Day 13- Thursday, June 28th, 2007
28 06 2007I haven’t written you since Monday morning. That afternoon, I had my CT scan. For two hours, starting at 1:30, I had to drink the cocktail - which I unaffectionately dubbed “Cack Juice.” The first few minutes I thought well, this is not so bad. But, ugg, after a bit it was a struggle to get it down. An hour in and I was rebelling! But I drank it all. The “cack” base came in two small brown bottles. Not the kind that you get on an airplane with the nice JimBeam label either. I was instructed to pour the contents of one bottle into this large plastic beaker they gave me and fill the rest up to the top with the clear liquid of my choice. I chose sugar free Lemon Tea. There might have been a better choice. This tea was tainted! By the time I emptied the second little brown bottle into the beaker, I could swear I was starting to glow. I was sure that within the next hour, no sophisticated scanning device would be needed to see what was going on inside me! Yuck.
So, this is the beginning of “Yuck” I thought to myself. And this is the mildest “Yuck” I will be taking in to fight the Monster. Cowboy up.
The scan itself took much less time than the “Cack Cocktail”. I was escorted into a small changing booth and given a gown to put on. (If I could come up with a hospital gown that a person, sick and in pain, could tie themselves without becoming a contortionist, I could pay for all of my treatment in advance, I tell you!) Ready or not here I come. The tech was very kind and explained everything he was doing in calm Grandmotherly way. He expertly inserted the IV and told me exactly how I would feel once the imaging liquid started flowing through me. He said that my face and chest would get flushed and it did. He said that I would feel the heat go all the way down to my pelvic region and it did. He said that I would feel like I had peed my pants and I did. I felt like it, that is. He said all this would take less than 30 seconds and it did. Then the table began to slide into the ring and as I looked up at the sign that said not to look directly into the laser, I thought to myself, “This is the beginning. This is real. I have Cancer. I really have Cancer.”
And then it was over. And I just wanted to get out of there. I stopped at the radiology desk to make sure that the results were faxed ASAP to Dr K and all the scans were to be copied onto a disk that I could carry with me to whatever appointments that are to come. If I sat back down and waited just 30 minutes, I could avoid another trip back to pick it up. However, by that time, I had collected my Monster Fighting Team (In the form of my husband and 3 youngest buds) and I just wanted to run out with them. I felt the claustrophobia I expected in the scanning room now hit me like a brick in the open hallway. I was also feeling the radioactive fluids that they had pumped me full of start to work their way towards whatever exit they could find.
I know it was irrational. I knew it then as much as I know it now. But I had to get out of there. And I had to act like I was fine in front of my Team. But inside, I was as scared as if I had seen the monster face to face. And I guess I had. Maybe for the first time.
I have Cancer.
As we neared the RV park we call Home, I made it clear that no one was to try to get to the bathroom before me. “What if we do?” quipped the eight year old smart-alec named Jaymi. “You ever see an old lady flatten a kid?” There was no reply. And no challenge for the potty either. Let’s call that part of the story “Cack Juice Revisited” and leave it there.
I was so exhausted, I went to bed early, forgetting to tell you all about it. I hope you can forgive me. If not, oh well. LOL
Tuesday morning I threatened the pharmacy that if they didn’t find the fax from my doctor I would have to change to some other drug pusher. Somehow, within 30 minutes they had the authorization they hadn’t had in the past four days to fill my antibiotics. Hmm. No pharmacy would want to loose a newly diagnosed cancer customer paying cash. (I will not name the pharmacy unless they do it again, but it is a nationwide company.) I was notified by the wonderful woman that handles all Dr K’s patients in Lincoln that the pharmacy now had their act together and I could go and get my meds anytime. She also told me that the doctor had received the report on the CT. He was going to call me, but if he wasn’t able to right away, he wanted me to know that “everything looks great.”
What does that mean, “everything looks great“? “I don’t want to read too much into that, but does that mean there is no cancer anywhere else?”
“That is what I read it to mean.”
I called my family to tell them what she said. They all had the same reaction as I did. There was a swift breeze all across the country as we shared a collective sigh of relief. That afternoon, I picked up the scan disc from the hospital and in the envelope was a copy of the report my doctor received.
Normal, Normal, Normal.
There is fluid and gas in the cavity left by the removed tumor and a small mass in my gluteal muscle. I knew that. One of my ovaries is enlarged. I don’t need them, they can go. There are no enlarged lymph nodes. (pphwuu) But the best line of the report said that there is no evidence of metastatic disease in my chest, abdomen, or pelvic region. I read this last line on the steps outside the hospital and started to cry. “What’s wrong, Mommy?” “Nothing, baby. Nothing at all. I am crying because I am happy.”
That was Tuesday.
Wednesday. Well, nothing happened Wednesday. That was good. I spent the day getting the motorhome ready to move to our new spot. We have been perched here in lot 46 on the edge of the play lawn for two months. We hadn’t planned on being here this long, so our spot has been reserved by other party goers in July. We are moving to the last available monthly lot in the middle of the park where all the other permanent RVs have been herded for the summer. The new spot seems smaller and is surrounded on three sides by other full time people. However, it is hidden from the “tribal buds”. I am so looking forward to my time off from “camp mom/playground monitor” duty.
We haven’t moved the motorhome for two months; there is a lot to do. Things that have been just sitting out on the counters need to be secured in place or put away. The outside supplies and toys need to be collected and restored to their rightful places or carried to the new lot. It’s like spring cleaning in June. Of course, here on the coast of Oregon, June still feels like spring. When we get to Texas, we will all get a shock.
I guess I didn’t mention Texas yet. “The Plan” for our summer was to be here in Lincoln City for four or five weeks while Dan finishes his job, and then we take a couple of weeks vacation time getting to Texas. The rest of the summer we spend in the motorhome figuring out where we want to live. Then we rent a house, Dan flies back to get the remainder of our belongings in storage here and drives them down to Texas in a U-Haul truck. The kids start school in the fall in Austin, or Huston, or where ever we land.
That was “The Plan.”
Plans have a way of falling apart.
Even before we found out about my cancer, the plan got blown as the job stretched out longer than expected. We have already been here two months and have paid for the third. It’s a good thing that we like it here. Where we will be in August, I can’t tell you. And September hasn’t been written yet. But I AM GETTING TO TEXAS DARN IT! “God bless Texas” for giving me a goal.
Maybe tomorrow we will just pull out and head south anyway. Living in a motorhome gives you the hope and freedom and comfort of knowing that at any moment, you are perfectly able to run away. Far away.
Maybe tomorrow.
Categories : Tomorrow









Recent Comments