A Manic Month

At least the hounds are relaxed (most of the time)

Saturday - May 31, 2014

Better to be busy than bored but ... we have been going flat out all month and it doesn't look like we'll return to a normal rhythm until June 27.  Yes - June 27.  Joe's May 5 trip to DC initiated this manic period and over the next 4 weeks he and I will be continuing a very unusual schedule where we are alternating travel back and forth.  It's probably one of the oddest intervals we've had in many many years!   Highlights have included Megan and me traveling east for Jonathan's Virginia Tech graduation, seeing my sister Rachel in Blacksburg,  and Joe and Jonathan's current midwest Major League Baseball 9 ballpark tour. Upcoming events include the end of my school year (and perhaps a resumption of restorative sleep patterns!), another east coast trip to help move Jonathan into his Arlington apartment and to see Joe's mom, and then seeing Megan off on her summer travels to Kyoto.  With all of this commotion, I am marking my calendar for the 2 days and 3 nights that the 4 of us will be all together here in our perch on the hill.  One of the kids will be camping out on the living room couch as we cram into the apartment but it's precious time.  We'll savor it!

2 Years (and counting...)

Sunday - May 11, 2014

Finally, my long diagnostic journey ended 2 years ago today with an after-hours phone call from my new oncologist.  He used the words "stage 4" as well as "cure" in that conversation. Carolyn and I were taking careful notes so we could share details with Joe, Megan, and Jonathan, all of whom were spread out across the continent and awaiting the news.  Today - 2 years after that horrible news/ hopeful news telephone call - Megan and I walked around the Whole Earth Festival in Davis where she had wandered around waiting for that final cancer verdict on May 11, 2012.  What a difference to traipse around together on a perfect northern California spring day exploring the craft booths, vegan dining, drum circles, and hula hoop / hackey sack diversions.  No migraines.  No double vision.  Just the opportunity to enjoy another interlude of small pleasures and family company.  Another great day of loving being a mom! 

I am certainly not going to use the "cure" word anytime soon BUT it is comforting to know that my oncologists hold it out as a possibility and that my odds improve with every month of "No Evidence of Disease."  So here's one happy mom on Mother's Day.  Grateful.  Healthy.  Thrilled to have had these 2 years and wishing for many more.

An Unscarred Liver

Saturday - May 10, 2014

Dog walks are fabulous excuses to drink in this phenomenal view!

It has been a quiet week of alone time with the hounds.  Joseph is away on travel and I am hunkered down prepping for the upcoming trip east with Megan to celebrate Jonathan's second (and last!) graduation from Virginia Tech.  Substitute plans and two weeks of advance class preparations have kept me focused and grateful as I approach tomorrow's "diagnosis day" milestone. I revel in my ability to see out of both eyes and to live migraine-free!  To have regained my health!  Hurrah!

Peace of mind has also come in the form of good news from UCSF.   My liver specialist writes that "I reviewed the pathology and the biopsy did not reveal any specific diagnosis. This is good news and makes me suspect drug-induced liver injury as the cause of your liver enzyme elevation. Are you still taking acyclovir? I have seen mild liver enzyme increases with acyclovir. Importantly, I did not see any evidence of scarring (fibrosis) on the liver biopsy that might have come from your prior high-dose methotrexate use.  And good news - your liver enzymes went down too!  But now we know for the future that, in the absence of significant scarring, we can be more "tolerant" of liver enzyme elevations if they occur again in the future."  So .... that sounds like we're simply not going to worry about those enzyme numbers anymore, yes?  I await confirmation that we are now in "watchful waiting" mode #2 for my liver.

Waiting is preferable to treatment.  I'll take it ANY day!