WED 6/14 UPDATE (7:00 p.m.)

"So, Mr. Madaris, you are once again cancer-free.  Let's stay that way this time..." 

(delivered with a big smile)

And with those words, my surgeon for all 4 of my surgeries @ MDA dismissed me again with a big smile earlier this afternoon.  *huge grin*

*VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT!!* "Cancer-free" there means basically that the tumor I had a month ago is gone with good "margins" around it, & the pathology results from that surgery were all good.  So, now the prayer & hope is to hear those same words on Friday after tomorrow's P.E.T. scan.

Still, today was a significant appointment.  As fond as Lisa & I are of the guy, we hope we never walk into his part of MDA again.  *smile*

As a HUGE bonus to today's fun, a childhood & HS friend took a day off & drove up to spend the morning & early afternoon with me.  Let me fill in the details of how awesome that is:  He left his house ~6:30 a.m., fixed a flat tire, & then drove 80 miles to get here to the hotel.  We had bkfst here, & then he drove me to MDA.  He hung w/ me there throughout my 2 appointments (!!).  He took me to lunch @ a wonderful Cajun/Seafood place.  He drove me to the store to pick up a couple of things I needed for the next couple of days, & then walked me back to the room, carrying my few things for me.  As he left, he said, "Now if you need anything these next couple of days, call me; I'm only an hour & a half away." 

Gotta love servant-minded friendship!! 
(I'm grateful to have many servant-minded friends, some of whom are reading this.)

I'm SOOOO thankful & SOOOOO humbled by Jerone's sacrifice today!  As best we could figure, we last saw each other in the Fall of 1977 @ a Florida-Auburn football game in Auburn (of all places!).  We picked right up where we left off & had a great visit that just blessed my soul.

(BTW, Jerone, while I managed to stay awake all afternoon despite that huge & awesome lunch, I'm still pretty much in the same chair I've been in since you left 4 hours ago...)  ;-{)}

Important note to those who see me & know me these days: both Jerone and I are rocking Hawaiian shirts, shirts, & sandals, which proves that you can take the boys off of the beach for many years, but you'll never get the beach off of the boys! *grin*

Thanks for your continued prayers, my friends!
Mike