Can Ohio State even spell BCS???

Well, let's see. The Big Ten has all this reputation and no ability. Meanwhile, people think the Pac Ten is awful because good teams take turns beating each other up. Must have something to do with the time zones, and people missing games...I haven't even bothered, but an accumulation of total points scored by each conference in a bowl game might make for an interesting SportsCenter segment, don't you think?

Today, I’m typing in the Opium Den. Finished “Hannibal Rising,” not exactly the best movie to watch in a physician’s office, but well done nonetheless. Not as creepy as Silence of the Lambs, but a little more gore. No, a LOT more gore. Not for most teens or certainly any children.

Moving along to a bit more pleasantry, it dawned on me today that most people are fortunate not to have experienced a CT scan. My torso scans are shot horizontally, while lying down. Then, when the “slices” are compiled, it creates something akin to a multi-story building. Each slice is a new floor. Oddly enough, when the radiologist reviews the images, it is much like installing an elevator in one’s body, and the radiologist rides up and down the elevator. “Image six, hepatic dome.” “Sportswear, ladies' accessories, jewelry.” “Visible at this view, an ill-defined attenuating lesion measuring 2.1 cm by 1.7 cm.”

Moving down to the lower floors, we’re comfortable knowing that the spleen, kidneys, gall bladder and pancreas are unremarkable. Each is found on a different floor, basically, in our building. Pretty remarkable science, if it is conducted on someone else’s body. On mine, I get a little weirded out thinking that someone can simply zip up and down the elevator. I keep hoping they find a $20 gold piece I may have swallowed as a child, or some other miracle…but it is all organ tissue and these crummy little “lesions.”

Two weeks ago, the session was challenging. Today, I’m hopeful that more rest than I could manage over Christmas, and some refinements to my diet, will help the 48 hours pass uneventfully. I’m getting a later start this week, not on Monday, because the room was simply too busy to accommodate us all yesterday. Poor commentary on the state of cancer in the US, when holiday schedules are overloaded by all the patients. And this is just one of the cancer clinics in Portland.

Other than fatigue and some creeping nausea last time, life is GOOD. Lizzy and Billy were here for New Year’s and the birthdays we accumulate this time of year. Terrific to see them. Hard to have both of them leave, and then follow that up a few days later with Vickie’s return to Valpo. Each is so enthusiastic about life right now, which makes it easier to see them off…knowing that they are building terrific young lives. I love learning from them, knowing more, and just seeing some terrific kids turn into terrific adults.

Circles of friends continue to do nice things. Dinner with Jon and Nancy Egge—others making plans for the Valentine’s wine tasting trip—Fubarians getting out golf calendars while planning months ahead. We’ve come to realize that it isn’t the stuff we do….it is the people with whom we do it. That’s what makes a difference. I’ve already made reservations to see the Boston Pops Orchestra when we attend BU commencement, and more planning will come together for that trip, too.

Keep thinking good thoughts. We go back and shoot pictures up and down the elevator shaft in a month, with plans for reduction of the lesions. This time, it was good to have them stabilize, and now we want them to begin to disappear. More chemical weapons may be called upon to assist, but we’re running this same game plan until February. For now, it seems my hair has stopped falling out as fast as before, my weight is actually up from the Holiday Feasting, and on the weeks I don’t visit the opium den I feel terrific. Let’s just hope this week is a little more docile than last.