Report

You know, you can almost forget what you're doing in that dark little room waiting for the doctor.
Judy and Kathleen and I sit and chat and laugh and joke and tell stories and Kathleen sits on the exam table and Judy and I sit on chairs and then...
The doctor walks in and well, you remember why you're there.

And so it went today. We waited an awful long time, it seemed to me. Okay, it was about forty-five minutes.
He shook all of our hands, as he always does, and then he sat down and told us that the scans from yesterday showed no significant change which in his opinion is a good thing. Good news! That's what he said- this is good news.
I suppose if you have supposedly incurable cancer, no change is good news.
But of course, there was that part of us which wanted there to be excellent news- that there had been change in the right direction. Going through chemo is no picnic and one would hope that it had resulted in improvement.
Well, it is what it is and we had a good talk with the doctor. I ask him questions and he always answers, "Well, anything is possible," which is a nice way of saying, "What an absurd question! You must be an idiot!"
And I suppose I am.

But Kathleen told him that she would like a second opinion and he agreed that this is an excellent idea and showed absolutely no ego when he said it, which was good. He promised to set her up with a doctor in Thomasville at the oncology center there.

He told Kathleen that he'd like to see her get a break from chemo right now and so when we left his office, instead of going to the hospital as usual, we went to breakfast and then to Goodwill which was a HELL of a lot more fun than going to the chemo floor of TMH, even if ladies do serve you tea there in the afternoon.

Here are Judy and Kathleen, having a mimosa before they ate their eggs:


Aren't they beautiful women?
God. I feel so lucky to be part of this journey of Kathleen's, to have these traveling companions, one of whom lived with cancer fifteen years ago and one of whom is living with it now. They are wise and tender teachers and I am observing, learning, how to be in this life.
Plus, we have fun.
Believe it or not, we have a LOT of fun.

And now this old lady is off for a nap. Jessie is playing in town tonight and the whole family is going to be there, I think. I am looking forward to that. I haven't seen Owen in two days and I have the shakes a little bit, just thinking about him. He is my tonic, my drug, my joy.
Well, all my kids are that but Owen fits on my lap better than the rest do.

I'm sure that Kathleen will update with her version of events today. Check HERE for that. Or just look at my sidebar. Sitting On A Porch.

And thanks for all the good wishes today. As always, I could feel everyone right there in that little dark room and it felt somehow much lighter, and I hope you could hear us laughing.