Scan on Monday

Well, I know what I won't be getting for Christmas.

The James Brown auction at Christie's took place on the 17th. One of the big sellers was his medical bracelet, which had been thought to fetch a relatively paltry $300. It ended up going for $32, 500, purchased by Paul Shaffer, the band leader for David Letterman.

And that signed Snoop photo went for $825.

Read more here, or visit the Christie's site to see the prices for everything else.

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I was hoping to have a link to the official results for the 4 mile race on Monday, but it's not up yet. We do have a couple of pics, though:

To the left: Here we are before the race began, looking fresh and enthusiastic.

Below: Very close to the finish. Lee had actually already finished, and then came back and ran the last few hundred yards with us again. We're getting some encouragement from the kids.

The official results will have me finishing before Mary, but she let me pass her at the end, so she should really get the finish ahead of me. She could have gone way faster than she did, if her speaking full paragraphs (as opposed to my three or four word phrases through huffs and puffs) are any indication. I appreciated the company, though.

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Thanks to all the Maryland and Virginia folks who gave us such a great time last week. We had a blast. Can't wait to see you all again.

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Finally: I have my next scan on Monday.

I don't think there will be any major changes, but there's always that little bit of anxiety ("scanxiety," we call it in the support group) for the few days before. You start thinking, When I ran on Monday, I was breathing a little harder than usual. Just a new set of things to be allergic to down in DC? Or maybe hot summer/bad air quality? Or are some deeper nodes getting bigger in my chest and pushing on a lung?

Who knows? I can't worry about that.

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me how things were going. I told him I had the scan coming up. He said, "That must be really stressful."

Well, yes and no. Obviously, I'd love to have things be so stable that I'm one of the lucky few that won't need treatment for years. But I also know those are both lucky and few. The 10 or 20 year watch-and-waiters are, I'm guessing, the same 10-15% who somehow get their follicular NHL diagnosis when it's in stage 1. The rest of us catch it at stage 3 or 4, like me. The average watch and wait period is about 18 months. But many patients need treatment immediately -- sometimes fairly aggressive treatment.

My point is, I'm prepared for whatever happens with the next scan. I'm hoping, of course, that's it's still stable. But I'm ready to switch back into Fight Mode if I need to.

I won't have results until later in the week, and then I meet with Dr. R in about 10 days. I'll update you when I know something.

(And I'll send those race results when they finally get posted.)