A Note from the Gipper on Game 6

I left for vacation before I oculd post this from my Dad. Thanks for all your kind words - and for the multitude of prayers - seems like they worked.

After a little delay, I was able to complete my tests last week - bone marrow biopsy - CT Scan & PET Scan. We had a meeting scheduled with Coach this morning at 9:30 to review test results and then start 6th game (chemo treatment). Coach started with bone marrow results, since that is a tough place to get rid of cancer. After a few introductory comments, he said your bone marrow is clear - it's NORMAL!. Praise God!!!

Then he reviewed the CT Scan - all traces of tumors are gone. Some scar tissue remains, but that is normal. Coach is pretty thorough.

At any rate it was not necessary to play the 6th game - no chemo! It was a forfeit. What a deal. I asked Coach what this meant? He said you are in "REMISSION". ALLELUIA!!!
This cancer is incurable because it is so slow growing and difficult to detect all microscopic cancer cells that may exist in the body. But they will watch it pretty close. Follow up exams every 6 months for a couple of years, and then every year if all is OK. I will get maintenance treatments of Rituxan every 6 months. Rituxan is the targeted therapy which targets only cancer cells and does not destroy good cells. Very minimal side effects.

Enough for now. I just thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers and support. I could not have gotten thru without family and friends being there. As we have said, Prayer Does Change Things. Thanks for being there. God is Good. I am looking forward to getting back to feeling good without the chemo treatments. Coach said I can expect to get back to feeling normal within a few weeks. Thanks Lord!

Your teammate