Home again, jiggity jig #Cancer

Right, well, obviously this picture was taken last summer. This is the view from our back porch into the little woods that borders this area of the cul-de-sac. But that's beside the point...

I came home Friday night, after two weeks in the hospital. We found a combo of meds that keep the pain mostly bearable, but for some reason the doctor only provided 2 1/2 days worth of one of them. A Home Health nurse came by yesterday, and she will also look into it, see what the problem was, and try to procure more of the meds for me to take me through to my oncologist's appointment, which is March 7. I will be meeting with her social worker on March 10 regarding my lack of insurance and so forth. I'm not certain when the chemotherapy will start, but I would guess fairly close to those dates. Apparently I'll be seeing someone else altogether about the radiation, and am not sure if they will be done at the same time or one after another or what, nor exactly how long I'll be undergoing all of this. Dr. Shepard (the oncologist) wants to do genetic testing to see if she can pinpoint a specific mutation, which will make the treatment more effective and less damaging to the rest of my system.

Once I regain my strength a bit from the treatments, then there will be another surgery to clear out more of the tumors, remove my ovaries and uterus, and hopefully reconnect my colon. I really don't like this ostomy bag.

A CT was done of my chest, and an MRI of my head, and it appears that there is no involvement above my stomach, so that's good news at least.

I'm very far behind on reviewing, and I believe I'll probably fall farther behind. It's difficult for me to concentrate, and I think I'll be reading stuff for fun rather than for reviews for awhile once I can focus again. Meanwhile, I've been meaning to watch Eureka  and Supernatural and a few other things so that will probably fill time for me between doctors' visits and sleeping. I think I'll probably lower my reading goal for this year, and then pull in the new widget, since it doesn't update automatically here.

Much thanks and love to all my friends, to my chosen family, to my husband, and to my cousins and their friends for all the support and encouragement. It's been lovely talking to so many of you, and feel free to call anytime, especially if you called me early on after my surgery and I had to cut short the call due to a case of the weepies. That's mostly under control now... You all rock.