(no subject)
Since Andy was diagnosed with Cancer, it’s been even more of a whirlwind of stuff, and she was scheduled for surgery right away. Her aunt flew in from Vancouver and set herself up in our guest bedroom. Andy’s mother stayed with us for several days as well. I was so thankful Cherisse came with us to the hospital for Andy’s surgery (which was last Monday) and since then Reese and K8 text every other day or so, keeping up with everything.
Roxy ordered Andy a week off work and made the excuse “there’s really nothing here for you to do right now” when Andy called last Friday wanting to go in.
So this week is still a blur, I’m rarely online, unless it’s doing more research, but most of my free time is spend going over medical indexes, hormonal relations, naturopathic articles and making notes in various chapters of the holistic information and treatment book I have (which is comparable to small phone book)
I’ve lists to make, things to buy, and my research extends to things such as:
If lymph nodes test positive for the cancer, but have not yet made it extensively into the thousands of lymphatic vessels, is that still Stage II or is that considered Stage III?
Is my coffee grinder powerful enough to split flax seeds or should I just buy them pre-ground?
How does the does the American Cancer Society differ from the Canadian one when it comes to being an organ donor? And at what point does a cancer patient disqualify?
Is there such thing as carb-free beer? (which is obviously Andy’s question)
At what amount is melatonin toxic?
Does milk thistle come in tablet form?
Can Andy go through the TBBS (total body bone scans) without having to remove her piercings? (since she’s got her navel pierced and does not want to have to remove that one)
What natural sleep-aids (other than Valerian and chamomile) would be recommended for someone who would need a more potent dose?
So, needless to say things are still busy. For the past week, our home has been full of visitors, guests, family and friends. All whom have brought food, flowers (gosh…lots of flowers) cards and kind words.
Andy has been getting better with information, she’s no longer treating it like a huge secret, and I presume she’ll finally ‘come out’ to our baseball team next game and answer them as to why she looks totally fine but cannot play and after Friday, we’ll know more about if she’s out indefinitely or if she may return to the field.
She’s let the news escape to close friends instead of keeping it tight and only speaking to family about her having cancer. People like Shelly/Emma/Tammy, Kim/Emily/Arlene and Laura/Chris/Stefanie whom are all our baseball buddies, (as well as our three main camping groups)
My mother still calls regularly “how’s she doing” and we’ll gab for a while.
My work has been very supportive, I take some time off to go with Andy to her appointments and surgery, I was called in to Paul’s office (two bosses above me) and he explains “we heard that Andy’s not doing too well so I wanted you to know that we’re thinking of her and we hope she gets better and if there’s anything you need from the company, then don’t hesitate to let me know”
I greatly appreciate how they treat my partner and in simply doing so, I’ve no doubt, they’ve alleviated stress that I would have had to sort through had they not been so kind.
So things are still busy, whenever Andy needs a time-out, she’ll sit on the front porch and read another few stories of the Chicken Soup for the Cancer Survivors Soul book that I bought for her the first week she was diagnosed. I’d dedicated the book to our future and wrote a message on the inside that played off of the common vow of “in sickness and in health”
Through out all this Tucker is still as goofy as ever. We took him swimming at the lake the other day, I was nervous as hell, (knowing bulldogs/frenchies/boxers are all top-heavy and do not swim well) but Andy and her aunt promised not to drown the dog. He didn’t mind swimming; he looked terrified, but tried it several times anyway. (We thought he might not mind swimming since he plunged head first into the lake last week in hot-pursuit of several geese…that time I almost had to follow in and save him)
that's about all for my entry today, more maybe another time.