Catching Up

Happy New Year folks!

It's been too long since my last update. I had a great holiday. My mom came down from Chicago for two and a half weeks. It was so great to have her around. My feet were in a really bad state and she was so incredibly helpful giving me cool water foot baths and such. My mom rocks!

My brother Josh, sis-in-law Gloria, and nephews Cedar (9) and Jasper (4) came from Bozeman, MT for ten days. We split them up between my place and my dad's so we both had packed houses. It was awesome to have EVERYONE together for the holidays (for 10 days!) We had a lot of good meals together, went to the NC Transportation museum in Spencer, NC to see the trains, went to Discovery Place and saw an IMAX movie, and visited a couple of parks. It was a very nice holiday.

Then it was bad to the real world. On 1/3, my dad and I headed back to Duke for chemo #4. I think the two week break made a big difference. It kind of reset my system, so this one felt a lot like my first one in terms of side effects. My feet are doing ok, and the nausea was very limited.

Today I headed back to Duke for the tests. I had an MRI scan and a chest CT. I've never had an MRI before and can now understand why people freak out. It's not quick like a CT scan. It took about 25 mins and the whole time you're in this very tiny tube. You've got headphones on, streaming Pandora, because the scans are very loud. The nurse said she would blindfold me, if I wanted, and although I turned down her offer, I can totally understand the benefit. Not knowing that I was in a tight space would be a lot easier. Although, this tube is open on both sides...you just can't see it. All in all, not bad.

And the CT scan was easy peasy since they didn't need contrast, which meant I didn't have to drink the nasty crystal light crap that takes 45 mins to drink, nor did I need the IV contrast that makes you feel like you're peeing on yourself. Fun stuff, huh? So I was in and out of there!

We come back on 1/22 for the results. The results could be one of two things. Here's what we want to hear - "Your cancer has not spread anywhere and it has not grown anymore". This would mean that I can have surgery next to remove the tumors in my liver. Then we'll follow up with 2-6 months of chemo to kill all the possible microcells and ensure that I'm cancer-free. The results we don't want to hear is that the cancer has grown in my liver and/or spread somewhere else (like my lungs, hence the chest CT). That would mean that I would need a new chemo plan and the possibility of surgery to remove the tumors in my liver (and cure me) decreases. That's a scary thought, so I tend to be positive. Why wouldn't they have been able to contain the cancer, right? The results will be good :)

I'm really looking forward to these results because I've felt that I couldn't plan any trips because of all these appointments and side effects. And boy am I getting the traveling itch! I've got a ton of trips already in mind. I wanna do another long weekend in Paris (it's my new annual trip). I'm thinking of doing Vegas with my parents to hit up a few shows. And then there's the trip to Turkey to charter a boat and crew and just tool around the Aegean Sea for a week or so. And of course I need to do a European vacation (FYI Turkey is at the crossroads of Asia and Europe), so I'm thinking Vienna, Budapest, and Krakow. I'd also love to get in a trip to San Diego, Boston, and Montreal, and maybe I can even do my Thanksgiving in Puerto Rico like I was supposed to do last year! Oh, the places to go! 1/22 can't get here quick enough...