We're now in the thick of it. We've just officially entered the season of love, hope and happiness. It's time to give thanks, to gather together in the celebration of life presenting our achievements and filling in the time that might have been missed with family and friends over the past pandemic year. It's a busy time of planning dinners, parties, outings, fiendishly ordering presents online that may not get here and creating and sending Shutterfly holiday cards that may also miss the deadline. I'd like to get a head start on an overdue update to you all before things get even busier than they are now. Thank you all for your patience while we've awaited the highly anticipated news from my doctors here on Maui as well as from the Mayo Clinic.

A quick recap of how we got here and how far we've come leads me back to my last update, having to leave NY a little early from a wonderful summer vacation, to visit the doctors and neurologists of one of the world's best healthcare facilities. I immediately warm to the thought each time that given our unfortunate predicament, the fact that I find myself in the care of some of medicine's best health professionals. I sincerely wish that access to top medical care was available for everyone but that would lead to an even deeper emotionally tangent opinion that I have on healthcare which is not appropriate for this occasion. 

I received a scan from the Mayo clinic in the summer on our way back from visiting Mom, Dad, TK and all of my friends and family from upstate New York. My neurologist, Dr. Link noticed in June, after an annual audit of patient files, that my most recent scan indicated a small lesion on my brain that practically went unnoticed. Upon receiving the message in my portal, we decided we'd pay a quick visit to the Mayo Clinic and to our friends, Jeff and Alison Cabalka and their family.

We spent four days in Rochester getting scans and talking to my oncologist, Dr. Markovic. The day after my scans, the doctor mentioned that my body looked good. I said "of course it did, but what's going on inside, Doc?" He mentioned that my lymph nodes, adrenal gland appeared to be stable, but that my brain MRI showed 3 new lesions (1 MM each). After much discussion, we decided it was best to file the scans and schedule some new scans two months later while home on Maui. We happily agreed and headed back home after a side trip to the Mall of America. 

Fast forward to late September, when we received the results from the latest scans. It was a very stressful lead up to my consultation with my doctor on Maui, with the least sanguine of thoughts and expectations. You never know if they are going to call you with bad news immediately or wait to reveal the results in the cold, brightly lit waiting rooms. You just try to relax, spend valuable time with the kids and meditate on your health to manifest the best results. 

My appointment went very well, but there was a little disconnect on the results. My doctor compared the September scans to the April 2021 scans as opposed to the new July 2021 scans from the Mayo clinic, which gave me slight cause for concern. They found no further spread of the disease within  the body nor the brain. Instead of questioning why she had compared the info to the Mayo scan,  I chose to just go with the information provided, knowing that my doctor was only reporting on what was reported to her. That's fine. I could wait for a final letter from the Mayo clinic after having sent them the scan from Maui. 

A couple days passed and nothing from Dr. Link. Hmmm. Their team is usually quite prompt with an update or response once they've confirmed the receipt of the scans. Another week went by without any updates. I messaged one of the gals in Dr. Link's office and she said she would check. Another week goes by without word. I really couldn't fully relax until I heard the final word from the Neurologist who noticed the three small spots on my brain. Finally, on October 16th, over a week after the date on the letter confirmed an October 4th reading, I was cleared! The spots have disappeared which gives me such a tremendous amount of confidence that the medicine is doing it's job. Or rather, my immune cells have been trained to recognize the disease and to disassemble them without further harm to my body. 

I thought it most appropriate to attach the doctors note as well as some pics of the kids hanging out in MN. We are so very appreciative to our friends Jeff and Alison once again for putting up with all of us and not only that, but entertaining us! I also got to hang out with someone who inspires me everyday, my man and fellow Steeler Fan, Seth Bayles. This kids has faced a tough road in life but continues to display joy, happiness and appreciation for all that he has, selflessly giving back to more than he gets. Just an amazing human being.

Thank you everyone for your continued love, support and overall interest in our life happenings. Life is good. Life is beautiful. Life is irreplaceable. Let's all be like life.