Last week was an interesting one.  After finding out that I had a hitchhiker riding around in my head, an appointment was set up at Duke for some imaging and consultation about where to go from here.  But before that all happened a little Todd magic was on the agenda.

Charles Welch the longtime friend and accompanist to Doc Watson came to the Mercantile for a little concert in the Gallery.  He brought his buddy John Kirby who plays an amazing tenor guitar (a four string guitar tuned alike mandolin).  The lucky folks that were there were treated to a wonderful concert of music and stories of playing and touring with the famous Doc Watson who was most definitely there in spirit.

Charles Welch and John Kirby pickin' at the Mercantile.  Amazing!

Charles has very generously offered to help me with a little musical project I am trying to organize and I am overjoyed to accept his generous offer.  More about that in future posts.

After the concert we ran over to Julie and Cecil Gurganus farm on Cane Mill Road for their yearly Molasses Boil.  Julie, Cecil and their friend John grow cane all summer and come fall harvest it to make that sticky brown sweet brew that makes everything, especially cornbread, taste wonderful.  Helen has always used Cecil's brew for her famous mountain molasses cookies.  The boil is an all weekend affair that involves running the raw can through a grinder to extract the juice then an all day boil to concentrate the liquid down to the final product.  Lots of friends and neighbors come for a pot luck meal and it doesn't take long before the instruments are pulled out and music fills the holler.

Mountain Molasses Hot off the Fire

After all the weekend excitement it was a quiet few days waiting to go down to Durham on Thursday and Friday.  Once again our good friends Karen and Rick offered their home in Chapel Hill for Thursday evening.  The first scan was an MRI set for Thursday at Duke (formally Durham) Regional hospital.  After a bit of a wait I was escorted in and had to remove anything and everything metal so that I could lay down and have this helmet type thing attached to my head then into the tunnel I went.  It was a tight fit all around and so I did my best to get into that happy zen space so I could just zone out but that machine was LOUD and not in any kind of a melodic way.  After a while I was pulled out of the tunnel so they could shoot contrast into my arm then back in for more noisy fun.  Not that big a deal but I have had better times.  After the ordeal Helen and I caught a movie and a nice meal before heading to Chez Wilson for the evening.

On Friday it was time to meet with Dr. Patel my radio oncologist.  Like all of the doctors I have met at Duke Dr. Patel was an amazing combination of talent, empathy and intelligence.  When we had looked at the film he explained that I had three treatment options - whole brain radiation, radio surgery and traditional surgery. Dr. Patel very patiently reviewed these options and answered every question that I could think of.  Although a meeting with the traditional surgery team was scheduled for later that day I was certain that the radio surger option was the best choice for me - effective, non invasive with minimal side effects.  

Radio surgery is an interesting little procedure.  Using maps of your brain and a custom made plastic mask the exact tumor location is zapped by high energy Xrays which kills the tumor but (hopefully not) the surrounding tissue.  In order to be ready for the treatment I needed another CAT scan and had to have my mask made.

Who is that Masked Man?

The mask goes on warm and soft then hardens has it cools.  The idea is that it keeps me from moving my head while the X-rays do their thing.  I am scheduled to have the radio surgery next week October 21-26.  They say it is painless and just involves laying still on the table for a half an hour or so.  Keep your fingers crossed that they hit the right spot. 

Well I have been trying to post this for something like ten days or so and just haven't had time to wrap it up and hit the publish button so I thought I would just send it "as is" and hope that you all will forgive me for the abrupt end to this chapter.  

Thanks so much for all of your thoughts and prayers.  

j