has anyone been watching the "Party of Five" on FOX? One of the main characters, Charlie, has just been diagnosed with HD 2A, and he is about to undergo radiation. It is the best portrayal of HD I have seen on TV, of course, the only other one was when Amanda on "Melrose Place" got HD and never got more than stringy hair and exhaustion from the disease. "Party of Five" is on Wednesday nights at 9pm, Pacific time. I can't help myself from watching.

November 9, 1997
It is early Sunday morning, Brittany is still asleep, and I finally have a free moment! I have been busy propelling myself into my future at an uncharacteristically calm and collected pace. It is important to note to myself that HD has actually changed the way my brain works, I now have boundaries on my thoughts which allow me to focus my energy. That means that my imagination, my daydreaming, and all my grandiose thoughts no longer distract me. I am not off on a tangent developing every idea that floats through my head, and that allows me to concentrate on fewer projects. You see, I have to have projects in the works all the time, so this lesson has been an important one - or I could go crazy. So, as a survivor, my reward is a more controlled environment between my ears. I feel so grown up, and I am only 42. Or is that 24? It is still hard to tell.

As I was not saying, I got an article published in the "Well Being Journal," in the Nov./Dec. issue. It is about using visualizations during my HD treatment, and it is out now. It is an example of how I focused on a project and followed through with it, plus it is an example of how I used visualizations in my everyday life. I told myself that it was time to get published, and then I imagined the editor telling his co-workers that he wanted publish my article. I can mark that project off my list now.

As for the medical portion of my update, I am about to have the gene test for breast and ovarian cancer. I spoke with Dr. Walden at Stanford about getting a prophylactic mastectomy, and her thoughts were that I should first get the gene tests. If the tests come out positive, then I would have a good case for going ahead with the prophylactic mastectomy, but if the tests are negative, then perhaps I should reconsider my radical decision. I respect her judgment, she is some kind of doctor! But I do have to admit that it will be a bit scary to actually hear the results of the tests, for if they say I have the gene(s), it will feel like somewhere there is a bullet poised in the air looking for me. If so, then I will have a great need to surgically remove the bulls-eye from my body. Imagine that if you dare!