It really seems like it was just yesterday that Corey, Kelly, Kerri and I were trying to come up with a positioning statement for KADU. Kelly joked, "We Just Rock." And we latched on to it.
I managed to snag the wejustrock.com domain a few days later and paid for it out of my own pocket.
Today I decided it was time to put the domain back to use.
July of 2001 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
I spent the next 5 years trying to reach that 5 year cancer-free milestone. That was my driving force for almost 6 years.
I reached that milestone, and paused.
Pausing and reflecting are good activities. The problem is I've been paused for far too long. I need a reason to press on. A reason to get up in the morning and do stuff. I know of lots of things that should be that reason. But none of them carry the urgency or intensity of staying alive.
I don't expect you, dear reader, to know what that reason is any more than I know it. I am simply logging my disenchantment with the status quo.
I recently told a friend, "Nothing will change until you change".
Perhaps it is time for me to heed my own advice.
Back in mid-december of 2000, I noticed a little bump on the right side of my neck. I was seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis at the time cause I was having a stiff neck. The chiropractor figured it was just a knot in one of the many muscles in my neck and said it would loosen up as my neck got better.
The lump gradually got bigger. It never hurt. Being a good german-raised kid, I knew better than to go to the doctor when I felt fine. Besides, going to the doctor is scary. They rarely have good news for you. So I waited.
In early July of 2001, I had my wife make an appointment for me with the family doctor. By this time, I was pretty sure this wouldn't just magically get better on it's own. And the lump looked really weird. On July 11th, I met with my doctor. He felt the lump a little, and asked some questions. He figured the lump was due to one of the following. Tuberculosis, a cyst, or lymphoma. He was leaning towards a cyst. I've had several cysts removed in the past so this seemed like a logical explanation to me. In order to know for sure he had a "manto" test done, a blood test done, and a chest x-ray taken. The "manto" test came back clean, no TB! The blood test came back normal, more good news. But there was a questionable cloudiness on the right side of my chest (the same side as the lump). So, he scheduled me for a CT scan the very next day. And scheduled an appointment with a Head & Neck specialist for July 16th.
The CT scan verified that there is a growth in my chest and in my neck.
On July 16, I met with the Head & Neck specialist. He quickly decided that we need to do a biopsy and determine the nature of the tumor. Yep, tumor. That was the first time any of the medical staff had used that word. Tumor. Isn't it amazing how one word can cause so much fear and dread? He scheduled a surgery date for July 19th. I'll spend most of the day in Duluth getting cut open and prodded and poked. And he said I should plan on taking the next day off from work.
And in the middle of this whole ordeal we are moving our house 18 miles, to some land we recently bought, and building a garage.
And they will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. And they will know we are Christian by our love.
It's amazing how quickly news spreads. I think I may be on every prayer list in the United States. For those of you praying for me, I thank you. Remember my family too. My wife Kerri, and daughters Tanisha and Savanna are still trying to understand all this. I'm not sure one can understand all this.
More to come later.
"A problem well-stated is a problem half solved." - Charles Kettering
The Doctors are sure that I have Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This is better news than it seems. Hodgkin's Lymphoma is very treatable. Much more so than the other Lymphoma's. As a matter of fact my Father had Hodgkin's Lymphoma when he was in his late twenties, and he beat it. Like my doctor said, "Hodgkin's is not a death sentence.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't going to be easy. But, I'm not giving up.
If we the state electrical inspector gives us a thumbs up today, we can have power! That will be nice. Then we just need to harass the PUC, to get gas service so I can have hot water.
Well, the inspector approved my electrical work. But Hibbing PUC is still dragging their feet on my power service. And who knows when I'll get gas service from them. You can voice your concerns to keith@hpuc.com. At least the temperature is much cooler.
I go in for a CT scan from the waist down this afternoon. They gave me a bottle of banna flavored goo to drink before I go in. Hopefully this means I don't have to play human pincushion. I hate needles.
I still have to have some bone marrow and blood samples taken. I'm not really sure when that will happen but I'll keep you all informed. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on the CT Scans and X-Rays to scan in so you can all see what's going on.
I just got off the phone with Dr. Versich. After my CT Scan this afternoon, I'll swing by the lab to have some blood drawn for tests. Did I mention I hate needles. Then tomorrow I'll head to the hospital around 9:30 AM for a Bi-lateral bone marrow biopsy. Dr. Versich says it'll be a pain in the butt. We still need to schedule a galium scan and a muga scan. Then I should be done with the tests for awhile.
I went to the Laurentian Clininc in Virginia, MN this morning to meet with Dr. Choquette. Apparently the Laurentian Clinic does not believe in signs. All the signs visible from the road say Virginia Regional Medical Center. You have to actually enter the center to see a sign pointing to the Laurentian clinic. Staples came out fine. My neck is healing fine. My butt still hurts from the bone marrow biopsy. Other than that I still feel fine.