[Magdalen] Belated medical update.

[Marion Thompson]

Onward and upward, Mike!  We're walking with you and looking for the 
good news.

Marion, a pilgrim

On 3/11/2016 12:31 PM, M J _Mike_ Logsdon wrote:
> Monday's visit to Doc Kim was eventful.  First, I was right about the PET scan, that it did indeed indicate nothing more than we already knew, which was good.  Second, I was able to show her what had cropped up since I'd last seen her a month ago, namely, the spread of the "tumor-like" (based merely on how they feel to the touch) nodules on my legs and feet all up my legs and to my hips, and mainly on the right side.  I directed her to them, and when she started feeling them, and particularly the largest of them, she got a glimmer in her eye and a smile on her face, and after she'd mumbled some medical gunk back and forth with her research fellow assistant, she looked up at me and said "I'm so glad you came in today!"  "Oh?"  "Yes!  I want one of these!"  I said "Get your own!"  A futile conversation in which I tried my best to get it put off a week (which I always do when it comes to needles and miniature razor-sharp cookie cutters, my 7th by now), which ended after she and her staff finally looked at my ride for the day (a dear nurse friend, whom I love dearly) with a "Please do something!" look, and my friend came over, put her arm around my shoulder, laid her head on mine, and said "Michael, it's happening today."  And it did.  With me shaking and sweating and holding onto my friend for dear life as the largest chunk of me yet was removed from me.  But you know what?  It was, after the first few seconds, literally nearly pain-free.  I learned later it's because on my feet and shins there was a lot of bone so the lidocaine spread laterally, away from the site.  This time, it was my thigh, lots of nice fat cells, so it stayed put and did its appointed job.  Also, the research fellow assistant who did it shot me maybe ten or more times (I was told later) all around the site, such that by the third shot I already wasn't feeling anything.  Such genius.  When it was done I said "Let's do it again!"  I still call it medieval barbering at its best, so the research fellow told me she'd make sure and do the next one herself as well, if needed (and you all know as well as I do that it will be, my luck; that time, it'll be on my torso re the potential lymphoma).
>
> After reading the write-up of the procedure online, I can say they're 90% certain that hips down is vasculitis, though still of a perplexing sort (the write-up literally begins with the words "This is a challenging case."), and torso up they're apparently not at all certain about lymphoma.  They've got me on a topical steroid right now to see if the rash responds positively to it, and if so they'll steer away from lymphoma.  If not, back to the drawing, and cutting, board.
>
> The good news is that my shin and feet wounds are healing, slowly, and more shin than feet.  Which means less pain, though still constant discomfort and daily "redressing of my grievances", ala Brud.
>