Today, I did my walk on the Tommy Thompson trail. My plan was to continue listening to my novel Detroit; An American Autopsy, by Charlie LeDuff. I use the term “novel” loosely, as it seems to start as a novel but becomes an accurate book of modern history, accented with presumably fictionalized background and foreground…

Returning to the Question of Value and Math While I was alluding to the complex mathematical equations earlier, now I want to down shift to the very basic mathematical equation, like you would encounter in elementary school, and that is finding the balance, from left to right, over an equals (=) sign. In the third…

Mathematics is the Native Language of God. I will take, what may seem like a strange sidebar to this conversation, but I think is an essential concept and the philosophical root to this discussion. I think I’ve said this before, but I am convinced that mathematics is the native language of God. All other texts,…

This is where I take a very simple thought and expand it into its philosophical roots, loosing most readers in the process. Now that’s not my intention, to lose people, or not to be clear. Sometimes we don’t resolve arguments because we abandon them too early without thinking them to their conclusion. I don’t mind…

I came into the stem cell transplant program on May 1st. It has been a daunting journey for Denise and me both. At 3 PM today, I am scheduled for discharge and it is now 5:30 AM and no new hiccups, so the discharge is to be expected. Now that this phase is over, I…

The photo on the left was taken at 2 PM today. The one on the right at 3:30 PM. The indwelling tunnel catheter is gone forever. No more dialysis. No words can explain what this means.

In just 72 hours, I face a huge landmark. I have orders from the department of nephrology at the University of Washington to have the tunnel catheter (which goes into my Vena Cava) removed. I can remember that scary and confusing night on January 17th when it was put in. We had no clue as…

It appears that I have pseudo-Host Vs Graft Syndrome. For patients like me, who received their own stem cells, this problem, while with severe symptoms, is usually easily treated. The team reached this conclusion by all the other test being negative and how profoundly I’ve responded to three days of high dose steroids. So, I…

I’m not too surprised, but it looks like my discharge will be delayed by one week. While we have gone stir-crazy living in downtown Seattle, I certainly don’t want to go home feeling as bad as I do. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of this ASAP.  Mike

The cancer family of diseases are nasty, very nasty. The word “family” doesn’t seem appropriate here. While I’m grateful for all the new treatments for cancer, which we didn’t have just a few years ago, we must find a more humane way of treating this terrible disease. We need treatments and cures that are beyond…