Cancer's Reality

Today Cassie and I will be attending a funeral. A college friend of mine watched his sister (age 30) battle breast cancer just to fall victim to sarcoma, a very advanced cancer that found its way into her lungs.

I have only been to two funerals in my entire life, both being grandparents of mine that were "old". My heart goes out to this family who's daughter/sister was stolen at such a young age. I expect this to be very eye opening experience for us.

It's hard to believe that only a couple of years ago I didn't even know what an oncologist was and now I will see first hand the painful affects of cancer and what is the end result for so many families each year.

Peace and love to this family...they have been through so much.

Blessed Amidst a Curse

I'll try to tone down the deep reflection, but I am blown away by how such a horrific diagnosis is paving way for new opportunities in the thick of the storm. Tonight I will be sharing my journey of Faith, Football and Cancer with the Michigan Football team. All of this while I am on chemo heading into a stem cell transplant...craziness...

Those who follow college football know that my Wolverines have been on a very challenging journey as well. There is so much we can all learn in our darkest moments whether a loss to Appalachian State or a cancer diagnosis. Sometimes the forest needs to burn a little longer so a new forest can be raised from the ashes.

I don't know how 2010 is going to unfold for my personal health, nor the health of my beloved football program, but I think we all need to keep the faith and continue to trust.

New Data Point Coming Soon...

This coming Sunday begins the 24 hour pee-pod followed by blood work on Monday. Because I am a simple guy and as the blog title states this is for dummies, the things I hope for in the results are that that calcium stays in my bones and the M-Protein stays under 3.0.  There are a lot of numbers to track, but those are the high level markers of whether or not we need to start thinking about thinking. I would rather not start thinking... :P

Roughly 99.9% of the time I am not reminded of the fact that I have cancer of the incurable variety. I think the quarterly testing makes me think about it 0.1% of my time.  Stupid tests.....Results will be in next Tuesday, Feb. 24th.  Go Blue, Phil