Decision Center:

Let me start by thanking everyone for their enthusiasm about the blog. I encourage everyone to keep making comments. Apparently there are alot more people out there than Ashley and myself who are entertained by this site. I sincerely hope that the idea of making a comment doesn't intimidate anyone. Trust me, some of these "witty" comments, including my own, are the result of wasting WAY too much time trying to sound overly intelligent in front of an eagerly awaiting audience. (that sentence took 3 hours to conjure) Both sincere and unintelligent comments are equally welcome.

Next week will host my last three radiation treatments. The Radiation Clinic is closed on Tuesday. Apparently cancer takes the 4th off as a holiday. Good to know. Anyway I'll finish my treatments on Thursday then Ashley and I are going to head to the beach for a long weekend. My doctor wants me and especially my bald arm to stay out of the sun and wear a shirt if outside, so we figured the beach would be the perfect place to make that impossible.

We did meet with the hand specialist at Duke who is also the chief of plastic surgery and the president of the microvasular surgeons association this year. After a grueling interview process and intense review of his resume and references, we decided to hire him and Duke as the team to accomplish our goals with the second surgery. The combination of professionalism, reputation, location, and several other factors lead us to choose DUMC. Ashley thinks the reason I chose them is because I feel comfortable wearing flip-flops at Duke whereas I always wore loafers to MSKCC. Of all the reasons to hinge a decision between the two excellent centers, that's probably the best. Let's be honest. All the surgeon's I've met in the last few months sit on the Jedi Council.

The chest and arm scans are Wednesday as well as scheduling of the surgery and my appointment with my original doctor who will be doing the second recection. Let's kick the Prayerometer up a notch and I'll let everyone know how everything went on Thursday.

Love and thanks.

PS "The Decision Center" is a fictitious place with an 800 number Clark invented. The kind people there take your calls and make tough decisions for you like where to eat, what movie to watch, or which hospital to treat you for cancer. If you don't understand this, don't worry.