Sunday, October 27, 2019

Dear Kids,
         Yikes! It’s going to get cold this week!  Tuesday night: -2.  Wednesday night the same.  Some winters we never get below zero, and this is happening in October!  Besides, it’s supposed to snow this morning, and again on Tuesday. I’ve been complaining that winter is coming early, but I didn’t guess THIS early.  Or this cold.  Yesterday was my last day to work in the yard, so I rolled up the hoses and brought in all my rakes and shovels.  Dang, I was hoping for another week or two of being outside.  We had our shortest summer ever.
         I had my biopsy on Tuesday, and it was no picnic.  The needle they put in through my back really hurt.  They couldn’t put me under because I had to take deep breaths when then told me, to get the needle in farther, as in: “Take a really big one now, because we’re going past a rib.”  I didn’t plan on being there so long, either, but they make you stay two hours after, in case your lung collapses.  That happens 30-40% of the time.  But it didn’t happen to me, so maybe my luck is improving.  Dad was a good sport and stuck with me all through it.  He really likes hospitals, as long as it isn’t him being worked on.
         Friday my oncologist called with his report.  It’s the same cancer I had in my colon, and it metastasized.  They’ll take at least two more weeks to “genetically analyze” it, whatever that means. Maybe it’s sort of like culturing a bacteria.  Then they can work up the right immunotherapy. Last night at a Halloween party I talked to a guy who has lung cancer, and they gave him immunotherapy for two years!  Funny, I never thought to ask my oncologist how long it would take. Oh, and I also found out I don’t just have the one tumor in my lung, because the biopsy doctor spilled the beans and mentioned lots of “nodules” that also lit up on the pet scan.  What fun!  I’m sorry to sound negative, but this has been a depressing week for me.
         Has anybody been wondering about the cabin? Nothing’s been done for the last two weeks or so.  Evidently they’re waiting for doors to come in.  After that, it’s paint and carpet and miscellaneous things.  I had hoped it would be ready by Thanksgiving, but I’m afraid there isn’t time.  But we can have a lot of fun here at our house, whoever wants to come.  With our big family, every get-together is fun.
         Lots of love, Mom