I’m sitting in a 4 hour dialysis in Oak Harbor as I type. It is surreal. Our first night home was glorious and rough. I don’t know if it is the cancer, which is still of course out of control, or the chemo, which, is trying to control it, but I started to feel pretty bad near bedtime with uncontrolled chills. Then, diarrhea continued the entire night (side effect of the chemo.) Somewhere in the middle of the night the chills finally broke.

If there is a silver-ling to such a bad night is that I had to get up to pee, and to pee a lot, 10 times. I’ve noticed my over-all edema is down quite a bit, telling me that my real kidneys are trying their best to kick in.

Again, I have no desire to start a blog about “Mike’s Journey with Cancer.” I find the whole topic sickening for me to think about. I debated if I even wanted to do an update today but I know siblings and friends were asking and this is still a concise place to let them know.

I meet with my new oncologist on Tuesday, then I hope we have a clear plan going forward. My goal, will be stem-cell transplant, which can buy people time, up to years. There is still no cure but management, to keep the beast from killing you while you try to add a few more years to your life. Who knows, maybe a cure will come before this nasty thing takes me out.