Just an Update

I have not felt creative enough to write how I like to write this thing, so here is a basic update.

Last week I went to Maryland again for my 3rd infusion of the additional drug, Avastin. Kate went with and spoiled me with loving, attentive care. Never before have she and I had so much time together - we were apart maybe a total of 4 or 5 hours in 6 days. Still we get along and I feel closer and evermore admiration for this 26 year old woman who is my daughter.

On Thursday I got the infusion - liquid with Avastin in it, dripping into my arm through a needle. It took a half hour. Like the first infusion a month ago, I felt energized after and we did the tourist thing for several hours. Lincoln, Washington, Viet Nam, White House and Capitol. We stood at Lincoln Memorial on the same steps where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Someone else arrogantly speechified on those same steps just a few days before, but even that could not spoil the reverence exuding from the memorial and those steps.

The next infusion is the 16th at my oncologist's here in Arizona. And then, two weeks later I go to Maryland for end of first course scans to measure impact of the two drugs combined. I will tell you this, meeting with 2 or three standing doctors in a small exam room with me sitting down - I felt like a specimen. Next time, we are meeting around a table, eye to eye. I am human and require that much dignity - the specimen bit just doesn't cut it.

Please pray for me, I am more tired, less stamina and . . . oh yeah, walking far across the Capitol mall in DC with the side effect of mild diarrhea is a dangerous challenge. TMI?
Bill