The lighter side of life – staying in touch with friends and family by celebrating the ordinary.
This actually happened back in March, but it looks like for some reason I never published this post. An enormous tree fell in Emily’s backyard earlier this spring!
Thankfully, everyone was fine and it didn’t hit their house. It fell right between the house and the garage.
However, it did hit one of their cars. It completely totalled the car. We’re so grateful it wasn’t worse.
And nobody heard it!
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My cancer surgery was at the end of February 2020, so I did all my first annual follow-up screenings in March.
All the results have been good! The blood work shows my white blood cell counts have mostly recovered. They’re on the low end of the “reference range” but still within what would be considered normal, which is an improvement.
My CEA (Carcinoembryonic Antigen) is up slightly from the last couple of tests but still very low, which is good. That one needs to stay low! It is a protein that can be found on some types of cancer cells, including colorectal cancer cells. So it can act as a cancer marker.
Unfortunately no one ever measured my CEA before my surgery (and we didn’t know to ask for it), so we don’t know how high it might have gotten during the time my tumor was active. That would have been interesting to have for comparison. With this marker, we want it to stay below the reference range, and we don’t want to see it steadily going up regardless of where it is in reference to the reference range. The amount it went up recently is very minor and probably not indicative of anything other than natural variation or noise in the test accuracy.
My CT scan was good. All my various liver cysts (which are numerous), all seem to be stable and not growing, so we’re continuing to believe they are benign. There is one large cyst that just showed up new since my last scan in October that is probably an ovarian cyst. Ovarian cysts are very common, usually harmless and usually go away on their own. But I am scheduled for an ultrasound next month just to keep an eye on it. The new cyst is huge! Over 5 centimeters! That could account for my lower back/abdominal ache, although I’m pretty sure that ache showed up before this cyst did, but I don’t remember.
I also did a colonoscopy. This is the first since the surgery that they’ve gone in there and taken a look at everything. It all looked very good. The juncture where they reattached the colon to the rectum looks all healed up well. The tumor was right at that juncture, so they had to remove some rectum as well as some colon. That made my surgery a bit more tricky and my recovery time quite a bit longer than if it had just been a section of colon higher up. Anyway, they found nothing wrong at the juncture, and there were no new polyps to remove either.
I really like my gastroenterologist (colonoscopy doctor) here in Albuquerque; he seems competent and kind, and very straightforward. I’m glad I did my follow-up in Albuquerque with this same doctor. I’m sending the results to my Tucson oncologist, who is a specialist in colorectal cancer and seems more knowledgeable than the oncologist in Albuquerque who is not a specialist. She seemed in over her head when I was reacting badly to the chemotherapy last summer, so I’m glad to have the oncologist in Tucson now.
My gastroenterologist says I won’t need another colonoscopy for 3 years, which is excellent news. I was expecting to have to do one annually for a couple more years. But we’ll see what my oncologist says. I will do it more frequently if my oncologist says I need to. But if he agrees with my gastroenterologist, I’m off the hook for another 3 years!
Quick bit of advice regarding getting a colonoscopy. It involves fasting the day prior, and then drinking laxative powder mixed in 64 oz Gatorade. First of all, if you hate gatorade, you can use a different electrolyte drink. Also don’t bother ordering the fancy recommended “kit” (which includes useless things like jello); just get what you need at the grocery store.
Regarding the timing of your appointment – if you hate fasting, and don’t mind staying up until midnight or later, then schedule your colonoscopy for first thing in the morning. If, on the other hand, you don’t mind fasting and don’t mind being awake from about 3:00 AM – 5:00 AM, and want a slower, more gentle cleanout process, schedule your colonoscopy for around 11 AM. Then you’ll take a “split” dose, half around 5 PM and half around 3 AM, rather than all of it between 5:00 PM and midnight.
Because I don’t stay up late very well, and I am frequently awake around 4:00 AM and then fall asleep again around 6 AM, the late morning scheduling works well for my sleep schedule. Also, the laxative dose is harsh, and the one time I had to do it all at once (surgery prep), I ended up with a migraine and vomiting. But I do fine with the split dose.
For me, being able to take the dose in two halves rather than all at once is definitely worth fasting an extra couple of hours with the later appointment time. I fast for 36 hours every week anyway, so that part wasn’t hard for me. Also you don’t have to do a full fast. You can have jello and broth and hard candy and anything translucent. (If this all sounds impossibly miserable, let me remind you once again that cancer is so, so, so very much worse. Just do it already.)
I’m scheduled for my next blood work and CT in September. So once I get my ultrasound done next month, I should have an appointment-free summer! Knock on wood!
Although actually that’s not true – I really need to find a primary care doctor and a dentist in Tucson. Cancer overshadowed everything, but I still need to keep up with the rest of my health. I’m going to run out of blood pressure meds soon, and my teeth haven’t been cleaned in ages, and I’ve been ignoring a chipped tooth. One of these days I’m going to get a haircut too. What a year it has been! I expect many of us are behind on our routine maintenance, am I right?
To top off a good medical month, I got my second covid shot on March 19, and John got his first shot today!
To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com
I wake up and I don’t know where I am. I don’t know anymore what season it is or what time zone it is.
Once upon a time my life was mostly in the same time zone, with the exception of a few phone clients who are mostly on the west coast and the east coast. Then last month I drove across three time zones, to Florida and back, all the while keeping track of my client appointments.
After a mad rush to Albuquerque for my first covid shot, we continued on to Arizona for my CT scan. Then the time changed to daylight savings in New Mexico but not in Arizona! Arizona doesn’t change. Which sounds blissfully simple! Except only about half of my zoom meetings are based in Tucson and the other half are based in Albuquerque. So about half of my zoom meetings changed to daylight savings time and the other half didn’t.
Meanwhile, John’s workplace changed to daylight savings time, so John set a couple of the clocks in Tucson to daylight savings time, and the rest are mountain standard time. Same house – two time zones.
Then we drove back to Albuquerque for my second covid shot and some work John needed to do. So now everything is in daylight savings time except my numerous Tucson zoom meetings.
My calendar is so confused that I’ve started to write time zones in the title of each event. Which helps, but I still make bonehead mistakes like this:
That’s simply wrong, whether we’re in daylight savings time or not. 2:00 Pacific time is never 4:00 mountain daylight or standard time, during the winter or the summer.
In general the weather in Tucson has been great, but not always. Here’s a picture of Kai and I, a day or two after we had slush. I was so grumpy about the slush I didn’t even take a picture. The next day the slush was gone and it was just windy and cold and threatening rain and I was in a somewhat better mood. Or at least willing to smile for the photo. I think I was faking that smile, lol.
Yes, we have Kai at the moment. Kai is going up to Boise soon, but we’ve got him through March. He’s doing fine – I’ll write more about Kai later.
Then the weather improved in Tucson just in time for us to go back to Albuquerque. When we first got back to Albuquerque the weather was equally great. Low 70’s, sitting out in the sun in the backyard admiring the signs of spring…and trying to figure the time zone out…
Then this morning the howling wind woke me up at 2:45 AM. An hour later we lost our power. Then our bedroom light came on when the power returned a couple hours after that! Never mind why – it’s complicated. It’s because our overhead light is not switched, it’s on a remote, which means it’s technically always on, and the remote is not cognizant of power going on and off. At any rate, we were awake most of last night.
I’m slightly nearsighted, so when John opened the blinds in the bedroom this morning, I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing. It’s a shaft of white light! Go toward the white light!
Or maybe not. Maybe just best to stay in bed.
Ugh! After 80-90 degrees in Florida, and 70-80 degrees in Tucson, and even in the low 70’s in Albuquerque, it’s now winter again. Somehow. Whatever. I’m so confused! Winter sneaks up on me when I least expect it.
At least it’s pretty.
John had to go into work for a meeting and the roads didn’t look too bad. So off he went! As is common in New Mexico, there’s a lot more wind than precipitation. So it’s mostly just a little bit of snow blowing around wildly at high speeds. It’s not nice!
I’m inside with hot mocha and warm spiced grits, feeling very lucky to be indoors. Don’t even ask me what warm spiced grits is. I think you already know that the food I like often doesn’t sound very good to everyone else. Instead of spiced grits, just imagine something you would like to eat on a cold, windy winter morning!
To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com
We’re heading back to New Mexico for my second vaccination shot!
I just found a totally fascinating interactive covid mortality risk model:
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/covid-pandemic-mortality-risk-estimator
In addition to the cool interactive model, I also appreciated that the authors of the article do a good job of explaining the data behind the model.
It’s a model, so of course you’re not supposed to use it to assess individual risk, but then again, that’s the whole fun of it. Here’s my profile:
John has been carefully protecting me, doing all the errands himself this whole past year. This had seemed reasonable because I have been battling cancer. But ironically, it turns out he was at higher risk than I was all along!
New Mexico is doing really well with their vaccine distribution. In addition to doing a very good job of prioritizing Indigenous and other vulnerable populations, New Mexico is also one of the overall highest in the country for vaccinations. New Mexico is the top state right now in percent population with at least one dose, and trails only Alaska in percent of population fully vaccinated.
(More detailed data at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/tracking-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-11611355360)
I really wish we could get John immunized, but at 53 and healthy, with a mostly work-from-home job, he doesn’t qualify yet.
The good news is, Monica now has her first shot! I had mentioned in a recent post that she’s 80 and still waiting. I guess Texas isn’t as organized as some of the states. But she was able to get in this week, whew!
Arizona appears to be vaccinating everyone over 55. I’m curious to know what percentage of people in Arizona are over 55? Seems like that would be almost everyone! Given that John and I are just shy of 55, I don’t think either one of us would be getting vaccinated in Tucson anytime soon.
To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com
Most of you don’t know Carlyle, but he is one of Serenity’s closest friends. I was lucky to get to meet Carlyle and his family at Serenity’s house in 2019, when Serenity was celebrating their engineer’s PE license. I’m very appreciative of Carlyle’s supportive friendship of Serenity while they went through some challenging transitions this past year. Carlyle’s generous friendship has really helped Serenity.
There is a go-fund-me effort to help Carlyle afford the copayment for an artificial arm. If you haven’t already seen this on Serenity’s Facebook page, I reposting here in case you are interested in supporting this effort.
If you’re having trouble with that link, just search gofundme.com under “Carlyle’s two-armed hug”.
If you’d like to donate anonymously, there’s a little box you can check during the check-out process to keep your name and donation amount from being posted.
Here’s the write-up about Carlyle that I’ve copied from the gofundme page.
“Carlyle is an autistic disabled vet and was paralyzed after leaving the military. At the age of 24, he had completed 3 yrs in the Navy and was working in Washington. He rode his motorcycle home one night & was hit by a car driven by an uninsured driver that ran a stop sign. His life changed forever. This accident left him now unemployed, homeless and with a paralyzed arm. He was a lefty no more. He fought every day and told himself if things didn’t get better he could kill himself tomorrow. Thankfully, that “tomorrow” never came. Since that accident, he’s graduated with a Bachelors and a Masters Degree. He’s been officially diagnosed with Autism after a lifetime of never knowing why he was different. He’s married & has a teen daughter. He gives back to his community through Autism and Disability advocacy, assistance, lending an understanding ear, coffee with scared families & helping teach first responders what to look for and do if someone is autistic and in crisis. He still struggles with depression and CPTSD as well as constant neck and back pain. All that to say, we are looking for assistance to get him a Myopro prosthetic to give him function in his paralyzed arm. The VA will not cover the entire cost. He is known in our community for his “famous” hugs. Would you help the man who loves to give hugs, give 2 armed hugs for the first time in over 20 years? Note: Yes, we have insurance but our out of pocket is aprox $12,000. The Myopro is $80K.”
Thanks everyone!
To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com
I try not to be political on this blog and for me, this isn’t about politics, this is about cancer.
The level of suffering people have to endure as they die of cancer is unbelievable. Until I got cancer I had no idea how awful it was. No idea at all. I didn’t have any comprehension. Now I can’t believe society forces those who are dying of cancer to live through every last horrible painful moment.
When it’s my turn to die, I want to be able to work with my doctors and have some control over the process of when and how I die. Right now in most states the doctors aren’t allowed to help their patients with that. They can give pain medicine, but trust me, at the end, the pain medicine doesn’t work anymore. The doctors have to give you so much that you’re completely knocked out and it still doesn’t work.
I’ve been watching some of my new friends die of cancer and the doctors are so unable to do anything helpful. Not only is it intensely painful, but you can die struggling for breath for days, overwhelmed with fear and helplessness. Can you imagine slowly suffocating to death over days or weeks while your whole body is screaming in pain? Would you force someone to have to go through that?
How can society tell me that I have to go through something like that? I can’t comprehend how cruel and invasive that is. I would never wish such cruelty on the most evil person in the world. So why does society think that I deserve to suffer like that? Why do they think they can decide what I have to go through at the end of my life? Who do they think they are – to think they can force me with their laws to suffer what they cannot even comprehend?
I’m going to die when I’m ready. Believe me, I’ll make it happen. But please help us change the laws so we can legally have our friends and family and doctors at our side helping us, so we don’t have to face this final act alone.
This next excerpt is specifically for those of you in New Mexico, because we have a Senate vote coming up this week. I’m sure the rest of you in other states can find the info you need at https://compassionandchoices.org/.
Here’s for New Mexico:
| We expect that Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options Act (HB 47)—which would authorize medical aid in dying—will be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee for its final committee vote as soon as this weekend or early next week. The next stop would be the Senate floor, and then Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk. The governor has indicated that she will sign the bill, which means these next two votes are absolutely critical.Please email your Senator today. Even if you’ve already reached out, we need you again now to keep pace for passage by the end of session (March 20). If your lawmakers already support the bill, you’ll see a prompt to thank them. If they haven’t yet, you’ll be asked to urge them to advance the bill. Please consider adding your personal story of support to any and all messages. Email your Senator in advance of this critical final committee vote. |
Please click the link and fill out your info, it only takes a second. There’s an optional spot for telling your story if you want. In New Mexico they may vote as early as the end of this week, so please do it now.
And then make sure you’re up-to-date on your cancer screenings. I’ve told you before and I’m going to tell you again: getting a colonoscopy done is like a walk in the park, it’s like a happy day in the sunshine, it’s nothing compared to cancer. If you’re afraid of one little brief bout of diarrhea and then a quick trip to the clinic, let me tell you, you have no idea what cancer does to a person. I would do a colonoscopy every single week for the rest of my life to avoid what I went through as a cancer patient. I’d have naked diarrhea in Central Square sooner than going through what I went through last year. Graphic? No, no, not even. Not compared to cancer.
Don’t imagine you’re immune. And as I told you before, I had no warning symptoms. Most of the time you can’t feel or see cancer until it’s really bad. Also, by the way, a colonoscopy isn’t just a screening for cancer. During the procedure they remove any polyps that could eventually become cancer. You don’t want those things left in there. Go and get them taken out.
And help pass some compassionate laws for those of us who are less lucky. Please.
To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com