I picked up two parts bikes last winter and spent much of the spring amassing parts for a cafe build and doing a little bit of work on the frame, tank, and fenders as well as putting together a set of wheels and tires. Things were moving right along toward my desired finish date, somewhere in early July. And then everything changed.
I was diagnosed with a rare cancer late in April. The thing is in my gut, growing out of a major vein behind my stomach and extending from there. Not good. I am fortunate in that we live less than an hour away from the state's most advanced hospital. The bottom line from all the work they have done over the last few weeks has been that I was going to do Chemo therapy until about the end of the year and then an operation would be performed to remove the major tumor. The operation itself is very risky, there is a more than casual chance that I may not survive it.
Because the type cancer I have is so rare (less than 1/2 a percent of all cancers) and because its not in a place where its normally found there are very few surgeons who have much experience at removing them. Also, as part of the process I am going to lose one kidney. Here is where fortune smiled on me again. The most experienced surgeon in the country with what I have is at the Cleveland Clinic; I was told by two oncologists that the fellow may be the best in the world. So I got an appointment to see him and then did. We talked, he did his thing, and I decided he would be the guy to do the cutting. There were other concerns though, including some suspicious spots on my lungs. I was also much concerned about the order in which treatment would proceed, mostly deciding if the surgery or the Chemo would come first while at the same time people were pressuring me to begin the chemo right away
And so there I was, thinking about all this #$%*, and not giving so much as a moment's thought to the half-cafe 550 sitting in my shed. And then everything changed.
This morning I got a call from the Chief Oncologist from down here, not the one in Cleveland. In the last week they have done three different Cat-scans on me and the results are more than pleasing. As of now the Chemo is out and I can go ahead and schedule the operation. That's it, just go get cut, heal up from it, and then I'll be back in action. All I have to do is survive the cutting. After talking to the doctor that will do the operation I feel good that this guy isn't going to lose me on the table.
And so that's it. In a couple of weeks the deed should be done, I should be healed back up, and I can get back to the bike build. I felt so good about it I agreed to do another paint job this morning for a guy.
Whoo Hoo! Life is good.
