Skipping Town

We've had an affirming and very positive experience here at MD Anderson this week. Yesterday, we met with Dr. Gershenson's nurse, Kimberly, who reviewed my medical history, as well as Dr. Gershenson, who came in to do a pelvic exam. We scheduled a follow-up visit for Tuesday, where he said we could bring all our questions. We chatted with Kimberly afterward, who said she's been working with Dr. Gershenson for twenty-one years and told us how much things had changed in the world of LGSOC; she said this is a cancer that can be cured--the first time we'd ever heard this word connected to LGSOC.  Today, we met with Dr. Gershenson for a video visit. He gave his summary of where he felt I was based on the results of my surgery, chemo, and now maintenance treatment, and he, too, was very positive about prognosis for many reasons, including the success of my surgery and my age at diagnosis (weirdly, women diagnosed younger than 35 fare worse with LGSOC). When we asked him to ta...

It's been a nice weekend after what felt like a very long week. Friday night we had the Clarks over for dinner. It was a beautiful night, and we sat outside on the deck. The kids, forced into togetherness as usual, played Uno No Mercy and of course ping pong. Lucia was at a friend's house for part of the evening but eventually returned home. Late Friday night, I woke up and went into the bathroom, where in my half-asleep state I spotted a dark object by the bathtub. Closer inspection revealed the object to be Nutmeg, who had somehow slipped out of Greta's room and was asleep in our bathroom in a cute little loaf. It was an extremely windy night, so the pets were ill at ease; Farrah was huddled in our closet, behind my hanging dresses. I eventually got Nutmeg to follow me back to Greta's room. Saturday, I woke the kids up early so we could go to the first neighborhood yard sale of the year, in Regent Square. We didn't find much, but the kids each found some clothes; ...

My CA-125 has decreased again, down about 9 points to 53.7! That's a relief. Twenty more points and I'll be in "normal" range, though the goal is single digits. Some people never get there and stabilize at a higher number. But my fingers are crossed that I will keep decreasing. Tonight was the kids' chorus concert. Mom and Dad drove in as well. One more thing to check off the calendar as we swiftly approach the end of the school year.  We had no water for most of today--there was a water main break and we lost water at 7am. It didn't come back until 5pm. Good thing we were at school and work all day. No water is much more disruptive than no electricity.

I have the letrozole. I'm going to take my pill in the morning so I won't take the first dose until tomorrow. I'm anxious to begin this hormone-blocking. My overall lab numbers were low as usual; still waiting for them to rise now that I'll pass this three-week mark without chemo knocking me down. I'll get the CA-125 results tomorrow. It was very nice going into the cancer center today only for blood work and a short appointment and then leaving, rather than the all-day poisoning of the past eighteen weeks.  After my appointment this morning, I went to work, then picked up my prescription, and then took Greta to piano. Andrew took Lucia to the earlier lesson and then to tutoring. We are all ready for the slower pace of summer.

Went into the office for most of the day and came home early enough so I could go pick up the kids. They're both feeling better today.  Tomorrow I have my appointment with the PA and the study coordinator, and I will finally start taking letrozole. This is technically called "cycle 7," but I'm not sure why. Of course I'm anxious about the labs and CA-125 test I'll have tomorrow morning. Is my immune system starting to recover? Will my number continue to decrease? All unknowns, for now.  It's going to be an intense run of medical info over the next week, with the appointment tomorrow, then starting the medication, then waiting for the CA-125 results, and then flying to Houston for my appointment at MD Anderson on Monday. 

Our rented car has become a source of friction with the kids. It's a white Range Rover SUV. Fine. I don't love it, but I'm generally pretty agnostic when it comes to cars, with the exception of truly hideous and offensive cars like the Cyber Truck. Unfortunately, the kids think this Range Rover looks like a Cyber Truck (it doesn't, at all) and they vehemently detest it. They know we would never in ten million years buy anything like that, for all the reasons, but their hatred prevails. I have to admit the car does feel a little uncharacteristic, to put it politely, especially since it has a Tennessee license plate. This morning, Lucia demanded she be dropped off a block from school so no one would see her pull up in this car.  Lucia came home after lunch today, feeling nauseous and with bad allergies. Greta called after school for me to pick her up, not able to go to crew because she felt nauseous and had allergies. There's something in the spring air that has reall...

Had a lovely Mother's Day. Greta made blueberry muffins this morning, and Andrew gave me a few new hats since this summer I will officially be a Hat Person. Then we drove to Connellsville for the afternoon to be with Mom and Dad. Andrew and the girls went for a run on the trail, while Mom, Farrah, and I walked. We played Uno No Mercy, Andrew mowed the lawn, and we had shells for lunch. Dessert was a lemon cake Andrew had made and brought. We exchanged gifts. It was a perfect spring day. My hat of choice for the day: my lavender Books Are Magic hat from NYC.  I realize I forgot to write about Phipps's May Market on Friday--Mom and Dad picked me up first thing in the morning and we got to stroll around the market for a while. I got some lily bulbs, as well as a cute ceramic pitcher and a little deer ornament at the shop's sale. We saw a vendor selling adorable crocheted hanging plants. When I got home, I immediately purchased a pattern on Etsy and have made two hanging string...

Thursday, May 8 Tonight was a meeting about the kids' Spain trip. They're getting excited and I'm excited for them and also nervous about them traveling alone.  We did not manage to have dinner tonight. We got back late from the meeting and then just...didn't get it together. I had a bowl of cereal and the kids made a weak effort at heating up a scant amount of leftovers. I still find myself getting just incredibly tired by the end of the day. It's only been two and a half weeks since my final treatment, and I know I need to just be patient, but still. I feel fine and energetic until around 8pm, and at that point I can barely even muster up enough energy to refill Nutmeg's water bowl. It's like a switch flips and I'm just...done. Friday, May 9 Andrew was supposed to get home tonight in the early evening because he'd booked a flight through Newark. Clearly, he hadn't been reading any news this week. When I told him on the phone that flying through...

I went into the office today but left early so I could pick up Greta. Lucia ran with the track team. After I picked her up, we stopped to fill the car with gas, and then it took us almost forty minutes to get home--lots of roads were closed (road work, not storm-related), and every road we turned onto was a parking lot. We'd planned to have dinner before going to Lucia's tutoring session, but by the time we got home there wasn't time to finish cooking.  We ate at 8. Greta and I took Farrah for a walk.  Tonight Lucia and I will fill out some paperwork for her summer job. She got the camp counselor job she applied for and is very very excited to be assisting with two weeks of summer camp at school in July. It's a perfect first job for her, and it gives a nice shape to the summer. I have always guarded our summers, protecting the kids' absolute freedom, but now that the kids are teenagers and at risk of just staying in their rooms all day while Andrew and I are at work...

The morning was a little chaotic because the cleaners were coming in the afternoon and Greta and I had to get Nutmeg upstairs to the attic. Our method is to get her into her crate and then carry the crate upstairs; both of us are too scared to try to just carry her upstairs, since she could easily wriggle free and get hurt. Of course, picking up Nutmeg is always an adventure. Greta is excellent at scooping her up--unless Nutmeg figures out what's happening. Then she runs under various pieces of furniture and makes herself impossible to find. But Greta eventually prevailed. I worked from home again, which meant I spent the day with both pets running around the attic and hanging out in my office. I love that. After school, Greta went to crew. Lucia came home after school then went for a run by herself, ending at Ebisu, where she picked up her favorite snack, a bottle of peach soda and a package of Pocky. I made chicken paprikash for dinner and everyone ate it, even enjoyed it, which ...

I worked from home today with all the power and wifi. Bliss. There was a good bit of running around in the afternoon: Lucia forgot her sneakers so I had to bring those to her after school; then I picked her up after she ran with the track team; then I picked Greta up after crew.  Contrary to our usual no-TV-during-the-week rhythm, the girls and I watched two episodes of Lost while we ate dinner. (Andrew's not here, so there was no one to stop us.) I was annoyed that an entire episode was devoted to still more people we'd never seen before--it's much, much too late in the series for new characters, even for the purpose of explaining...something. Do we understand the importance of this episode's revelations? What were the revelations, exactly? Was this an extended Cain and Abel metaphor, or good vs. evil, or something else? It's literally impossible to know, or, frankly, to care. Forget these new characters. Get us back to Sayid, Jack, Sawyer, Hugo, and Kate! Get us b...

We enjoyed a full day of having power. We made coffee and breakfast, went grocery shopping, and put things into a cold refrigerator. Mom and Dad came over in the afternoon so Dad could provide some math assistance for both kids, and then we all headed out to the girls' spring piano recital. They each played two songs plus a duet and did beautifully. Afterward, we went out for dinner at Pastoli's. Andrew left from there in an Uber to the airport for his trip to Spain. After Mom and Dad left, the kids and I watched two episodes of Lost. We have only three episodes left of the final season. I have a lot of thoughts PLUS I bought an entire book of essays published in honor of the twentieth anniversary to augment those thoughts. I can't wait to make talking about Lost my entire personality. 

We were hopeful about the power today, since the Duquene Light trucks were on our street for much of the day. But we still had to spend most of the day power-less. Andrew and Lucia went for a run in the morning and stopped at Five Points to get cardamom buns to bring home. We made coffee.  The kids spent most of the day coloring in their Coco Wye "Girl Moments" coloring books, having hurtled back to a time without wi-fi and electricity. "It's just like New Hampshire," Lucia said happily, which isn't accurate at all since we have both wi-fi and electricity in NH, and if we lost electricity we'd have to leave since it would be absolutely terrifying to be there. But I understood what she was saying: it felt like an excuse to just do fun analog things and pretend the outside world didn't exist.  We had bagels for lunch. Andrew and I worked on switching our winter clothes from our closet to the bureaus, and putting our summer clothes in our closet, while ...

Still no power. I was particularly resentful about this today, since I had to go into the office for a full day instead of working from home, which I always do on Friday. Andrew went into work too, but of course he had to leave early because he had our only car and had to pick up Greta at three. Lucia went to a friend's house for a couple of hours. When we were all back home, we decided to go out to dinner at Mad Mex, which was fun. Then we bought some ice at the grocery store to put into our cooler, as well as some half and half, cream cheese, and butter so we could at least manage breakfast.  Back home, we turned on the generator for a bit then returned to darkness. 

We still have no power. However, the generator guy did come to the house today and got the generator up and running. It's not a perfect fix--it can't be run constantly, and has to be turned off and on outside--but it's helpful. Occasional power is a step up from no power. It was too late to be helpful at all to our food, however, and tonight Andrew and I had to pitch everything in the fridge and freezer. We haven't yet gotten to the basement freezer. It was an awful feeling to throw away what had been perfectly good food, but it had to be done. A kind neighbor brought over dinner for us tonight, and then we went to school for Greta's seventh-grade poetry slam. We turned the generator on for a little while so we could get ready for bed with some lights on. The kids seem to be enjoying (to some extent) the campout feeling of living with flashlights and lanterns; both have taken to coloring in their rooms, with only a lantern lighting their work.  There is still no est...