The Results Are Back

Ted is on his way home from a business trip to Fort Worth. He left yesterday morning so he could spend the night in the newspaper pressroom. He has to go back up that way on Monday to Dallas and won't be home until Wednesday night or Thursday around noon. Then we're going to Trivia Night at the country club with Terry & Carol.

On Wednesday I went to the girls' Happy Hour at the country club and Terry and Ted went to dinner. I'm meeting two friends for lunch today. I think that's all the outside activity we've done since I wrote last. I've done some laundry and a bit of "a lick and a promise" (as my mother used to say) around the house.

But the big news is the phone call from Raynor at Dr. Ertan's office. Ted had an esophagogastroduodenoscopy on Tuesday. That looks from your pharynx to your small intestine. To the naked eye, all looked good. Well the biopsies said the same thing! No signs of any kind of dysplasia. I asked about the red spot biopsied at 8 mm in his esophagus and he checked that specifically. He said that was a metaplasia. I looked that up and its definition was a non-cancerous irritation. AND ... we don't have to see Dr. Ertan for three months, not two weeks. We were hoping our departure date for Florida wouldn't be affected and now it won't be.

I can't tell you how relieved we are at this outcome. We know there are no long track records on this treatment but everything so far has been extremely positive. The numbers on the studies this year are even better than the previous years because of the introduction of the 90 degree ablator. It is used two months after the 360 degree ablator to touch up missed spots.

Thank you all for your kind words, prayers and cards of encouragement. People tend to have lots of acquaintances they sometimes confuse with friends. These kinds of situations let you know who your real friends are. If you are reading this, you're probably one of them.