Mike Judge vs Ewing's Sarcoma

I was scheduled to have my appointment on Black Friday, but I had to cancel it. On my way up to Pennsylvania, I got in a car accident. I was one of two people rear ended by the same person. It was not a chain collision, just a crazy person paying more attention to the dog on her lap than the road. At least no one was injured and her insurance is going to cover all of the repairs and everything, but it ruined the holiday and plans for the appointment. Also, I just purchased the car this summer, and it was just under 2000 miles. I unfortunately had to stay in Richmond by myself this Thanksgiving. So onto what you came on here for. I had my appointment on December 1st, and the results are both good and uncertain. There are no new nodules anywhere, but the nodule from the last scan grew slightly. It grew from 5.7x5mm to 6.8x6mm. It is in the exact same spot as the one that was removed. In fact, the radiology report compares it to the nodule found in January, as if it's the same one...

I've been keeping some very bad news from you. I have been quiet because I didn't want to put anything on here until I knew all of the details myself. I had all of the info when I wrote my last post, but the bad news would have erased all of the good news I had to write about. This one will be long, maybe my longest, so be prepared. Well, with that out of the way, here are the details... June 30th, I had an appointment with my oncologist for my 3 year scans. As you know, I always have my scan the day of the test. Thus, my oncologist doesn't have a final report at appointment time; sometimes a preliminary report, but not always. As usual, he looks over the scan himself, and gives me the good news that it's all clear. This time was no different. Afterwards, we made a stop at Ikea on the way back home. I bought a ton of furniture for my apartment. Everything was going great. We had a Fourth of July/College Graduation party going on the next day.  The next day,...

Well, its been a year since my last update.  Here's what's happened since then... College I finished up my last year of college. I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics. I finished Magna Cum Laude in the College of Engineering (Top 6% of class). I'm very proud of myself. Graduating college was a very distant goal four years ago when I was being pumped with chemotherapy. I even finished with better grades than before cancer. This is because I became even more driven after going through cancer. Also, after going through my treatments and returning to school, my studies became an important outlet for me to escape or at least not think about what had happened. My obsessiveness with my studies definitely helped my grades too. Moving out to Penn State my junior year was the best thing to happen to me psychologically since being diagnosed. My mood and energy improved a lot. Graduating college means so much more to me than just receiving ...

I've had a few appointments since my last update so let's catch up. June 2015, I had an appointment to check the status of the healing of my arm. There was progress, but not enough to allow me to do whatever I want. I was given the green-light to do controlled weight bearing activities like push-ups, but an unexpected fall on my arm would more than likely break the work that's there so I had to be really careful. It bummed me out that I still had restrictions, but I did what I could. By the end of the summer I was able to do three push-ups, so I did make progress. It took me weeks before I could even do one. The combination of the pain, and the muscular atrophy is what made it so difficult. I waited until December of 2015 to get an update on my arm, and I finally received the news I had been waiting for. There was enough callous formation to lift all restrictions! I can do whatever I want now. It took two years from the original surgery, but late is better than never. B...

It has been a while since my last update. Here's what happened since then... In mid April, April 17th to be exact, I had my one year scans. Good news! I'm still showing no evidence of disease. It was a longer appointment than usual because I had a few questions to ask. I'll discuss a few of these below. I asked about my hair or lack thereof which I am a little bothered by. My hair is normal on the sides, but never got any thicker on top. It's really noticeable when I go outside with the sun out. Baldness runs in the family so my oncologist thinks that losing my hair to chemo accelerated the balding process. My hair isn't going to get any thicker than what it is now. When it's really short it doesn't look bad, but when I let it grow in I look aged. I'll just have to keep it really short from now on; problem solved. I also asked about where I stand now with having one year of clear scans. In my case he put me at a 70% chance to beat it when I was f...

On Monday I had an x-ray and an appointment with my surgeon. The bone graft is continuing to grow and build the bridge to the cadaver bone. The top portion grew a lot from the last appointment x-ray taken in November. It was the first time that the growth was blatantly obvious to me. On some angles the top is almost there, but on other angles it has some to grow. The bottom part is lagging behind, but has shown some improvement since last time. The hardware is all intact. With the rate that I grow new bone it's progressing at a normal rate. I still have the same restrictions. With the restrictions I have, my surgeon was very impressed with how much I've built my strength in my arm, and really my upper body in general. I was a lot stronger this time than the last going through the various exercises to assess my arm strength. I'm at a level of strength that I don't need rehab when I eventually get the restrictions lifted which is pretty great. The pain I've been hav...

On Friday I had my nine month checkup. The results were good; there is still no evidence of disease! My oncologist was happy with how much healthier I looked than my last appointment in October. It was a pretty short appointment as not much has changed since the last one other than the fact that I gained some needed weight and have more energy now. The appointment was in Radnor, which I haven't been to since my three month scans. It was nice seeing the amazing nurses that were so important in helping me get through my treatment. They are so glad to see me on the "other side" now, and looking healthier every time I see them. Stress was really bad for me this time. All week I was really stressing over the appointment; much more than the previous appointments. I'm into that zone now where relapses typically occur so I was pretty nervous. I could write a lot on my thoughts about the stress I experienced this week, but I want this to be a happy post. My scans were clea...