Getting Ready

It's Sunday afternoon and Renee and I are packing up for our trip to Houston and MD Anderson's cancer hospital.  This is really just a 'test post' as I familiarize myself with this blog tool and how it works.  I am scheduled to meet with Dr. Keating tomorrow morning around 9:30, but I have to be in the blood lab at 6:45 for a blood draw.  I had a really unexpected and wonderful bit of news on Friday - I went to see my local oncologist, Dr. Allan Kritz, because he wanted to "get his hands on my lymph nodes" before I went to Houston - they did a routine blood draw and my white cell count had dropped - that's right, dropped - for the first time since I was diagnosed - from 86,000 to 75,000.  That's what we call a praise!  It doesn't changes the basic facts around my disease, but it does mean that it's not advancing as rapidly as I thought it was after the last draw (Nov. 16).  Ok that's it for now, we will be arriving in Houston at 10 pm tonight and staying at the Jesse Jones Rotary House International which is owned by and attached to the hospital.  More soon - thanks to everyone for your words of encouragement and prayers.