Day 83, Year 11: Could Be Better, Could Be Worse
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold, High of 32 degrees F,
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
We woke up this morning with a skiff of snow on the ground from last night’s ‘thunder snow’–thunder and lightning with our little snow shower. That’s a first for me, but then we have had lots of weather firsts this past year. It was very cold and windy today for our drive to Boston, but then you don’t feel the cold when you are snug and warm in your car. However, the gusts of cold wind were wicked as we walked from the parking garage to the hospital. We met with Mark’s oncologists to hear the results of his latest scan. The news could be better, but it could be whole lot worse. As we have known for quite some time now, Mark has metastatic cancer. His original colon cancer spread to the liver and to the abdominal cavity. The radiation treatments he had in September and October were successful in that the cancer on the liver can no longer be seen in the scan. So that is good. The very small spots in the abdominal cavity are still there, however, and may be a little larger. So that is the bad news. But for now, no treatment is being recommended. That was definitely the news we wanted to hear. But, and there always seems to be a ‘but’, Mark has been having pain in the abdomen for the past few weeks. Dr. Kwak feels almost certain it is not cancer-related. She had a few suggestions for resolving the issue and wants us to try those things and report back to her in a month. If her recommendations work and Mark is feeling great, we are free for another month or so before he would need to return to Mass General for the next scan. Sooooooo . . . on Friday we will leave here and drive to back to Windbird in South Carolina. We will stay there until the stomach issues are resolved. If there is resolution, we will sail to Florida. If there is no resolution, we will stay put and return to Boston in a month to reconsider our situation. We may or may not make it to the Bahamas this winter. We’ll just take it one step at a time and have fun whatever we end up doing.
After we left Mass General today, we visited with my niece Lynn who lives in the Boston area. Then we made a beeline for home as we were to have an early dinner out with Jed and the boys. Heather actually joined us and then we took her to the Falmouth Library where she gave a presentation about the Paris Climate Talks she attended in December. I haven’t seen her make a presentation since she defended her doctoral dissertation in 2003. She was good then, but she is now a polished, phenomenal presenter. Forgive the bragging, but we are very proud parents. After the presentation, good friend Bruce Woodin took us out for a drink and a chance to talk and catch up on what all of us have been doing the past couple of months. Thank you, Bruce! Jane was hosting her book club at home, so we missed her company tonight. We’ll just have to look forward to our return to Falmouth in the spring to visit with both Bruce and Jane.
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| 160113 Day 83 Cape Cod, USA–Heather's Climate Change Presentation |
