The good, the bad and the ugly
It's been a very full couple of weeks here, with both good and not-so-good stuff.
The good stuff: lots of wonderful music goings-on lately.
Our house concert (on January 20th, with s00j and gaiaconsort) was hugely successful -- or perhaps I should just say "huge", since about a bazillion people came. So many, in fact, that we set up a live video feed into the kitchen so that folks who couldn't find standing room in the concert hall [living room] could still see and hear properly. Some day, we may put together a YouTube video from the resulting tapes. I wish I could have seen the concert -- I'm told it was pretty good -- but since I played in both sets, I didn't get to watch much of it. All I can tell you is that from the "stage side" of things, the audience was out-of-this-world fabulous! You guys rock!
Then, this past weekend, s00j and I drove down to Fae Hollow, Oregon for another Tricky Pixie rehearsal, which lasted well into the night. There was much inspired playing and improvisation, a fair degree of goofiness, two strong-minded and lusty satyrs, and several alligators (no, they did not eat AJ's cats, nor his delectable little dog, Taeko).
The next day we headed back northward, to sidhefire's place for a potluck and s00j concert -- another fun house concert with another great audience. (Sooj is a TREAT to perform with!) As a most excellent finish to the evening, we dissolved gratefully into their healing hot tub. The best part of this visit was getting the opportunity to spend time with sidhefire and skarlett. (Have wanted to do this for ages, but I usually see them in the midst of a huge concert gathering, when I am totally focused on playing and barely notice anything else.) Another treat was staying up ridiculously late with mlerules -- the two of us talked until nearly 3 AM, at which point she casually mentioned that she had to drive back to CA the next day. 10 hours. Alone. On minimal sleep. Yipes! MLE, I hope you made it back safely!)
And, the next day -- that would be Monday -- s00j and omnisti and I headed back down to Portland for another house concert. The highlight of that evening for me: copperwise gave me a darling alleeegator pin she had made for me:
The not-so-good: After Monday's concert, I had to say goodbye to my darling Sooj and K, who are now heading back to Colorado, and whom I will miss terribly.
The downright bad stuff: Last week I learned that I have breast cancer again; I'm having surgery this Thursday, Feb 1. Depending on further test results, chemo & radiation may follow. Meh. I SO did not want to do this again!
The good stuff: lots of wonderful music goings-on lately.
Our house concert (on January 20th, with s00j and gaiaconsort) was hugely successful -- or perhaps I should just say "huge", since about a bazillion people came. So many, in fact, that we set up a live video feed into the kitchen so that folks who couldn't find standing room in the concert hall [living room] could still see and hear properly. Some day, we may put together a YouTube video from the resulting tapes. I wish I could have seen the concert -- I'm told it was pretty good -- but since I played in both sets, I didn't get to watch much of it. All I can tell you is that from the "stage side" of things, the audience was out-of-this-world fabulous! You guys rock!
Then, this past weekend, s00j and I drove down to Fae Hollow, Oregon for another Tricky Pixie rehearsal, which lasted well into the night. There was much inspired playing and improvisation, a fair degree of goofiness, two strong-minded and lusty satyrs, and several alligators (no, they did not eat AJ's cats, nor his delectable little dog, Taeko).
The next day we headed back northward, to sidhefire's place for a potluck and s00j concert -- another fun house concert with another great audience. (Sooj is a TREAT to perform with!) As a most excellent finish to the evening, we dissolved gratefully into their healing hot tub. The best part of this visit was getting the opportunity to spend time with sidhefire and skarlett. (Have wanted to do this for ages, but I usually see them in the midst of a huge concert gathering, when I am totally focused on playing and barely notice anything else.) Another treat was staying up ridiculously late with mlerules -- the two of us talked until nearly 3 AM, at which point she casually mentioned that she had to drive back to CA the next day. 10 hours. Alone. On minimal sleep. Yipes! MLE, I hope you made it back safely!)
And, the next day -- that would be Monday -- s00j and omnisti and I headed back down to Portland for another house concert. The highlight of that evening for me: copperwise gave me a darling alleeegator pin she had made for me:
The not-so-good: After Monday's concert, I had to say goodbye to my darling Sooj and K, who are now heading back to Colorado, and whom I will miss terribly.
The downright bad stuff: Last week I learned that I have breast cancer again; I'm having surgery this Thursday, Feb 1. Depending on further test results, chemo & radiation may follow. Meh. I SO did not want to do this again!
- On Sunday night (the 21st) I found a suspicious lump. Didn't sleep much that night; was too busy alternately freaking out, and telling myself that I was being silly and there was no need for me to freak out.
- Monday I phoned my oncologist at Swedish in a state of barely suppressed panic, and the blessed woman managed to fit me into her busy schedule 1/2 hour later. After examining the lump, she kindly did not tell me that she privately thought that this was, in fact, an excellent reason for me to freak out. Instead, she used her considerable influence to get me immediate diagnostic appointments where none had previously existed. Within two hours (and in the same building) I'd had a mammogram, an ultrasound, and a core biopsy (ow ow OW).
- Tuesday I got the results (I had been told this would take 3 days, but I suspect my wonderful oncologist went and scared the pathologists). The news wasn't good: it's malignant, grade 5-6 (this is on a scale of 0-9, where 0=benign and 9=way nasty). (It could have been worse, though; my last tumor was a grade 8.) Also on Tuesday, I saw my oncologist again, and together we assembled a plan of action. She again used her considerable influence to get me immediate appts for some staging scans.
- On Wednesday I stayed home and tried not to hyperventilate.
- On Thursday I had a CT (soft tissue) scan to check for liver, lung and brain metastases. The scan was, thankfully, normal.
- On Friday I had a bone scan, for which the preliminary results were normal (I'll get the official results tomorrow). I also met with my new surgeon (my old one retired in 1999, so my oncologist recommended another, Dr. B, whom I liked just fine).