My blog began in May 2012 essentially to keep friends informed about my adventures with cancer so they would not have to bring it up every time we met at the supermarket or look at me as if they expected me to drop dead before their very eyes. Since the surgery to remove a spot of melanoma on my left lung in June 2013 things have been rather uneventful so I dropped the cancer chronicles and have blogged intermittently on more horrible things like American politics.  However there have been a few recent cancerous developments so here is an update for anyone who may be interested.

In October 2013 a rather arduous medical runaround began with the discovery of a spot in my right lung which was too small to biopsy so they decided to “watch” it.  Then another too-small-to biopsy lung spot popped up in February 2014.  But them a CT scan in June suddenly revealed a “suspicious” nearly one-inch spot on my liver.  This was followed by a biopsy that was “inconclusive” followed by another CT scan that indicated the “suspicious” spot was still suspicious but had not grown, followed by another more elaborate biopsy that finally concluded last week the spot was not cancer.  That was, of course, welcome news. However, the biopsy pathology report noted that my liver has “minimal chronic hepatitis,” “minimal lobular hepatitis,” “no significant fibrosis,” “hemosiderosis” and “moderate macro and microvesicular steatosis.”  Of course I looked these up on the internet to learn they are all indications of perhaps over-enthusiastic alcohol consumption which of course took me completely by surprise.  (Just kidding.)  During the office visit, the doctor did mention something to the effect that it would be a good idea for me to stop drinking alcohol.  That would require me to eliminate some ingrained life style rituals like cocktails before dinner, beer with lunch and wine with meals in general (excluding breakfast).  After considerable thought, I now think there is something to be said for the idea that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.   The doctor evidentially thinks I am good for at least another three months and has scheduled the next scan for mid-January.  I am putting cancer on hold until then.  If we run into each other in the supermarket I will tell you in advance I am doing just fine so let’s talk about something else like the high moral character of professional football players