Good news/bad news

This morning I got my Avastin infusion. My mom accompanied me to the oncology/infusion center. Afterward she dropped me off at the university. I stopped by my office and then played basketball. This was my second attempt to play full-court basketball. The good news: I felt better than the first time. I played two pretty long games of full-court. I didn't get as tired as quickly as before. I even ran a few times, as opposed to just jogging. I was happy with how I played. Good shooting percentage (helped by the fact that I didn't take any outside shots), a good steal, a good block. I walked home (it was another beautiful sunny day here). I was tired and had to rest during the afternoon, but recovered in the evening.

The bad news: I called and found out this afternoon that the preliminary CEA result from my blood draw this morning was 5.0, up from 1.1 (lower is better) on October 13 and above the normal range of 0-3 for a nonsmoker. I'm not sure how big a deal this is, but it's definitely not a good thing. I think it means that the cancer, after being knocked down by the chemo, is waking up and starting to stir. Needless to say, this makes me nervous. I try not to think about it too much.

My mom made a nice dinner for her, Grace, Miles, and me. Miles was cute at the dinner table and afterward. I watched the end of the Celtics game, as they beat the Bucks in overtime and Paul Pierce scored his 20,000th point as a Celtic (third-most ever after Havlicek and Bird) while sealing the game with free throws. I'll be happy if the aging Celtics can mount another charge in the playoffs (I think they would have won last season if Kendrick Perkins hadn't gotten hurt at the end), and I really hope someone, anyone beats the Lakers. In the late evening I went over to Lynn's house and read Tintin to Seth.

Ethan