Has the other shoe fallen?

(I am starting with the good news. If you can't wait, scroll down to the fourth to the last paragraph then come back to the top.)

Yesterday was warm and sunny all day, and we had a full day of chores and fun planned. In the morning, Mark went out grocery shopping and comic book shopping (every Wednesday), so he was gone nearly three hours. While he was gone, I did some treatment-related chores: filed papers in my notebook, looked up claim status from two different insurance companies, called St. Agnes one last time for an itemized bill. I also cleaned out my purse. OMG that was a big chore! I don't think I had done that for a year, and it was looking like a cross between a trash can and a file cabinet. I'm happy to report that it is squeaky clean now, but there is a big pile of papers on my dresser that I don't know what to do with. LOL

I also called my new cleaning lady, Carol. She is coming this afternoon, and I'm hoping to meet her. I don't know if I will or not because I'm also supposed to get that call from the cancer center about when to come in for the tattooing. I thought they would call yesterday, but they didn't. Carol is coming around 1 in the afternoon, so I still don't know if I'll be here or not. At least by talking to her on the phone, she knows where I left her check and where I'll be if I'm not here to meet her finally.

Once Mark got home and ate lunch, the fun started. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are our weight-lifting days, so off we went to the Palms to do our exercise. Since I can't lift more than 10 pounds on my left side for the rest of my life, I have the four arm machines set at 10 pounds. I started off with two sets of 10 reps, but I was curious about the best way to increase that. Fortunately I have a certified Athletic Trainer in the family, Evey. She said it was better to increase to three sets of 10 first. Then when that started to seem easy, drop back to two sets but increase to 15 reps. Then go to three sets of that before dropping to two sets of 20. That will take me awhile, so I'm good for that. The cruise will interrupt that for three weeks, so I basically will start over when we get back.

Then we went to the pool. I thought that Wednesday would finally be my day to swim because the two week restriction from the port removal surgery was up, but NO! Now I'm restricted because of the temporary marks on my chest for the tattooing. DOH! I sat on a chaise lounge and snoozed while Mark did his 20 minute water aerobics routine.

Finally it was OFF to DISNEY!! We went to the Magic Kingdom for dinner and a show. I love that we can do that. We arrived about 6 p.m. while the day was still warm enough to be in short-sleeves, but we carried jackets for later when it was dark. The Snow White ride is going to close down to make way for a new attraction, so we headed to Fantasyland right away to ride it. In the summer the wait is always very long, but today it was just 5 minutes. We really enjoyed it, and I feel sad that they are doing away with one of the original rides. Then we walked to the Pooh ride. It used to be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and I was outraged when they shut that down to turn it into Pooh. Pooh is nice, but it's no Mr. Toad. The ride is still the same Pooh ride, but the waiting area through the line has been enhanced with fun things for kids to do to pass the time. We went through the line to see those new things and then ditched out through the Fast Pass entrance way. Dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe in Tomorrowland was our next stop. It is a counter-service food court with kosher meals available. Mark and I love the corned beef dinner, so that's what we ordered. We were shocked when we saw it had been changed to a pocket sandwich. It turned out to be a good change. The sandwich was excellent and the carrot/broccoli medley was steamed instead of swimming in a sweet glaze. There were fewer potato puffs, but they tasted better than I remembered. All in all, we thought it was an improvement. It was also so uncrowded that we did not need to lurk around waiting for someone to leave to snag a table. In fact, I waited with Mark until we got our food, which in the summer I would never do because I'd be lurking around trying to snag a table, and then we chose the front table so we could actually hear Sunny Eclipse as he performed for us!

After dinner it was time for the main event. Prior to "Wishes", the evening fireworks display over the castle, there is a 10 minute show called "The Magic, The Memories, and You." Over 500 pictures (of the thousands taken) of guests from that very day in the park are projected onto the castle. At least that's what the promos said. It was so much more than that. There was music, colorful displays, animation, and so much more I can barely describe it. You can hardly realize you are looking at the castle because it has been well-disguised by the lighting effects. Everyone really needs to go see it.

We did a little shopping on the way out, which I do NOT recommend. It's super crowded in the stores on Main Street on the way out because everyone waits to shop until the last minute. Sigh. We did it anyway. Mark was on a hunt to buy me a Valentine's Day gift, and since he was carrying a small bag, I think he was successful. I was sent to the Emporium to buy a Mickey head shaped ice cube tray. Our ice machine does not work, so we are tired of having no ice. Now we'll have Mickey ice cubes. I also found a box of Mickey-head shaped, chocolate covered Rice Krispie treats. I did not need that, but it found it's way into my hands anyway. There are only 4 in the box, so I ate one while I was waiting for Mark to finish his shopping. I put the other three in the pantry for a much later date. We got home shortly after 10 p.m., very tired but very happy.

Well, here's the other shoe dropping, maybe. I got a call at 8:30 this morning from my new medical oncologist. I was excited when the phone rang because I was expecting the radiation department to call with that tattooing appointment. Still waiting. Instead, it was Dr. Vijay's office asking me to make an appointment to come in and discuss my PET scan results from Monday. I was surprised about two things. First, I didn't think those results were even going to be back until next week, so I expected to hear about them after the cruise. Second, if there is nothing bad in them, why couldn't they wait until after the cruise or just tell me all was well on the phone. I asked for an appointment the week of March 7 when we are back, but she said, NO, I needed to come in tomorrow. Sigh. So I'm going up there at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow for an appointment to go over those results. Is this a bad thing? Am I feeling depressed and upset for no reason? Is it just standard procedure to bring you in immediately to tell you there is nothing in the scan? Is this place money-grubby and just wants money from CIGNA for another office visit? Hm...that could have happened in March in my book. I don't like this, and neither does Mark. Now I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting for tomorrow morning.

In Baltimore, PET scans were never in the picture, never mentioned as an option. My oncologist said there was no way to tell if the chemo worked. I believed her. She said one-third of the women got chemo when they didn't need it; one third got chemo, needed it, and were cured; one third got chemo, needed it, but didn't get cured. She said there was no way to tell which woman was in which third until many years went by. Now I have had a PET scan, and I've been told that it will show if the chemo worked or didn't. Who should I believe? This could be a good thing if there is something else there that needs to be addressed. Isn't that better than waiting for years to go by when some new cancer or a recurrence has grown so large that it causes symptoms? So tomorrow I will find out, and of course, I will share that information with all of my loyal readers. Please continue to keep me in your prayers.

Well, I took so long writing this blog and uploading all of the Disney photos, that I have now set that appointment at the radiation office. I'm going in tomorrow at 9:15. It's more than just tattooing apparently; it's the simulation. I thought that was what I had on Tuesday, but he said no. The radiation "plan" could not be made until they read the results of my CT scan and ultrasound from Tuesday. Now they have done that, so I'll have a simulation session and tattooing on Friday in the morning for about a 45 to 60 minute session. Then I'll see Dr. Vijay at 11:30 to learn what showed up in the Bone Density scan and the PET scan. I'll wait until I get home from all of that tomorrow before writing another blog, so be patient.

Meanwhile this afternoon, we have decided to take ourselves up to the Solivita pizza parlor, the Upper Crust, for lunch. Today they have tomato basil soup in a bread bowl and salad bar for their lunch special between 11 and 2. I'll probably not meet Carol today because of this, but I don't care. We are also going to walk the inside track for some exercise and to to the Lifestyles office to turn in our checks to join the Travel Club and make our donation to join the Walk for the Cure in March for Breast Cancer. It's a two mile walk and we get T-shirts! I'm planning to work up to that two mile walk on the cruise, but we'll start today in the indoor track. I had said I would do a public walk for breast cancer eventually, so this seems like a good goal. The walk is on March 18 in the early morning. Tonight is free wine dinner at the Lakeside restaurant and the free movie in the ballroom. Tonight our movie is "The Other Guys." We will also be buying tickets for the Solivita Theater group's spring performance on Sunday, March 6. This place has so many activities going on that it would be impossible to do them all! That's why we love it here.