A smoother sailing day!

Woody got up early, went to work, worked, walked at lunch, worked some more, and came home to do a little mowing and raking. He is now resting in his recliner watching the news.

Around 10am I got the phone call from the research nurse at NIH. The first trip to NIH is only for one day...a screening day. Woody's screening day is set up for this coming Tuesday (April 27th. I got all kinds of information from the nurse as to where to be and when. After I got off the phone with her, I typed up the information that I had made notes on while we talked. I was afraid to trust my memory for very long about what the abbreviations I'd used meant! It ended up being almost a full page of typed notes. I also went online and printed off a map of NIH and all the rules and regulations just to be able to enter NIH...remember this is a governement facility. Of course nothing can be "totally easy!" Before we go to Maryland, we have to go to Vanderbilt to pick up a CD of Woody's most recent brain, PET, and CT scans. They also want us to bring 15 unstained pathology slides from Woody's previous surgeries. I have turned the gathering of these items over to our Vandy research nurse. There may be a problem with the slides as most of Woody's surgeries were done in places other than Vanderbilt and for some reason the research nurse didn't think that the bone tumor was what they wanted. She is checking with the NIH research nurse.

So a trip to Bethesda, MD is now on the calendar...but for this time a very short trip. The NIH doctors meet each Monday to review the people who have been screened the prior week. There will be a decision made that day as to whether Woody is qualified for one of their research studies. We will be called after that meeting to be told of their decision.