Home for Thanksgiving

Well, last week I was poking around the internet looking for information on pancreatic cancer.  It appears I am spending this week on the internet looking for information on breast cancer staging, treatment, symptoms, etc.

Peach called this afternoon.  I'm not sure who they saw today, but tomorrow they are doing a CT scan and she will meet with another doctor for a second opinion.  She is confused because the surgeon said he "got it all" and the oncologist says it is aggressive and she must start chemo immediately.

But my friend, one of the gynecologists I worked for for about 12 years says, "The surgeon is telling her they got all the visible cancer. However to treat microscopic disease and prevent recurrence..aggressive chemo is recommended..maybe radiation too. It all comes down to playing the odds and increasing her chances of survival by blasting any sneaky cells after sugery with a one-two punch."   Which is kind of what I suspected.

She is going to call me tomorrow and we will discuss when I am going to fly to be with her.  She wants her daughters with her for the first round, but would like me to come after that, which means (I hope) that I can get a regular priced plane ticket and not have to pay the kinds of fees that Char's kids did trying to get a flight out immediately.

(Walt looks at me skeptically and asks if I plan to take Polly with me...)

It is her intent that I "be home in time for Thanksgiving," but knowing that holiday is the busiest time in the year for travel, I somehow think that if I get to Iowa the 2nd week in November, I probably won't go home again until after Thanksgiving...unless I am very, very lucky with plane tickets.   Holidays are not important right now, what's important is helping her get through this and from all I have read today, removing the cancerous breast is the easy part of becoming a cancer survivor.

My heart aches for her as she starts this journey.

Here at home people are so wonderful.  My friend Evelyn showed up at our front door today (she left so quickly she was gone before I knew she had even been here) with a huge bag of garlic (before this all happened, she had let folks know that she had lots of garlic to share, so this wasn't some oddball cancer cure she was sharing!) and a beautiful vase of flowers.

 
Evelyn is a wonderfully thoughtful woman who often shows up with surprises when I have been in the doldrums about something.  If I ever get my butt in gear, she will probably be the next "coffee" that I have.