Steelers win, 24 days till pitches & catchers, and all is well....

What's up peeps?

OK, we'll get the Anna stuff out of the way first... things are boring. (again, boring is good... but yes, it's very boring, so that's very good). She had her weekly checkup today. Doctor says she looks great and is doing great. They accessed her port today (that's the thing they used to use to administer some of the chemo and draw blood when it was very frequent). She was pretty nervous about that, but it seems to have gone pretty well. She's had a few nights lately where she has a tough time sleeping. The doctor isn't too worried about it yet... and they'll revisit once they get through a couple more spinal taps. I tend to have a few drinks and sleep through it all. All of her numbers remain in the acceptable range, and are even starting to move into the normal range.

She has another spinal tap on Wednesday. That will be number 4 of 5. Then, another one next week.. and then she has a very quiet period for the following 5 weeks or so where it is really just chemo pills, which are administered at home. After that, she has another pretty intense period for about 8 weeks, but we're not worried about that.... Looking ahead, if all remains on schedule, she should be on the once-a-month maintenance schedule by the summer time.

She's slowly added an extra pound or two and her hair is coming back in. It's still very boy-short, just beyond a buzz cut... but given that her hair is there and she's added a couple pounds, she's at a point where if you saw her and didn't know, you probably wouldn't suspect anything. Of course, looks are just looks and aren't what really matter here... but I think it makes her feel a lot better about herself when she looks in the mirror (I think she has looked beautiful the entire time, but that's a different story).

She's really looking forward to the Marc Anthony concert with Judy on Feb 14th. Still not sure how I'm getting left alone for Valentine's day... I think TJ and I are going to head out and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Did everyone see the Steelers win?!?!?! Wow. I'm thrilled that they are back to the Super Bowl. Can't wait for the game.... and pitchers and catchers are now under a month away.

I realize I haven't been writing often, but there really isn't too much new with Anna. Since Monday is her normal appointment, I'll post at least on Monday nights. Been starting to think about writing about other topics lately, but felt a little guilty about it since you are all here to read the Anna updates. Who really care about my opinions on sports, politics, or general observations. Maybe I'll setup a different site or something.

Regardless of political affiliation, I hope everyone is approaching tomorrow's inauguration with optimism. I was reading in the Post today about the likely reference to Kennedy's "ask not... " speech. I like that... I think we should all think about what we can do. Way too many people in this country still with an odd sense of entitlement.

peace out (and my lambo is not blue)