Update from the Funny Farm

For those who care, I just wanted to drop by and let you know I haven't forgotten you. I hope you are all well and things are good for you.

First a report on my daughter. She discovered a lump shortly after I had scheduled my hip replacement surgery. I agonized over whether or not I should go ahead with my surgery, but decided I would not be able to help her unless I got help myself. I had my second hip replaced on March 4th, and she had a double mastectomy on April 9th.

She had called me weeks earlier and said she had found a painful lump in her breast. I told her it was probably just "one of those big old cysts like I'm always having," but that she should certainly get it checked out ASAP. She did, and the mammogram they did showed two lumps.

It seemed to take forever for them to get around to doing the actual surgery. Meanwhile, she was telling me that at least one of the lumps was going away, and then that it was gone. She couldn't actually feel the other one.

In preparation for her surgery, they took two lymph nodes to see if the cancer had spread. There was cancer in one, but not the other. During the surgery, they took seven more, and thankfully none of them was malignant. In checking her over to see if she could stand the chemo, they discovered a heart valve problem that she was unaware of. We don't yet know the ramifications of that, but they felt it would be safe to go ahead with chemo.

She has had three of her eight chemo treatments, and so far has not been too nauseated. She has a couple of days afterwards when she doesn't feel well, and she is constantly tired, but went back to work after about a month and is working every day except possibly every other Friday when she has the chemo treatments, and when she has doctors' appointments. This past Friday was her day for chemo. I talked to her this morning and she said she is extremely tired, to the point she was barely able to make it up the stairs at work.

On Saturday mornings after her chemo on Friday, she goes to the hospital for a shot that is supposed to keep her white cell count up. So far, that is working, as the last I heard, her white cell count is higher than it was before she started the chemo.

Her hair all fell out on one day, two weeks ago. She gets lots of compliments on her "new haircut" since she started wearing the wig, but she can hardly wait to get home and get it off, as it is so hot and scratchy in the extreme Oklahoma heat. She doesn't feel she has the option of wearing a cap instead of the wig to work, as she's a court reporter and is required to meet certain dress code standards.

She is through with the plastic surgeon till after chemo is finished, when her reconstruction will be completed.
She may also have to have a hysterectomy sometime after she completes chemo, as a precaution.

She has coped well and has a good attitude and good support from her husband and daughters. She now says she thinks the Lord gave her the big, painful cyst so the actual cancer would be discovered earlier. It would have been at least July before she went back for her annual mammogram, if she had not found the cyst and had it checked out. By that time, the cancer may have spread more. Many prayers have been answered so far, and we so appreciate all who continue to remember her.

A week after her first chemo, she and her brother had a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for my husband and me. We were afraid it would be too much for her, but she handled it well. It was a very memorable occasion and we so appreciated all she and the rest of the family did to make it special.

Incidentally, I was able to make our cakes for the occasion, by baking and decorating them one tier at a time and freezing them for a couple of weeks. I felt it was a special privilege to be able to make my own Golden Wedding Anniversary cake, especially since we are the only ones of all our siblings to even live that long or stay together long enough to reach 50 years together. God has been so good to us.

As for me, my hip replacement surgery apparently went well, although it seems the recovery has not been as fast as with the first one. That may be only because this time I have seen my surgeon for all check-ups but one since the surgery, where before I had to see one of his partners. Maybe he's stricter than his partner was, but as I recall, I was required to use the cane longer this time than before. Only this past week was I told I could put away the cane and "do anything you want to." I think he felt safe saying that, as I'm having some problems adjusting to the changes and am so sore I can hardly walk or move, although I feel the hip itself is stable and doing well.

I still find it painful to sit at the computer (hurts my back), so haven't written anything more yet. I have submitted a piece that I wrote (but didn't submit) several years ago, and have modified it a bit to bring it up to date. If AC doesn't want to buy it, I will probably just delete it.

I try whenever possible to sit down and read what I can of my favorites' articles, but almost never take time to comment, as I just can't sit here long enough to do so.

Hopefully, sometime in the near future, my back will also adjust to the changes, and I'll be back to normal, whatever that is.

Meanwhile, keep writing! Love you all.