May 31, 2011 - Have you had your physical today?

As I approach my second rebirthday, I was reminded the other day how I got here when Justin asked Julia if she would set up an appointment for him to have his annual physical. I have to wonder how many 20 year olds even think about a physical let alone ask to have one. Understand that Justin is similar to his dad in that he is not an intimate friend with needles. Despite that, he will bravely go where few other people his age care to go.

Justin is realistic in his view of his life and health. Both of my parents died of cancer, his other grandmother currently is fighting tooth and nail with the disease and no one needs to be reminded that I am in the middle of my own fight with cancer. The chances of Justin getting cancer in his lifetime is certainly larger than the average person. He is attacking that the best way he knows how and that is to get an update on his health every 12 months.

One of the main reasons that I write this blog is to remind people that it is so important to keep their eye on their own health and to have a physical yearly. If I hadn’t, I very likely would not be here to enjoy my life. I might have been just a few short days away from a deadly heart attack.

Disease can sneak up on you as my good friend Paul Nardini found out when he had his physical last year. He felt fine but the physical revealed that he had Multiple Myeloma. He caught it early enough that he suffered no kidney damage and is currently in full remission. Had he not gone, who knows where he would be today.

It only takes an hour of your time to get a good idea of where you stand. Why not do it? I know a few of you have taken my advise, but I feel pretty confident that many of you have not. Don’t cheat your loved ones, make sure you are as healthy as you can be. It just takes an hour.

I had my visit with Dr. Mikhael on Thursday and despite the fact that my latest blood test showed additional growth of the cancer, we decided to wait another month to begin the clinical trial utilizing Revlimid and dexamethasone. After reviewing my blood test it has become clear that last month was a fluke and my body just can’t handle the disease on its own any longer. The continued worsening of the level of cancer in my blood stream is now a trend but has not yet begun to impact either my kidneys or my bones. Unless we see some kind of miracle in my results this next month (haven’t we heard that before?) I will start the clinical either in June or July.

This is hardly the end of the world for me. I still feel great and this combination of drugs has been very effective for the last five years. The potential side effects are numerous (blood clots, low blood counts, serious skin reactions, metabolic complications, diarrhea, constipation, tiredness and other complications.) However, every drug has its potential side effects many of which never happen. After going through the transplant, this will be a walk in the park.

I just view this as another step in the process. When I actually saw the results last Tuesday, I was disappointed but not despondent. Once I got over the fact that the transplant had run its course a few months ago, I came to the realization that this step was going to happen soon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not excited about this, but it is something I can deal with. It’s just another speed bump on my way to an eventual cure. As always, I just strive to stick around until that happens.