From HIMSELF

Dave wrote the following to a dear friend that just got the news: Thanks for the thoughts. Just to give you the whole official story: Around mid-April I went in for a colonoscopy & they found the cancer. For about a week or so we thought that it had spread to the liver (and that the prognosis wasn't too good) but after a couple of weeks and more MRIs/CAT Scans/PET Scans than you can shake a stick at - the Drs determined it was a stage 2/3 colon/rectum cancer. We "moved" up to MA (with my folks) and have been going to Mass General. The treatment is pretty standard. 6 weeks of combined chemotherapy & radiation. I'm currently on week three of this stage - the chemo is a constant feed of small amount 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The radiation is about 15 minutes, M - F. I get off Sat & Sund. After this, there is about 6 weeks of nothing while the radiation continues its work. Then I have to go for surgery to remove the infected area. Then there is another 6 weeks or so of recovery, followed by 4 months of more chemo (only about once every other week). With all this the detailer decided to cancel the orders to Staten Island. I'll be in a temporary support billet still at the Academy while I undergo treatment. I'll be doing work "as tolerated" - right now they've been emailing me paperwork / editing to do up here. On a personal level - I'm doing pretty good. I'm tolerating the treatment relatively well. I'm having some trouble sleeping at night & have become more tired as the treatment goes along (fatigue is a big side effect). I've also had some quesiness but not so much that I can't eat. I did lose about 10 lbs in the month or so after the diagnosis but have been maintaining since the treatment started.