closing time

We close on this property on Friday in Highland, Wi. Cross your fingers that it happens without a hitch. See that little garage addition to the right, yeah, well that's going to be a nice little studio!

As is typical, things have been fast paced with contacting various doctors, methods for treatment, etc. I'm about to cancel my surgery in NYC with Dr. Shafir. This does not mean that I will not get treatment, I just won't get that treatment. I could go into all the details, but they are many. Really, I just can't stomach a full recap. The IR team at Northwestern wants to watch and wait for a few more months, then go in for some type of embilization therapy. I've been talking with a great Oncologist at Sloan (MSK) in NYC, and she feels strongly that the hunt for the primary tumor is not all that important right now...and that I should default to Northwestern's course. However, she noted that if Dr. Chen at the University of Wisconsin thinks surgery is a good option, she would default to his opinion. I'm meeting with Dr. Chen at UW this Friday.

I also sent my files to a renegade surgeon in Omaha, Nebraska, named Dr. Botha. Botha is reviewing my case further with a panel, but from his review, he thinks I'm a good candidate for a type of "double resection". With this, they would do 2 surgeries... they'd go in and resect sections of tumor from the the left lobe, close me up and heal. Then, come back a few months later, and entirely remove the right lobe of my liver (including that large tumor). The right lobe would then eventually grow back, hopefully clean. Of course, they would also look for the primary tumor. Potentially, this would leave me "disease free"... however, chances for recurrence are pretty high... but most of the cancer would be out. This is a SERIOUS ordeal, which would have me recovering (mostly at home) for 6-8 months, if not more. I'm going to strongly consider it and set up an appointment in Omaha. I need to know more about the risks and benefits. This would be a tough choice and I still need to weigh all my options. I have also been in touch with the Mayo Clinic... they're a bit awkward, and even freaked me out, making me think that I could possibly have an aggressive type of thyroid cancer?? They think I should take a Calcitonin blood test, which I will do just for good measure. That would really suck, but it's probably not likely the case.

We're closing on our new house in Highland, Wisconsin. It's little foreclosure property in a very rural town (pop. 800.). It's just 25 minutes from our favorite town of Mineral Point, and about 3.5hrs from Chicago. But it's a nice little 2nd home to get out of town and recover. And, even better, we'll own it outright in a few years (so, they can't take it away if the business goes bust!). All I really own outright is a crappy old work van, some photobooths and a lot of debt... Ok, I have a lot of books and photos too... but you get what I'm saying.

On other fronts, working as always on the booths and other interesting ventures!