oh the vagaries. 3 weeks ago i was in the ER with breathing problems and a fever. not pneumonia, not a pulmonary embolism. no, they say, it’s just the tumors. oh those. dang. i was hoping for something new. it was a saturday and they’d gotten bigger since sunday. the Continue Reading
tumor
breathing
Val did two rounds of chemo on the trial drug, her white blood count flattening out each time. Then the first scan showed that cancer continued to grow by millimeters. It was decided to ditch the trial and try a different chemo cocktail. It is now two weeks after the Continue Reading
Thanksgiving times two
Fantastic scan news! Everything’s still stable or shrinking! First thing this morning we took a deep breath and met with the doctor for the results of Monday’s scan. These last several months it’s been hard, especially for Val, to shake the uneasiness as we waited to see if the tiny Continue Reading
uplift
I have just returned from a week in Carbondale, Illinois, where I was serving as pit crew for my fabulous glassblowing sister’s MFA thesis show, which was spectacular. While I was away Val met with the doctor and called me with this uplifting news: The CT scan last week shows Continue Reading
Magic 8 Ball
About a week ahead of time, the CT scan makes itself felt on my horizon. It’s a small white noise in the back of my brain, Val’s too I think, more buzzy the closer it gets. Nowadays, in between doctor moments, sometimes we can just have a day. Sometimes several. Continue Reading
new idea
Yesterday we got the CT scan results. (The CT scan was Monday.) The tumor is slightly smaller. And then the doctor made an astonishing statement. Her (unproven) diagnostic hypothesis is that the tumor has died. that i am merely harboring the lifeless carcass of a once-great hunk of cancer. An Continue Reading
Good news: the tumor continues to shrink!
Greetings nearest and far-est and dearest, This morning we met with TerriSue at 7:30 to go over the details of Val’s bloodwork before chemo. Val mentioned that she had her second scan yesterday, and TerriSue replied, “I know,” and her face broke into a beaming smile. The prettiest smile I’ve Continue Reading
Hairball #3
Val called me at work this morning to say she coughed up another piece of her tumor! Or anyway, she coughed up something unusual, of a slightly different texture than last time, about the size of a smallish pea. It’s now awaiting biopsy in a little jar filled with homemade Continue Reading
Holy Horking Hairballs, Batgirl!
—Heads up: entry contains thoroughly icky details— Here is a remarkable thing. A few weeks ago, shortly after chemo began, while out to lunch (I mean that literally), in the midst of a paroxysm of coughing, Val hacked up a biological gobbet of something unusual. It was unlike anything Continue Reading