I got a call from my doctor today. He said he's had a chance to look at all the latest info, including the scans and the biopsy. All the samples taken in the biopsy showed nothing but muscle tissue, and nothing malignant - no cancer running rampant. It turns out that Marvin isn't a tumor after all. I've had 4 good chemo treatments, 3 point something Rituxans (can't really count 4, since one of them went haywire and had to be stopped), and my blood counts look good.

     It all adds up to his official word of the day to me: REMISSION. Sweet music to my ears, friends!

    The chemo's over, the Rituxan's over, and I'm done till it's time to fight this thing again. Hopefully a couple years or more. Now I can start growing my hair back, and I'll be feeling stronger and better every day as the last chemo I had finally wears off completely.

    He still wants to see me once more on Wednesday, as planned, to get another blood sample analyzed and do a general checkup. I'll post another update after that, just to let you know how it went, but I've a feeling it's going to be a day for a big steak dinner out on the town that night! From there, we'll just keep a watchful eye for any returning symptoms while living it up!

    I don't really know what else to say at this point. Thanks for all your kind emails and guestbook entries, all the laughs and encouragement, and most of all, the well wishes. Thanks for being there!

     Next: Ganging Up

                                                                 Buck