VM Final Follow-Up...Until Spring

The last two days have seen more doctor's appointments; some to follow-up and one to continue a process.  The continuing process is with Dr. Pettit, John's urologist.  Dr. Pettit will be doing a scope procedure December 7 to remove the stent from John's right ureter that was put in about three weeks ago to alleviate a stricture and he'll take a closer look at "things."  Hopefully Dr. Pettit will find nothing and conclude that the ureter stricture was a complication of chemo.
John also had labs drawn on Tuesday.  His counts are all moving in the right direction with the exception of a slight decline in his red cell count.  Nobody seemed concerned, but I'll see if I can't sneak some liver into John's diet for good measure.  (Yeah, I know...good luck with that!)
Yesterday we went to Seattle to see Dr. Low, John's surgeon.  He was very pleased with John progress, delighted to hear that John's able eat a varied diet and -- best of all -- removed John's feeding tube.  I watched the removal which was pretty "gutsy" for me.  Get it?  "Gutsy?"  It was no big deal, but John said he could feel the longer-than-we-thought-possible tube snaking through his body as it came out.  (Sorry if you're reading this as you're having breakfast.)
Dr. Low will be following up with an endoscopy in a few months which will actually be performed by his G.I. doctor here in Bellingham, Dr. Stiner.  Dr. Low will himself want to see John in May and will want a EGD done.  An EGD is similar to an endoscopy but gives more complete information that involves the duodenum.  EGD is short for "Esophagogastroduodenoscopy."  In non-medical terms that means "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."  You can look up "EGD" on Wikipedia.
In summary, we're on cancer maintenance.  As is Rachel Dedrickson, the daughter of dear friends Amy and Kevin Dedrickson.  Amy and I go all the way back to junior-high (middle-school for you post-baby-boomers) but didn't really get to be good friends until college.  Amy, who also majored in Advertising/Communications at Wazzu, interned at the ad agency that was my first post-college job.  The rest is history.  Anyway, I was talking to Amy this week and was told that her daughter, 25-year-old Rachel, had been diagnosed and treated for thyroid cancer earlier this year.  With all John and I have been going through, she decided not to share their cancer "journey" with us until now.
Rachel, you -- along with John and all cancer survivors -- are real heroes.  You inspire, you bring out the very best in people, and you bring us all together.  You are held in my thoughts and prayers.  And via this blog, you have a host of people...some you've never met and probably will never meet...who will hold you there, too.
To all of you, life's a journey and a challenge.  And the best way to take that journey is together...Thanks for joining us...Nancy