A Bump in "The Road Ahead."

There's good news and not-so-good news. First, the good news: for those who haven't heard, my scan on the 11th was clear. The cancer is still at bay, I'm still in remission! This is an incredible blessing...perhaps the triple threat (surgery+chemo+radiation) has done the trick. 90 more days, baby!

In the "not-so-good news" realm, the 18th came and went -- with no new forehead. The short version of a long story is that the prosthetic fabricator made the frontal plate out of the wrong material. For those who are interested in the long story...

Here's the original plan:

The image above is from the 1-mm brain scan I had a few weeks ago -- that's actually my skull, you can even see the scar from the bone saw used in previous surgeries. The gold portion is the plate they've created out of titanium mesh. Now, for nearly every cranioplasty patient, titanium mesh is the best option -- lighter, stronger, and integrates well with natural tissues (bone and skin). In numerous consultations with the neurosurgery team, the prosthetic fabricator was able to make a solid case that titanium mesh is the best way to go. Unfortunately, I am not your standard cranioplasty patient. Simply said, titanium mesh is the best way to go, if you never have to remove it. My neurosurgeon here is a fabulous guy and very experienced, and has put many of these plates in -- but, admittedly, has never had to take one out. With my history of tumors and prior brain surgeries, we are realists and understand that (despite the good news above) it is entirely likely that we'll need to go back in at some point to remove additional tumors. Titanium mesh integrates with the healthy bone, and the scalp actually settles into the mesh -- it really becomes a part of your head, which is a great thing for most patients, but not for me. In addition, titanium could mask a recurrence -- since it's metal, it can introduce imperfections and "false positives" into an MRI, and could even mask recurrent tumor tissue. So, for at least a few reasons, titanium mesh is a bad idea for me, and the neurosurgeon has made the right decision to cancel surgery and order an acrylic plate. We're back on the calendar for 15 January, so stay tuned!

Training has gone quite well over the past month or so. Those of you who know me are well aware of the fact that these little "bumps in the road" like cranial reconstructions and brain surgeries don't slow me down much...and you may remember from a previous blog that I've decided to specialize in the half-marathon. My goal is to break 1:30 next year, which starts with the National Half-Marathon in March. Goal for this race is somewhere in the 1:37s, around 7:25/mile pace. I'm focusing on the Furman Institute's of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) half-marathon plan, and it really seems to be working so far. Has anyone used FIRST before? The book "Run Less, Run Faster" is largely based on Furman's research, and I must say I'm pretty impressed. PRs at both 5 and 8 miles just in the last few weeks (36:11 and 59:24 respectively), so it can accomplish some pretty good results on only 3 runs per week.

That's all for now -- of course we thought we'd be in recovery from surgery this week, so didn't make any plans, and will be spending a quiet Christmas at home with Pooh and Monkey. To be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. Be thankful for life and loved ones today, my friends!