yip, yipee, yippee-ito!!!!

...in the words of those bean bag Chihuahuas, los chimichangos, who are the bestest good friends of our latest household obsession, Skippyjon Jones. We have finally had some wonderful news!! I got a call from my oncologist (Dr. Puhalla) at 9:10pm last night (nice to know that those cancer-fighters are on the job at all hours of the day and night, eh?!??) saying, "I'm sorry to be calling so late, but I know that you've probably been on pins and needles waiting for these results ("no, but everyone that I know is about to be placed on tranquilizers if something doesn't happen soon..."), and they were just signed out so I wanted to give you a call". So, the chest wall spots were called "benign hyaline something" (I need to get a hold of the report so that I can have a look for myself... and then email you, Rani, for more information... ha ha), which, for all we care about, means no cancer there. And, the rib she said, "we'll just call negative". Not such a ringing endorsement, but she said that it didn't show cancer (now) and we've done all that we can do as far as it is concerned (no argument there! I've got nothing else to give - literally - in that department). I got the feeling that she wasn't entirely convinced that it was potentially an old fracture (I guess that was the conjecture of the path folks, again, I need to see the path report myself) but that we are going to call it negative and go forward with the next steps. She wants me to make an appointment with her for the same day as my post-surgical appointment with Dr. Ahrendt (the surgical oncologist) and we will plan the next level of attack from there. Obviously, that means chemo and chemo will attack anything that might be floating around under the radar (which I think is what she is sort of thinking about the whole rib thing). Regardless of all of the ambiguity - which I think we just need to get used to... there isn't going to be a whole lot of black and white with this and that is just going to have to be ok - this is a victory in long-term health and we are praising God for some positive news!!!! Now we can't wait to go back to Dr. Shende and give her a hard time for putting me through all of this agony for "nothing". ha ha!!! I think that will give her a chuckle. :)

I am feeling better every day, but I'm still so amazed by how little (when I say to people that I can tell that I have been doing "too much", by that I mean I've been out of bed, walking around and sitting downstairs...) puts me back in bed with that bizarre abdominal swelling and painful tingling thing over my chest and stomach. So, if there is anything that I would like to do in a day (like, take part in the family cookout tonight or go to church, etc. ), then I have to "save up" whatever energy that I might have for that event and count on the rest of the day in bed. This is something that is completely foreign to me and it has taken quite a lot of getting used to (the hard, i.e. painful, way).

I saw Dr. Gimbel (plastic surgeon) yesterday to discuss the final details of that portion of the upcoming surgery. He was trying to remember why we had "delayed" it and was a little visibly shocked by my rib tale. His portion of the surgery will probably take about an hour and half making the entire thing somewhere around 3 hours (longer than the last one which already makes my stomach flip flop a little... ugh). It made me feel sort of normal to get out of the house with Britt, go to Whole Foods (no one yelled at us in the parking lot this time, Nikki. That still blows me away... and Whole Foods is just such a relaxing, hippie/yuppie type of place. Why would someone be so uptight?!?? She clearly needed a Green Dragon tea and some tabbouleh...) and pick up an iced coffee to go with our unbelievably delicious orange/cranberry scones. However, by the end of it all I was moving really slowly and feeling the pain of being upright for quite awhile. But even that little escape was such a boost for me!

So, we are having a Grandma cookout today, sounds like Dad might be coming out tomorrow morning to drive home with Mom on Sunday and we are planning to head to a friends' home for dinner tomorrow night (I'll be "slugging" - to use your word Halley - around all day to be ready for that!) before attempting church Sunday morning. Then... it is back to cancertown with a pre-op visit to Magee on Monday morning (more tests, more blood, more of the same!).

Thank you all for your ongoing prayers!!! God is good all the time (even if this whole mess had been positive, by the way!). We are reveling in our good news for the weekend and we'll be looking ahead again come Monday. I've had some great times with my boys talking here on our bed the last few days. I've had wonderful opportunities to discuss with them the way God works in our lives through really bad things and how that gives us the opportunity to rely on Him and show Him to others through our reliance on Him. It is awesome to witness their growth and understanding and I pray that this is just the beginning of a blueprint for living that will help them through all the paths that their lives will take.