Round 8: Brack-8, HL-0... Stronger Than Ever!

Fabulous. Lucky. Amazed. Pick a word. Lucky and amazed at how fabulous I feel. Yeah my veins still hurt near my elbows and my toes have been "numb" for weeks...among other things. Like the hum of the refrigerator you've learned to ignore, I can live with with these minor annoyances. I continue to exceed any expectation I had given what I was told or read several months ago. I know, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. But the way I see it now, unless HL scores a TKO, I'm kicking its proverbial ass all the way to the finish line. Here's a illustrative cartoon for you JJ (more on that later...)

This round has presented me with no issues at all. At worst I was average - never below average. Thanks continue to go to a phenomenal doctor, his incredible staff, years of research and the love and support from family and friends. 

Round 9 chemo treatment is tomorrow and Jen is coming along. I need to remember to ask Dr. Seifter all of the questions I keep forgetting to ask...she'll remind me. For those keeping score round 8 scores are below.

Round 8 Scores

Lastly I'll leave you with a blog comment that Jay (aka JJ) left for me on Sunday. He is a friend since elementary school - hard to believe it's been 40 years! But first a little background... for those of you who have heard those oft repeated stories from my youth, JJ figures into two of the more prominent tales. First, it was his former girlfriend (the assistant manager at the Berwyn Heights McDonalds), who provided quite a few gratis morsels to us starving high school kids. And it was at that fine establishment where I powered down 100s of Big Macs, including the one I just barely finished in a single bite after having just consumed a few for appetizers - I did win the bet! Jay is also one of the infamous "Ex-Lax" crew who taught me a valuable junior high school lesson about liberating tasty morsels from friends' unattended lunches. Back in the day their simple act was highly effective. Today, that same act would likely be a federal offense!

I loved JJ's blog comment from Sunday and trying to paraphrase it would not do justice. So here is the original work:

Hey Mike! Just went through the entire blog (Request: Can you add cartoons and more jokes for your knuckle-headed friends like me?). I sincerely am impressed with your approach, attitude and actions as you attack this aggravant (how's that assonance... "What did you call me?"). I will be following this, cheering you on, saying my prayers, and waiting to hear the cancer scream out on the Ides of March, "Et tu, Brack-a" (ok, I need to modify it for phonetic-correctness).. As you give it its final stab. YOU ARE THE MAN!! Your fighting spirit drives you and encourages the rest of us. Your old pal -- JJ

Thanks Jay, you've left yet another big smile on my face. Your singular skill at selecting sincere semantic selections that suggest superb symbiosis is second to none.

Much love to you all.