Wow, what a year! I have just returned from my one year consultation with the angel that a year ago removed 95% of my tumor without leaving me with a single impairment. The consultation could not have been better!
Dr. Duffau is a very busy man and somewhat serious, and when I told him that I was feeling better than before my glioma he jokingly asked "should we remove the other side?".
I am now on my 12th chemo cycle and Temodar seems to be doing wonders in my brain. When I decided under D. Duffau's advice not to follow the standard protocol of radio and chemotherapy - I did not undergo radiotherapy - I was aware that I was taking a calculated risk, and the risk paid off! What is now left of my tumor is so little that it can barely be seen in an MRI. There are a few bright spots that I will check in a new, more detailed exam - an MRI with prefusion and spectroscopy. This will help us determine if what I have is dead tissue or left-over tumor. The phenomenally great news I received from Dr. Duffau is that he left the door open for me to interrupt my chemo treatment, something I will discuss with my onchologist and Dr. Ribas after my next exam.
I don't think things could have gone better after this first year. I have never lived life so intensely and cannot complain for a second about my condition:
- I have been having breakfast and dinner with my family everyday for the first time in my life: nothing like living close to work and skipping my crazy triathlon training schedule!
- I play nearly everyday with my daughters at night;
- I work 11 hours a day;
- I have been able to exercise enough to keep me happy - ran two 10k races, biked with friends and alone nearly every weekend and even did my unofficial triathlon;
- I read 12 books from start to finish, from the History of Cancer to the Medieval History of Europe;
- I read my weekly magazines every week, like they are suposed to be read;
- Updated this blog to provide comfort to those that need it, just like others provided comfort to me when I most needed it, and to keep my friends and family up-to-date with my latest updates.
One might ask how is this even possible and my answer is I have never watched so little TV like now. São Paulo is a dangerous city and it is not hard to fill the news with bad news, so I simply decided to ignore it and all of a sudden São Paulo became a liveable and safe city for me! Like FDR said "there is nothing to fear but fear itself".
Of all the factors I could share about my success to date I believe that the most important ones are knowing that I have an amazing family, the best friends in the world and that God is on my side! With all the prayers I have received, including from people that didn't even know me, I don't think things could have been any different. I was never a very spiritual person but after all this it is hard to believe that life is restricted to now, like the agnostic tradition preaches.
Brain tumors are unpredictable, just like life, and I hope to have at least 62 healthy years ahead of me, the 100 years-old mark just seems so cool! But the number of years we live is significantly less important that what we do now, today, and for that I want to thank everyone that has been following me and cheering me up in this journey, I hope that everyone experiences the avalanche of love I have experienced.
In three days we celebrate Christmas and in nine days we enter a new year. It is great to see how all of a sudden people become nicer, more peaceful and wish everyone a great 2013 during the holiday season. The great news is that it is up to us to make it happen, let's keep the Christmas spirit alive for the whole year of 2013 and we might witness the best year in the history of humanity.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
