Today, I'm one lucky s.o.b.!!!

Heard from my doctor at NIH this morning...all my pathology results are in, and yes, I have Renal Cell Carcinoma, a.k.a. kidney cancer, a variety known as "clear-cell carcinoma". It's a nasty malignancy which, if it spreads outside the kidney, is pretty much untreatable with current medical technology...the very reason why NIH was interested in my case to begin with...lots of research going on there, with some promising stuff on the horizon. The lucky-bastard part is that, after a thorough examination of all 21 of my lymph nodes removed during the surgery, and all the peripheral tissue, no evidence of cancer was found in any of it!!! My doctors are amazed at this, since a tumor of the huge size of mine almost always has spread to the lungs, lymph system, or somewhere by the time it's discovered. God, and the luck of the Irish, must be with me on this one!!! If nothing nasty turns up during my December 14th 6-week followup CT scan, they're going to send me home a healthy boy again...lots of followup scans & checkups in my future, however, due to the mean nature of this disease, but I feel pretty much like I've been given a second chance at life, and I'm going to try to make the most of it...

Mike