yeah.

sorry. been a month. I know.

Guess that means things are going well. April is a busy time around here, my birthday, Maris' birthday, Kris and my anniversary (7 years, thank you very much), Kris' birthday in early May and Mother's Day.

This year I got Kris a kayak for the anniv/birth/mothersday extravaganza. Its pretty cool really - 15' long and inflatable. It's essentially the same material as a white-water raft and designed for two adults (or single if need be). Attached is a photo where we went for a literal dry run. It took about 20 minutes to inflate, but I'm confident we can get that down to 10 now that we know what we're doing.

My Garden.

Ok, its not much now - but wait. Built entirely of cedar and filled with a blend of mushroom compost, top soil and peat. Oh yeah, I also added two dozen night crawlers.

Good Bye Mrs. Olbermann

Very few people like Keith the way I do. I find him entertaining and at the very least - leaning the way I do. He lost his mom to breast cancer this week and did a wonderful tribute to here. Enjoy.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

seriously, has it been a month.

I'm doing fine...aside from an infected finger (which was saved through the miracles of Neosporin), all clear.

I unfortunately didn't plan ahead very well and do not have pictures to post from my latest project, but I'll share anyway. We decided to plant a raised bed garden this year. The kids are now old enough to learn about plants, the planting process, food sources, etc and frankly, I just wanted to do it. I built the beds last weekend out of 2x4 cedar stock - they are just shy of 1' deep and will be filled with Mark's Mix ( a mixture of mushroom compost, peat and top soil ). I have two beds that are 4' x 8' with pvc canopy supports so I can top them with plastic to extend the growing season about a month in either direction.

We started seeds a couple weeks ago and Maris helps me keep them watered every other day. Our beans and peas are already about 7" tall and everything else is coming along nicely ( herbs, carrots, cherry tomatoes, beets, radishes and a lettuce mix ). I hope to get them all outside by mid next week so we can really let them grow. I suspect the beans are already root bound so waiting any longer is not an option. I should have probably waited another month to get this stuff going, but I refuse to wait until July before we can start harvesting.

Anyway - that's it. Pretty exciting - great project ( under budget ).

Next up, religion by John. More soon.

the cure.

Gleevec is not a curative drug. Howevever, a recent study showed that with Gleevec, 86 percent of patients are still alive after 7 years (I know, that also means that 14 in 100 still die in the same time frame).

An article on CNN.com (click here) talks about approaching cancer more as a chronic condition vs curative treatment. In short, treating cancer more like we treat heart disease and diabetes. For me, that's kinda what we're already doing. I often talk about the challenges/mortality of the stem cell/marrow transplant which to date is the only cure. Most doctors seem to think that managing chronic conditions is natural progression in medicine and one that can benefit overall patient outcomes.

So, what do you think?

sooo....

I got my PCR-ABL news yesterday and unfortunately, it wasn't exactly what I was looking for.

The number of PH+ (leukemia cells) was up instead of down. Needless to say, we'd like it headed in the other direction. Its all a little to confusing to understand (Majors, Minors, PH+, etc)

If there is any good news to be derived from this - it is the fact that these results were from the Clarian (local hospital) lab and my other results were from the lab out West (Washington or Oregon I think). In this type of test, the results are very dependent on the lab and the only way they really measure progress is in reductions of the number of cells vs the actual number of cells.

My oncologist seems to think that I am really in no danger right now so we are sticking with the six month routine at which point I'll be tested again using the Clarian lab. His confidence reassures me, however I'll probably have a lot more on my mind in the coming months until we figure out what is going on.

I doubt that I am failing the Gleevec and it should be noted that I'm on the lowest active dose right now so we can always increase it if need be. Still, the news weighs a little heavily on me.

Onward and upward.

Quickie.

I got stuck this morning...

It was only one stick with the usual 3 vials to follow. I'm sick as the proverbial dog so I wasn't expecting much, but I'll be damned - good numbers.

Whities - 4.4K
Platelets - 156K
HGB - 14.6

Hell, I'm almost normal.

I won't get the all important PCR-ABL results back for a couple weeks. The good news is, Clarian is now processing the results themselves so I am told I will know how good or bad things are in half the time. I'd be delighted to hear that I'm in a cytogenic remission or some variant of it. At this point, I think the only measurement isn't really remission and really more of how many log reductions in Leukemic/PH+ cells they find. My first results last summer were terribly good so I am hopeful for a turn around.

Stay tuned.

Still kicking, one year down.