Mike Judge vs Ewing's Sarcoma

I'm in Philadelphia right now sitting poolside at a hotel. Just a few hours ago I had an x-ray on my arm. The radiologist thought there was a little bit of growth, but my doctor doesn't believe there was any at all. There was a chance that I wouldn't have surgery, but at the last appointment I was told that it would take a miracle for this procedure to not be necessary. Whether there was any growth or not, I need to have this surgery because the longer that this isn't fused the more of a risk I will run for the hardware failing. With school coming up soon, this is the best thing for me to do. The surgery is going to happen tomorrow. The procedure is pretty much a toned down surgery from December. I will have my left hip opened up in which they will scrape my hip for bone cells, open up my arm, and put those bone scrapings in the gaps between the cadaver and my humerus bone fragments. The procedure can take anywhere from a little over an hour to over two hours dependin...

Exactly one year ago my journey began. In early June I had an appointment with my local orthopedic surgeon to get my shoulder/arm checked out. The x-ray that day showed nothing so he scheduled an MRI and a follow up appointment for July 22nd, 2013. I walked into my appointment hoping that I didn't tear my shoulder.... the worst case scenario, or so I thought. That day there was no closure on what was wrong with my arm. There was a mass found in my arm, but he didn't know what it was. He said it was probably a hematoma, but could be a torn tricep, or....cancer. I was absolutely shocked. How could I have cancer? Young, healthy people don't get cancer! I walked out of the appointment hoping for the torn shoulder or hematoma...my old worst case scenario. The world I had known was flipped upside down in a matter of minutes. For the next grueling five weeks I had numerous tests to figure out what was going on in there. Week after week passed, and never would I return home with ...

On Friday I had my three-month post treatment scans. And they were.....clean! The final report isn't available yet, but my oncologist was pretty convinced that they were clean from his examination during the appointment. (I had my chest cat scan a few hours before the appointment so that's why they weren't looked at by the radiologist at that point). My oncologist said that he would call if anything was caught on the scan. It's monday so I think I'm safe now which is why I waited to post anything on my blog until now. This was my first follow up appointment to check for signs of recurrence. It was also my first time at Radnor since my final day of treatment. The last time I was in that building I was exhausted and sick. On Friday I was a completely different person than I was on March 21st. It was great to see my nurses. They were so glad to see me so healthy. It was the healthiest they have ever seen me.  The appointment went well. He answered my questions...

So yesterday I had my appointment with my surgeon to discuss the progress of my arm. I had an MRI, and X-Ray at 8 a.m followed by an appointment  with my surgeon at 10:30. I was a little late to the 10:30 appointment because the MRI took so long though. I don't know why but the test took around 90 minutes. Before my MRI's would take 45-60 minutes. I also had to wait a while for the machine to be open which contributed to being late. By the time I was finished with the MRI, and X-ray it was 11:00. The length of the scan probably had something to do with the different MRI machine I had to use this time. I had to use a special machine because of all of the metal in my arm. The only difference I could tell with the machine was that it felt really hot in the scanner. I was sweating like a fiend in there; I thought I was going to pass out. Here are the results from the tests. The good news is there is no recurrence of the cancer. The bad news is that my humerus isn't fusing wit...

There's not much to report on other than my hair coming in really fast now. Everything else is about the same that I have been mentioning. It's really nice to see my hair coming in the way it is now. The hair is really fuzzy on my head which everyone seems to like except me. Over the weekend we had a yard sale. My cousins, and my brother Joey worked a lemonade stand to raise money for sarcoma research. I was so happy that they did this. Thanks again guys! It was also my cousin Samantha's birthday. She's 8 now! Nice Job! It was really nice weather over the weekend. I have to take extra care to cover up the scar on my arm when in the sun to prevent it from burning, and also my head until my hair grows in more. A sunburnt head is not fun, I had that last year when I cut my hair too short. My arm will burn really fast if I don't protect it. The scar is still red right now. Since I have a pool, and plan on swimming a lot this summer, I bought a swim shirt ( ...

Since my last post, I have seen some improvements in my health. Here's the rundown in where I am now. -Hair. A few days after my update on April 18, my remaining hair fell out(legs, and eyebrows). My whole body was completely bald at that point. About a week after that I began to notice my head getting fuzzy. Within that week most of my body had at least a little bit of stubble. I actually shaved my face twice in the past few weeks. Pretty awesome since I haven't shaved since September. Right now I look a lot more "normal." I was never really embarrassed in losing my hair, but it's definitely nice to have it back. Give me another month or two, and I bet I'll have a full head of hair. -Neuropathy. I'm not sure, but I think its improving. I mainly notice it in the morning upon waking up. At this point it's not really that bad at all. The ridges on my fingernails are still working their way out. While I'm on the topic of nerve related stuff, my up...

On Tuesday I was in New York City for the start of the Miles2Give tour. For those of you that don't know what Miles2Give is. It is a run around the United States to raise funds for sarcoma research. The team consists of four runners, and they will run 10,000 miles in the next 8 months for this great cause! They will run counter-clockwise starting in NYC, and end their tour in NYC sometime in December. The goal of Miles2Give this year is to raise $500,000 for sarcoma research for the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah. The research grant will go to a very well respected research team there. The team is making lots of discoveries in Sarcoma which is really exciting. This funding will help push that research further, and hopefully lead to better treatment in the future. Check out this video below. Now that you know a little bit about the Miles2Give event. Here was my experience on Tuesday. On Monday my mom, Aunt Diane, and I traveled to NYC since the event started at 7:30 in the...