However, the temperature was low and I had to wear my shoes for the first time in this winter. I walked with my master's couple on the greenbelt of the Abbott Boulevard which is just one block away from our house. Although I like snow, it is somewhat hard to walk through the pile of snow with the shoes on and I requested my master to cut short the usual one hour walk. Then, I ran around relaxingly in the front yard of our house, while my master’s couple shoveled off the light snow from the sideway, garage path, and the steps of the front and back doors. My master started the snow blower just for test but he did not use it as the snow was too light for the machine. We started for New York one and a quarter hour before the 1 pm appointment time, expecting heavy traffic because of the snow. The traffic was very light and there was no hang-up which is very rare on the East Side Drive. We arrived in the City in 15 minutes and went into the hospital one hour ahead of the appointment. They sent us right away to the 8th floor and after waiting only for a while, Dr. Arteoga took me into the examination room. Luckily, there is no recurrence in the mouth and the spot in the lung has not changed much from 4 weeks ago. The examination and therapy took about two and a half hours this time.
My master asked Dr. Arteoga about the radiation therapy, in case the tumor should recur in the mouth. The radiation therapy is done under anesthesia in 3 sessions. The first session will take a few hours to adjust the machine to the right spot but can be done in one day visit. The other two sessions are done in a shorter time. As the radiation will be applied to the focused spot, I will be able to eat normally. Dr. Arteoga added “Let’s worry about it when it should recur. Hopefully it will not.” In the waiting room, there were many cancer dogs. Among them, I met again the curly haired black dog (poodle on my left in the picture) suffering from Melanoma. This was her last treatment and I wished her good luck. I also met a Cocker Spaniel female who had melanoma in the mouth up to the lip. She is 11 years old, was operated in the same Oradell hospital like me, received re-surgery in this hospital, and is receiving both DNA and radiation therapies, as a spread was found in her lung. She lives in Cliff Side Park very close to our house.
We left the hospital about 3 o’clock, making the next appointment on December 22 at 1.30 pm. This is going to be the last DNA therapy with one more visit for the examination only.