Larry: 1 Lymphoma: 0

So far so good! I'm about 3 months off of the last of my treatments and I feel great! My energy level isn't quite as enthusiastic, but I'm hoping it gets back there. It has improved quite a bit in the past two months. I used to walk 1 mile at a 20 min/mile pace and be tired. Now I can do 3 at almost a 15 minute pace!

So what's my deal? Diagnosed with NHL stage II large cell aggressive in June 2003. I got the quadruple whammy of treatments - surgery to remove 7 cm of small bowel (call it the tumor tube if you like!)) - six rounds of CHOP - six rounds of Rituxan - 17 doses of IMRT (radiation). And as I said, so far, so good. CT scans are my future now. I'm sure my ins co is pleased! Hey - if I had a choice! ;-)

So now I'm back to work nearly full time. I'm getting back into the exercise routine. Time to drop those prednisone pounds! Remember that nasty taste from the first dose of chemo?! Ugh! And then you take that prednisone (why can't they make those things in coated form?!?!?! I was so close to dipping them in chocolate! At least I could swallow them w/o that awful bitter taste!), it just says "hey dude, the fridge, I think we need to go visit it!" You respond "but I just ate" and it says "yeah, so what - get up and get some more vanilla ice cream!" Whew! The ice cream was wonderful! It tasted great, plus it was liquid. I don't know about you guys, but I had a hard time putting down liquids....and I needed them - lots.

A big part of keeping my sanity was being able to laugh. We all know the saying that "laughter is the best medicine." Well, it's also about the cheapest too! No insurance required! It's being goofy like that, that really made me forget about the pain for a while. Then I started thinking - how can I spread this around? What can I do to make a difference? If I can just make people forget about cancer for a bit, to laugh and joke and smile - what a wonderful escape. There are just so many benefits to it all. Since I couldn't do any benefit runs or charity pledge bike rides at the time....and I've done several every year...I had to think up something unique. The result is gotCancer.org. I started a store of sorts that caters directly to the cancer community. Hats, shirts, musgs and more - all aimed right at patients, survivors, supporters and even the caregivers! The idea - "lauging in cancer's face." We laugh at it, we make fun of it and we'd even kick it in the teeth if we could! But most of all, we are helping to bring a smile to cancer patients. Just a little escape from it all. And since cancer sucks and no one deserves to be diagnosed with it, we're gonna send our profits back to cancer research and support organizations - every stinkin little penny!

Please stop by the site - www.gotcancer.org - let me know what you think. It'll continue to grow every day. Hopefully, my little effort here will help make a difference for at least one person out there!

And for those still fighting NHL - hang in there!
Larry
www.gotcancer.org