’25 April

A Last Few Pictures Before DC

'25 April /

Lilly, Daelen, Oliver

This week has been a mad blur I tell you. I can’t keep one day from the next. Getting home, getting the computer fixed, 3-4 doctor’s appointments, unpacking from one trip and packing for the next. This is going to be it though, next entry will be from Washington DC, you know, the place where we have all that winning.

Angela brought over a chair for the new yard set I was considering and everyone likes it a lot, even Merlyn, the tallest person I know. So hurray, chosen, the hard part is done, and now it’s just a matter of getting it.

We played this game, Qwixx, which I first met in Sweden, or was it Corsica, traveling with the same folks I’ll be meeting in DC. These guys play games! Two of them were so fun I bought them for the kids when I got home. Let’s see what this trip will bring.

Jo Ann and Alan treated me to lunch at Milo and Olive where I ordered a “Garlic Knot” that I thought was a $5 bread roll but no, it was a $16 package of joy. Inside a nice double-fisted ball of dough, sitting in a pool of olive oil, were 50 cloves of meltingly delicious garlic. We all were delighted!

The Verdict Is In

A Collection Of Updates, '25 April /

An update on the story of me and my hips after the first appointment with my new best friend, the oncologist, on April 10th.  If this doesn’t sound familiar and you’re interested in how did we get here, click on the link for the previous summary of me and my hips, in reverse chronological order: https://wheretheheckismom.com/a-collection-of-updates/

Now, finally, an answer to the question, what the heck is wrong with my hips = Cancer.  Yikes!! A PET scan revealed likely cancer in my bones and a small mass in one breast.  A biopsy confirmed cancer. 

The cancer started in a breast which they didn’t find with a normal mammogram view due to “The breasts are heterogeneously dense, which may obscure small masses and the far posterior location”, although of course I could have done a mammogram sooner and they might have then recommended an ultrasound, but who knows. Before I left for Mexico they used ultrasound to confirm the PET scan and do the biopsy. Once the biopsy results were in the doctor ordered ‘targeted therapy’ cancer meds that I got when I saw him on April 10 and I started the morning of April 11.

I’ll be taking two pills in the morning is all, and a bone-strengthening infusion once every three months, and if my bones don’t feel better in 6 months, they might do some radiation.  It’s not that I’ll be cured but long-term remission is the goal.

When I first heard “Cancer!” I said to myself well, I’m flying first class from now on!  But after two visits with the doctor and his crew, I’ll tell you that oncology group at St John’s seems totally optimistic that I have many more strong and happy years ahead. It seems I have a good chance to last well into my 80s, and even longer if I tolerate the current treatment plan, so maybe I’ll stick to Economy Plus for a while.

So yes, It’s not great, but I’m ok, it happens, it could be worse!

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