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The Update on Chris Lytle, VP Anger Management

So many of you dieters have been concerned about Chris and keeping tabs on his progress. I thought I’d offer this major update.

On St Patrick’s Day Chris was released from the hospital. I fed him and his brother meatloaf made with my mom’s recipe, mashed potatoes and corn. If you’re not going OUT to celebrate you might as well savor staying in — eating Irish comfort food.

Over the next weekend it was pretty much basketball all day and evening. Chris was in pain if he burped or hiccupped, so we laid low. Most of our chosen teams lost. So much for our NCAA bracket.

Then, just this week…

Drum roll please…

We got a call from the urologist. Chris has been officially declared CANCER FREE. The pathology is completely CLEAR. The surgeon suggested Chris go have a beer (at 10AM). – Sounds like St. Patrick’s Day to me!

He asked Chris to go 4 -6 weeks without any core workout to let the internal stitches heal. He can walk… and walk we will.

Then he will be surveilled every six months for 5 years. They don’t expect anything to come back. If a stray cancer cell got into this bloodstream, they are ready to catch it early, but his margins were completely clear. No need for chemo, radiation, or anything else. This magic was completely done through robotic surgery! And a very talented human being who says, “I cut good and I sew good”. He’s a dream surgeon.

He told Chris, “Go back to your life”.

And another gift….

Another drum roll is in order…

Chris had an echocardiogram to follow up the surgery. You might remember that his heart was performing at just 10% capacity in December. The Echo measures the EF (ejection fraction) which is the efficiency number. 10% is BAD.

They had a bet in the OR on what his new number would come in at. The surgeon won his bet. Chris’s EF is now over 50%!

That’s normal! Chris’s heart is back to NORMAL! No Afib. No pump needed. Rising to 50% in a guy who was as sick as Chris was is pretty much unheard of. “Impossible” they said. But here we are.

We have to wait to hear the “official news” from the cardiologist, but the urologist read the report. No one runs 100%. 50% is amazing for an adult male –let alone one who’s over 70 years old.

We have two follow up appointments in early April. Then we just might be able to get back to Chattanooga.

March 23 was our three-month anniversary of our arrival in Nashville for the journey this has been. And what a story we now have to tell. The whole odyssey was just under 4 months.

I’m starting to plan that trip that will replace all the holidays we missed. ‘Probably won’t get too exotic considering the state of the world these days but we will definitely begin to breathe easier now.

Thank you ALL for your support.

Whew….. long whew…..