Hi John,
It makes me happy to hear your good news!!! Also, it makes me smile that you feel such respect towards your doctor. Many of the best and the brightest Americans are no longer choosing medicine as a career path, but that's diving deep into off, off topic....
Being that its Breast Cancer Awareness month, I hope you don't mind if I tell a little story about cancer research. I would like to comment on two of your supporters here, Cathy and George, who secured two of Joe's guitar strings that will be made into a bracelet and auctioned off with 100% of the proceeds going to cancer research and support. My cousin Elisa is a two-time breast cancer survivor and owns and operates a custom jewelry business in Erie, Pennsylvania. Other folks make guitar string bracelets and Elisa doesn't hold a patent on them, the whole point is to raise $$$ for cancer and its my cousin's way of giving back...she's happy to be alive! The idea came to her at a Bon Jovi concert and Bon Jovi along with Richie Sambora are likely to be sending their strings along shortly. My brother Kevin is the real estate attorney for Sister Mary Scullion who received a donation from Bon Jovi for a housing project, she promised to get the strings. http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_good_generation/ Keep in mind, Joe Bonamassa was the first to step up to the plate and donate guitar strings!! (used with his DNA all over them for authenticity)
You may remember Shredit posting that link about the cancer survivor from Erie, Pa. with a very promising invention to fight cancer. Believe me, he's on to something big, Univ. of Pittsburgh Hospital wanted to buy him out, he said no. Some of the $$$ from the strings will go to this Erie resident's research. There are so many good vibes connected to this whole thing, with all kinds of connections, it just feels good...starting with the two special people that got the strings and all the circumstances surrounding how they met, etc.
This is Elisa's site and you can also read about John Kanzius.
http://stringsforacure.com/
StringsforaCURE~Helping cancer patients one STRING at a time.
http://stringsforacure.com/