All Clear

What a relief! The PET/CT scan is clear, no sign of metastases. The visit to the surgeon resulted in once again syringing out fluid around the incision, but he also scheduled the port placement. It is to be installed (sounds like a new washer, doesn't it?) on April 1st. Chemo tentatively scheduled to begin on April 4th. In between these two visits is a trip to salon and cutting off most of my hair. Soon I'll be what a comedian once described as having less hair to comb and more face to wash. I.e., bald. I will find out what my bare head looks like, and I'll see how much it bothers me to be bald.

Below is a photo of my ice candle. It burned down very fast, and although I expected to get a hollow cube that I could insert a new taper inside to burn again, the shell proved to be far too fragile, all melted away in the center and nothing left to hold a new taper. I may try this with paraffin wax instead of soy, once I get some paraffin.



My kids (well, to me. They haven't been kids in 15 years or so) have surprised me, asking routine questions about the port placement, the incision, etc. I would not have been surprised if they had completely ignored the whole issue, other than hugging me more lightly. I have yet to take R aside and explain that all this has an impact on her, that she is at greater risk for breast cancer and that her doctor will probably suggest a mammogram sooner than at age 40. She tends to get prickly when you surprise her with new things, which is why I have put this off. But soon.

It is 3 am, time to return to bed for more (hopefully) sleep. I'll finish this later.

OK, photo in place -- looks sorta like a jack-o-lantern, doesn't it?

My therapist has forwarded to me a list of meetings that take place locally for cancer patients, family, and so forth. One of the contact names is of a social worker that helped take care of Mom when she was with hospice, back in 1998. She was very helpful and incredibly patient with Dad and my sister, no small task. So I will definitely check these meetings out, once I have a routine set for the chemotherapy. I was surprised anything was available locally, this is a very small city/large town and we lack a lot of the amenities found in big cities.

The chemo port is still on for Friday, I hope it will be painless and easy, I'm not feeling very brave these days. Knock me out, that's what I want.

Thanks once again for all the caring commentators that read this, it means more to me than I can say.

Bumper sticker for the day: "Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the paramedics."