Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I hope that each and every one of you are as lucky as I am and have someone special to share it with. If not, I hear that they have some pretty wicked singles parties today so maybe that perfect someone is just a few drinks away.

I would have liked to have posted more over the last few weeks but between the various activities and just not feeling like writing, it has gone a bit by the wayside. Also, if I have not returned your call, I will try to shortly. Don't think that I am ignoring you.

Healthwise I am still feeling really well and handling the treatment really well. I had a scan on Jan 15 with some mixed results. The good news was that there were no new sites of metastases and that the metastases previously observed had not grown or changed (still a handful of small spots on the liver and a nodule at my lung base). The bad news was that the cyst had actually grown a bit. It had shrunk pretty significantly after the first scan on Oct 31, 2006 and is still much smaller than when it was characterized during diagnosis, but it seems that if it is now growing, that it is no longer responding to this particular chemo regimen. So, we have changed regimens. I am now on a drug called Mitomycin C along with Xeloda. The drug is a purple liquid that is given intravenously from a syringe that looks like a small turkey baster. The liquid really looks like purple gatorade. The chemo schedule has not really been established yet, but it looks like I will be getting this every other week. It has been quite a change of time commitment with this drug regimen versus the previous regimen. Before I would spend 4 hours on two consecutive days getting chemo in the office. Now I am in and out in less than an hour and only go in for one day. It is nice not having to be there so long but actually, I really enjoy the office and would almost always love chatting it up in the chemo lounge. It also makes me a little anxious to go from 5 drugs down to 2. If I had it my way, they would have just added this drug into the mix. The side effects are pretty minimal as I have not noticed anything particularly out of the ordinary. Eva has mentioned that my mood has changed a bit but that might have also been from being a bit bummed out about the scan. I don't know. I still feel healthy and have been holding onto the idea that if they did not tell me I was sick, I would not know.

As far as keeping busy, I did a bit of flying in January and passed the written test for my pilots licence. Then Eva and I headed over to Switzerland to see Eva's family. We spent a couple of weeks on the continent and it was really fun. Eva got to go shopping with her mother which some how started with some pant shopping for me (which I do not know how I survived). Let me tell you, pant shopping has become quite a humbling experience. I have actually dropped a few pounds but not really enough to make a significant difference in my waste size. I was a pretty good size guy before adding 20 pounds and now I am just a big boy. When the 36s were too tight, we went to the 38s, and then even a 40. Pretty depressing for a guy that used to get 34s so I could sag them down around my butt. Eva and her mother were relentless, too. It was like they were on a mission to find me some pants that fit well. They just kept coming back with more pants. I could not keep up with trying them all on. Then, Eva's mother had an epiphany, "Stretch pants are the answer." Eventually, we found a couple pairs of pants and the ordeal was over. For the rest of the afternoon, they let me hang out at the food court with my laptop while they sought out the deals they had been dreaming about. They made some pretty incredible scores, too. It seemed like everything Eva got was like 30 franks marked down from 300. What a cute little shopping duo.

Aside from shopping, we had a couple cultural outings but the primary reason for the trip was to spend time with Eva's family. We had a few really nice dinners with Eva's parents as well as George (the brother) and his girlfriend Susi. I do not know if it was the time change or the chemo or what, but Eva and I also slept more than we have in a long time while we were over there. We felt a little bad for missing breakfast most mornings, but it was really nice and rejuvenating to get some good quality sleep. We did do one little trip to the L'Alsce region of France. It is the fertile Rein land region that has traded hands between Germany and France probably a couple dozen times. There are a number of cute little towns in the middle of vast vineyards. We had a spectacular dinner at one of these little vineyards. The food and the ambiance were great until, as we were leaving, the cook started hanging off Eva a bit. A group of actors assured me that this was the French way and then we joined them for a bit of champagne and desserts. I did not like it much but was appeased by a couple jars of preserves. Yes, it was as random as it sounds.

Finally, I just want to pay a little tribute to my wonderful wife, without which I would almost certainly not be here right now. She is an incredible source of happiness and joy in my life and I could not imagine living without her. I am continually perplexed by how such a beautiful woman can also be so kind and loving and fun to be with. I could not have created a more perfect companion given an infinite amount of resources and time. Eva, I truly love you, you are the light of my life.
-Tyler