Newsflash at the Big Top

The big news of the day is that I have officially been designated as cancer-free! Not a huge surprise, but it feels really good. The reason I chose mastectomy was to make sure they got all the cancer. My doctor called me today to let me know that the cancer was, in fact, ductal carcinoma in situ, there was no microinvasion of cells and the sentinal node biopsy showed no involvement. Based on everything, I will not need radiation (which we suspected) AND I will not need tamoxifen, which is a surprise seeing as the majority of women with breast cancer take it for 2 to 5 years! Yippeee!!! Now I just have to focus on walking like a homo sapien again and things will be good.

Gary and I went to see mom today. She still looks great and they had just completed an evaluation of her swallowing when we had arrived. She had passed the swallow study and will start tonight on soft foods. Gary asked if she had any requests from his kitchen. Garlic mash potatoes and ground meat. I'm sure it will be fantastic when it's all said a done. We spoke to the case manager and she is working in earnest to get everything ready for mom to come home. We will need a lot of equipment to take care of her here. They will need to order a home ventilator and will need to train us on its operation (a home vent is VERY different from the ones used in the hospital.) Should be a piece of cake though. They've not been aggressively weaning mom, but once we get her home we can work on it. Since I used to work at a hospital that specialized at weaning vent patients, I'm well aware of the practices they used, so I think we can be successful. Also we'll be able to get her back on the Enercel, the homeopathic immune booster. This should really jump-start things! We are just so anxious to have her back with us... We can't wait!

As mentioned in previous blogs, I have traded in vanity for comfort. This is in regards to using the walker. I knew the chiding would come; sooner or later. Seems like it's sooner... At the hospital, we ran into one of mom's doctors. He asked how I was doing, then asked as he pointed to the walker, "where's your little basket?" Ha ha. I told him the pink one with the pink glitter tassels, the bike horn, and the antenna with the reflector flag were all on order. My darling husband added that he was going to put the tennis balls on the back legs when we got home. ...Hilarious! The good news is I am 10+ years younger than Gary, so he'll get his. I'll have my revenge... sooner... or later...