Three down, many more to go

Today's our Anniversary!!!!  Yep, 1,095 days have passed since we said, "I do" and there have been lots of exciting adventures along the way.

Scott had to work the afternoon/evening shift today so we decided to switch it up and work right along with that schedule.  I waited until up he got home from work last night (at midnight on the dot I might add) and we rang the new year in with champagne.  Today we got all gussied up for lunch out at Commander's Palace.  It was my first time there and we were treated like celebrities, as I think everyone is when they go there, which is always fun.  It was delicious and we had a great time!  We both decided we need to start doing lunches out a little more often.  It's a blast!

Family visits!

Warning: as per my usual, this is a picture-filled post...
The first week in February my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were all able to come visit!  It's the first time my mom and Tyler have been able to come down since we moved here, so we were happy it finally happened!  It was a little chaotic combining all the napping schedules (Roman would fall asleep, and then dad would figure he should nap as well, so then Scott or Tyler would too, but then Roman would wake up, and by the time we would all finally be ready to leave Roman would need a nap again...) but we made it happen!

We had all sorts of exciting adventures.  We spent one day wandering the French Quarter and showing them around our neighborhood.  The next day we spent an afternoon wandering uptown; riding the street car, eating at fun restaurants, and checking out all the beautiful houses on St. Charles St.

 Walking to Audubon park

We took a swamp tour the next day.  This time around we did the more "mild" version (we decided an air boat might be a little too intense for a 6mo old) and all of us piled on the pontoon boat together for a leisurely ride through some canals and bayous in the swamp.

On the boat for the swamp tour!

The younger alligators were brave and came swimming right up to our boat so we could get a good look at them.  We saw a few birds and one gross snake as well.

This big guy was bored with us...

Towards the end of the trip our guide pulled out his "pet" gator and wrapped a little hair binder around his (her?) nose so we could hold it.  I was slightly worried, but we all decided to brave it. I mean really, it was a little one and Scott's seen worse bites from them in the ER so what's the worst that could happen? Right?

Dad may have gotten slightly carried away...

Hopefully my mom doesn't have to worry too much, I doubt they would do well as pets in Wisconsin.

Scott had to work for a few hours on the Monday before everyone left, so I took my parents out to Oak Alley Plantation and we got the tour.  It was another great day of seeing more of Louisiana and getting to spend some very enjoyable time with them.

We all had a great time together and I'm so glad we were all finally able to get together here.

Housewarming

(I wrote this on 1/29 and somehow never got around to posting it...)

Last Saturday we had our official "Housewarming Party"

Not everything is done here.  And we haven't really even begun to decorate.  However, we decided we needed to do it sooner, rather than later - and all the etiquette websites I looked at gave us permission to go ahead now :)

Here are some pictures of our CLEAN house right before the party started.  

Oh, but first.  Just to remind you all - this is what the "kitchen" (and the entire rest of the house) looked like back in July....

And it now looks like THIS: 

[View when you stand in the front of the house, looking back] Living area, dining area, kitchen way in back

[View standing in the dining area facing the front of the house:]

[View of the kitchen facing the back of the house:]

Those cabinets and appliances we found on Craigslist turned out pretty well I do believe... It never ever would have looked this way without all of Vinnie's amazing inspirations and expertise and hard work.

[View of the kitchen facing the front of the house:]

Vinnie made those colander light fixtures over the bar

Our bedroom & closet:

We had an amazing turn out with so many friends and co-workers that were able to make it, which made us so happy!  Although the AC had trouble keeping up for a little while there (it was very warm that evening and quite humid), everyone seemed to have enough room to move around and socialize.

Scott smoked brisket for people to make sandwiches with. We also served all sorts of sides with a veggie platter, humus and pita chips, along with various cheeses and meats.

We gave little tours throughout the night.  Scott got his projector all set up in the media room, and we had a slide show going with all of the pictures of this project since we bought the house back in March.

Overall it was a huge success, and I'm glad those of you who made it were able to come!

There have been many laughs, owies, aches, tears, furious rants, and moments of sheer terror as we have brought our house through such a huge transition and it has become what it is today.  We never could have done it without the help of our amazing families and many of our wonderful friends and awesome neighbors.  We are so blessed to live in this house and never imagined in a million years that this would be part of our journey living here.  Although there are several perks we enjoy in this house, we are mostly grateful for the space to more easily spend time with our friends and family and show hospitality to others.  SO, once again, as we always say - if you're ever thinking of coming down to New Orleans, please call us up.  We've love to have you come visit :)

Radiation?

I guess it's about time to give you all the latest with the whole cancer dealio!  The last time I blogged about this back in December our next step was looking into radiation.  We spoke with other doctors here in town and the following week we spoke with Dr. Moley, the medullary specialist who is a surgeon, in St. Louis.  As per his usual attitude, he was rather unimpressed with the all of the pathology reports (if he ever seems to sound worried someday, that's when I will really freak) and said he has definitely seen this before with this type of cancer.

He told us he hasn't seen much of a positive outcome with radiation killing this type of cancer - it sometimes stops large tumor growth, but doesn't seem to reduce the amount overall.  Dr. M didn't really think that the research was good enough to indicate that we go through radiation at this time, and thought the best plan would be to take the 'wait and see' approach.  However, he left us with the kind advice that he is a surgeon, and so of course he thinks surgery is usually the best approach with this kind of cancer and he gave us the name of a specialist in Canada.

With a little work, we finally got in contact with Dr. Brierley, a radiation oncologist in Canada, who has headed up a large amount of the research in the world on radiation as treatment for Medullary Carcinoma.  Scott gave him his history and they discussed all the latest scans and lab values and various interventions we have tried.

After much discussion, his opinion is also that radiation would not be the best at this time.  Research has showed that this type of cancer just does not respond well to radiation and really shows no long term effects on your chances of dying and would greatly impact Scott's quality of life over the next few months.  Also, if it doesn't kill off all those little specs that are there sitting in his fat, it will most likely make it impossible to do surgery in that area again if that was ever needed.  He recommended that we follow everything closely and if it ever comes to the point where the growth occurs in an area where we simply cannot do surgery because of the risks, then we revisit the radiation possibility.  But for now, surgery and no growth are our best bets.

SO!  The plan of action for now is to wait patiently and live in harmony with cancer.  Sounds so weird to say when you're supposed to be fighting cancer.
We will be checking lab values again in a few weeks and will continue to closely follow them.  Scott will probably be having CT scans every few months for a while.  We are eating our fruits and vegetables and exercising and drinking lots of water and juicing some and doing all the things we "should" be doing as much
as possible - mainly though we are just living.
We are enjoying the small things and carrying on with life and we are grateful for that.  Our hope and prayer that we have gotten the most of this cancer out of his body that we can and that it will not grow anymore.  That those little bits we know about will decide to make peace and his body will stay stronger than them.  

Thank you all for all your prayers and kind cards and words as we continue this journey.  We are truly blessed to have the friends and family and love and support that we do.

Postdates

There are so many things that have happened in my month-long hiatus from blogging.  I've had a serious writer's block and although I have so much to type about, I just couldn't get myself to sit and focus.  When we got home last night I finally felt like I had a post again.  And now I'm going to try and fill in a few of the last month's details.

1. Scott and I went to Jamaica.  It was beautiful.  The weather was perfect.  The water was crystal clear and the ideal temperature.  The sunsets were breathtaking.

Sounds perfect, right?  Many aspects were, however it got rather miserable.  The prostitutes (male and female) were relentless, the people would not accept "no" when presenting us with their objects that they were selling, eveeeeerybody needed us to buy their drugs, and food and hostels/hotels were not really cheap enough to make it worthwhile. The only time we enjoyed the beautiful beach without being pestered every five minutes was the day we payed to use a private beach.  We now see why the all-inclusive resorts in Jamaica are SO popular - they are beautiful without the annoyance.  The final straw was the fifth night we were there and Scott had to physically throw a prostitute out of our cabana who tried to break in after him.  We were frustrated and irritated and did a first - we left the country early.  

2.  We flew home to Wisconsin and surprised my whole family and spent Christmas there.  On the way, we got to spend a night in Chicago and see our nieces and nephew there before flying into MN.  It was all just so wonderful and the weather wasn't even that bad!  (Although we did have to go buy some warm clothes as all we had with us were outfits for the beach)

With my sister and nephew                                                                                     Grandma Knapp with us

Almost all of the grandkids on my mom's side were there and we were able to see both of my Grandmas!

3. We flew home to New Orleans and had two days to unpack and get some things organized before Scott's parents, his younger sister, Elena, and his Grandmother drove into town!  I'm glad his Grandma was able to visit (her first time to make it down here) and it was so great to have them all here.

4. Our good friends, Chris and Anne, got married on December 31st.  Anne and Scott went to the same high school and were close friends throughout medical school.  We were so excited when both of them matched here in New Orleans and living here wouldn't be half as great without having Anne here.  We're so happy she found Bruisie (they are in the same residency class - we knew this would either end horribly or perfectly when they started dating) and we are so thrilled for them!  It was a very large, absolutely beautiful wedding and it was like a giant reunion with many friends present that we haven't seen in years.

So, those are the big events from the last month.  We've had several other fun things happen as well but this post is already getting lengthy and my textbooks are calling, so I think I'll be done for now.  

Cochon de Lait

We had faaaabulous weekend!  Scott and I were invited to Lafayette to celebrate the annual Cochon de Lait Party at the Ancelet's home. Lafayette is in the heart of Acadiana (south central Louisiana) where Cajun culture reigns and many families still speak French.  It is quite possibly our second favorite place in Louisiana - full of culture, plenty of character and amazing food.  The Ancelet's home is a beautiful old farm house which they have added onto as their family has grown over the years.  They have made it a very warm and inviting place - somewhere you instantly feel welcome and comfortable.
Yesterday afternoon was spent preparing for the party with the family, while the pigs were smoking away in the giant smoker.

Two pigs were purchased from the slaughter house and nearly every part of them was used - Francios even made hogs head cheese (minus the brains) yesterday.  Delicious!

Shucking Oysters while waiting for the pig

Some were eaten raw, on the half shell, and others were charbroiled on the grill with lots of butter and Parmesan cheese - MMMM!

In the kitchen preparing food.

As the evening went on, more and more people came until the house was SO packed you could barely get anywhere.  There were more food dishes than could be tried and we ate for 12 hours straight as people brought their dishes and took away the empty ones.    

We were amazed at how many people spoke French!  I knew Francios grew up with his parents and the rest of his family speaking it in the home, but we didn't realize how many other people in the area were so comfortable mixing it into their everyday conversations.  I was completely lost, but loved hearing it all around me.  We cheered on the Saints, and momentarily mourned their loss as the musicians took over the living room following the game.  For the rest of the night there was Cajun music and singing that could be heard throughout the house.

There was a base and many fiddle players, accordions, numerous guitars, and of course the triangle.

     Apparently it was the who's-who of Cajun music, and there were several musicians and singers there who have won Grammy's for their amazing talents.  I especially loved seeing that the art of it all is being passed along to the next generation as there were younger musicians there, playing along with the older, accomplished musicians.  When we left at 12:30am the music was still going strong.

     This morning we came back for the Sunday morning, milder continuation of the party.  Folk music was being played/sung in the kitchen (in English this time, with mostly 'spirituals' being sung) and there was even more food being prepared.  We sat in the sunshine and enjoyed Gumbo and Pork Back stew and I can't even believe I am hungry again still tonight.  I feel like we feasted on enough food for a week!  We had a blast though and are so glad we were able to go.  

Francios, Katy, us, & Etienne

Annnnd BREAK!

Well, I have successfully completed my first year of Graduate school!  I am almost half-way done with the program and that much closer to becoming a nurse-midwife!  It feels awesome!  But after year-round school for the last 12 months, I am pooped.  Have no fear though, I finally get my longest break since the start of school and have three FULL weeks off.  Sweet heaven!

Somehow last year when Scott requested his vacation time for this year, he was amazingly granted these last two weeks in December off.  Nobody else happened to request it (amazingly) and he won. We asked for the time, knowing this would be my longest break from school for the year, and thinking we would like to have a break together - never guessing that it would come at such a PERFECT and utterly needed time in our lives.  We have over 14 days off, in a row, together, for the first time in quite a while now.  As life has been less than a walk in the park for the last few months, we have decided to forgo all the things we usually adore about this season that just didn't seem as fun this year anymore.  We are simplifying and allowing ourselves to say "no" to all of the chaos we just really have no desire to deal with for this season.  Instead, we are focusing on each other, and our marriage, and our faith, overall.

We left the country this morning and are now in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  We'll probably be here for the next 10 days but have absolutely no plans other than focusing on being less sassy (in all the bad ways that get annoying) and just being together.  Also, there will be much time spent on the white sand, in the sun, enjoying a fair amount of Rum. And Red Stripe.

So, Merry Christmas a week early to all of you at home.  We send all of our love and hope that you too get a little time to focus on the people you love most, and things that are truly important to you.

Back to the Grindstone

Today is Scott's first day back at work!  For a 12-hour shift.  Please pray his neck and shoulders don't get too sore and he has the energy to make it though.  He's supposed to go back in tomorrow too, so we're hoping he does alright.
Also, a special thank you to everyone who covered his shifts until this point so he could rest as long as possible!  We are very, very grateful for you :)

The Next Step

We had Scott's follow up appointment yesterday, and as usual for us, we had some good news and some dumb news.
The good:

• Scott is healing fabulously.  The surgeon is very happy with how the incision site looks, Scott's range of motion, and advancement of activity.  In his opinion the surgery just couldn't have gone any better!  So, thanks everyone for all those prayers!
• The lymph node that we saw on ultrasound and CT back in October, which was the primary indication for surgery, was no longer a lymph node at all really - just a big old ugly tumor.  It was definitely time for it to go and we are all glad it's out.
• The left-over thyroid tissue which they removed was all negative for cancer.  We glad for this and think it's better to have it out and leave no doubt in our minds.
• The enlarged lymph node they suspected higher up in his neck (close to the base of his skull) was negative for any cancer.  In fact, they removed about 23 lymph nodes from that area as they were trying to get to this one specifically, and all of them were negative.  However, this leads us into the not-so-good news.

The Bad:

• The fatty tissue that was surrounding the lymph nodes which were close to the base of his skull was interspersed with medullary carcinoma.  
• It would be prudent to continue exploring various forms of treatment and we aren't done yet.

This is a big bummer for us, but we're diving into the next step.  The docs are all rather confused as it is unusual for cancer to spread through the fat in this way.  It would make more sense in our piddly minds for it to keep spreading through the lymph nodes as it has done so far - where it has an understandable blood flow and lymph flow and we can see why it easily travels throughout.  But no, Scott's already confusing and rare cancer has to get even more weird.
We've searched case reports and are pouring over the research, but unfortunately nothing similar to our situation has been published and nobody we've talked to has a clear cut answer.  The next step that our surgeon recommends, and which some new research is recommending, is that we move onto a type of radiation just for Scott's neck.  Since there are no tumor borders, the cancer in this area isn't something we can just go in and cut out as we've been doing with everything thus far.  Also, we wouldn't even know where to start (besides just harvesting every last little bit of fat from his neck which would be silly) as none of this showed up on any of the scans.  We are also running into the concern that if we just leave it, and it continues to grow and spread, each neck surgery we have begins to carry greater risks.
SO, in the next week hopefully, we are meeting with Scott's endocrinologist, as well as a radiation oncologist, to further discuss treatment options.  We are also consulting with our specialist in St. Louis to see if he has any other ideas.  I have finals next week and am working on my 20+ page paper for another class due after the weekend, so our plates are getting a liiiiiiittle full.  Also, Scott goes back to work on Saturday and we're hoping that all goes well.

Bedlam!

     We are two-weeks postop and Scott is slowly improving each day.  He is progressively needing fewer and fewer pain meds, and we're now slowly starting to work on physical therapy for his neck which is pretty stiff and sore.  As long as he gets his daily nap in and has a couch or bigger chair to sit in for the majority of the time he's good to go.  After sitting in a regular chair or standing for a while, his neck still starts to get pretty sore and tired from holding his big head up.
     Scott did pretty well on our trip to and from Oklahoma this weekend and although we were hesitant about going and had our doubts, we're glad we did now.  It was great to see everyone and a nice change of scenery.  We flew into Tulsa on Thursday and got to spend some time with Scott's family and see some other friends.  On Friday evening we drove up to Stillwater and spent the night there with friends.  Saturday afternoon we headed out to tailgate.  It was COLD!  We are so glad the rain passed through in the morning and didn't stick around for the big festivities!

All bundled up at the tailgate

So fun to see good friends!

     The Oklahoma State victory made our trip up there even more worth-while and it was great to watch the game with everyone!  We stayed outside at the tailgate with several others and didn't go into the stadium, as Scott would have been miserable in the bleachers or standing for that long.  We were much happier in our giant chairs and wrapped in blankets outside under the tent watching the game on TV.

Yes - both of us fit into that one chair quite comfortably.  No I am not that tiny - the chair really was just giant.

     We drove back to Tulsa on Sunday morning and were able to do brunch with some of our besties in town that we never seem to be able to get enough time in with.  We got to meet the newest addition to the group, two-week old Levi, and had such a great time catching up on all the latest!

    Our trip home was uneventful and it was pretty exciting to come back to our fabulous house which we are still thoroughly enjoying!  Scott's follow-up appointment is tomorrow, along with lab draws to make sure his thyroid and calcium blood levels are behaving.  We should have more news regarding pathology from the surgery after all this, so stay tuned.  

Overdue Update

Scott is recovering fabulously!  He's had his ups and downs, but overall we are making good progress.  He has been one helluva patient though.  Continuously attempting to sneak off and do things he's not supposed to yet.  Like drive.  And climb ladders.  And carry ladders.  And carry various other things that are much heavier than his weight restriction of a jug of milk.  The neighbors have definitely heard their fair share of my scolding, and to them I am sorry.  It's his fault though.  

He spends his days migrating from the bed to the couch.  I'll hear him tinkering around in the kitchen or another room for about six minutes and then he gets tired and winds up on the couch again.  We're so blessed that he's also been getting pretty good sleep at night, and the frequency of needing his pain pills is decreasing each day.  His sore, tight neck muscles have been one of his biggest complaints.  Our friend Anne brought him a heatable neck wrap and it seems to help a lot. 

We've had lots of friends stop by and are so grateful for you all!  It really helps break up the monotony of Scott's life right now, and is very encouraging.  

In other news:  We got an early Christmas gift from Scott's parents and love, love it! A camera!  Our little point-and-shoot camera broke back in August and it's made updates with the house much more difficult.  SO, now there is one less excuse for lack of updates!  Here's a little video I took yesterday afternoon of our place.

This is why we can't have nice things

At 7:55am this morning Scott meandered outside to set up the timer on the sprinkler for our lawn quick before we left for the airport at 8:00. Two minutes later from our master bathroom I hear, "Ohhhhhhhhh no.   Oh no.  Oh dearrrrrr.  Megan....? Please don't kill me"
Usually not a good thing for your husband to say.
I took a deep breath and hesitantly stuck my head around the corner to see him standing in the middle of OUR NEW CARPET peeling his shoes off.  Yes, he had done it.  He had stepped in the giant pile of doggy ka-ka I had warned him about last night.  And then tracked it ALL. over. our. new. carpet.
Sheeeeeeeeeeet.
Literally.
EVERYWHERE.
Needless to say I am thankful that we got the highest grade of stain resistant carpet and that rush hour traffic was not horrendous.  Only took 20 minutes of me scrubbing away with Scott standing around rather helplessly as the whole squat and scrub is not quite into his physical activity plan yet.  True love right there folks.  Luckily we still made our flight.  And yes, Scott is still alive.

PostOp Day #2

This morning the docs came in, stopped the PCA, took out one of Scott's drains and wrote discharge orders.  Pretty exciting stuff, except he had a nasty migraine that was making him really nauseated - we think it might have been from the dilaudid in his PCA, but who knows.  Fortunately we got a bunch of anti-nausea/vomiting meds in his IV before they took that out and it held him over until we got home.  Once home he was able to get a really good nap in and his headache finally went away.

We've been lounging around moving back and forth from the couch to the bed.  A few neighbors have come to visit and we've been catching up on all we missed over the last few days. It's SOOO nice to be in the new house!!!!  Scott's parents and younger sister are still here (the rest of the family flew home on Tuesday) and we all have tons of room to do as we please.  Such a big change from our little shotgun house down the street!  The thing I love the most right now is that all the walls of our master bedroom are insulated and since there is carpet in there, it is so quiet when you're in there with the door closed.  Scott can happily nap in peace while we carry on our noisy lives out here in the main living space, cleaning and continuing to move things in from the other house.  Such heaven.  

Wonder of all wonders!

The 3ft love seat actually DOES pull out into a little bit longer of a bed!  Joyous bliss!  I actually finally got a little bit of much needed, most glorious sleep last night and so did Scott.  Waiting for docs to round now.....

PostOp Day #1

Thanks for all the texts, visits, and prayers everyone!  Scott is doing well today!  They got a PCA (pump that has dose-controlled strong pain medicine that he can push a button and give himself every 10 minutes or longer as needed) going for him right away after the surgery yesterday which was very helpful!  His pain has been very well controlled and we are so grateful for that!
Nausea and vomiting has been the issue.  He spewed all over himself, the floor, and just barely missed his recovery nurse after surgery and then it continued for the rest of the evening.  They got lots of anti-nausea/vomiting medicine on board and finally we were able to get everything under control around 11:00 last night.  Sorry for those who were affected by this! (A few queezy guests definitely weren't expecting that) Fortunately it hasn't bothered him today and they were able to advance him to a regular diet for breakfast.  So far he's keeping it down and feeling fine.
He has two drains in still and is very sleepy and rather gorked out..  We are so glad he was able to get some good sleep last night, and I'm glad I stayed here overnight.  Waking up about every hour silencing beeping pumps and alarms and getting stuff for him, compounded with my lack of sleep over the last few days, has turned me into somewhat of a zombie though.  Also, the three-foot love seat available for me made for an interesting sleeping situation.  I'm going home to take a nap here in a little bit and that will hopefully help.
Come visit if you want and are in town.  I doubt we'll be getting discharged today.  And thanks again for all the love and support!  We really, really appreciate it!

DONE

Whew.  Surgery is finally over!  Scott is waking up in the PACU as I type.
He was under anesthesia for a little over 6 hrs.  I was starting to get a little anxious and antsy and am glad it is done.  I am also SO grateful that Scott's family has been here with me and for all the support from our friends.
Dr. Moore said the lymph node we were especially worried about, and did the surgery for, definitely needed to come out - it was about 2cm and rock hard with plenty of yucky looking tissue.  I'm sure pathology reports will confirm we made the right choice.
They also took out the last little border of thyroid tissue that was left in, along with another lymph node that looked like it could develop into something, much higher in his neck. (We will see how the pathology reports come back on those as well). These were the difficult parts as they were very close to important nerves and blood vessels and there was scar tissue and fat that needed to be dissected through with great care.  He said everything went well though and they are happy with the outcome so far!
Scott has two drains in and we will most likely by in the hospital for two nights.  I'll update as we know more.  Please keep us in your prayers that there is no additional bleeding and we can keep pain levels under control.

Sexy socks and SCD's are on....

Sexy hat is too....                 

And we're ready to go!

He just rolled back to the OR, so here we go!  Keep the prayers coming!

Recipe for Mild Chaos

1 post-op Bulldog
9 family members flying into town in one day from various places
1 sad partial shift at work
3 vehicles
1 doctor appointment
3/4 pre-op appointment
1 leaking gas line

Sign up for a shift at work to help out three weeks ago and then realize the you-know-what is hitting the fan all at once.  Try to find someone to cover shift unsuccessfully thanks to midnight showing of Breaking Dawn several hours before shift starts and AWHONN classes.  Contemplate just calling in sick.  Decide to put big girl panties on and work.  Get up extra early to make sure bulldog gets pain meds and time to potty.
Arrive at work and discover the saddest of sad situations that happens on L&D has just occurred.  Thank God the unit is not insane and there is time to adequately deal with everything.  Have husband go to airport in rush hour to pick up 6 family members - three of which are under the age of 3.  Rent minivan.
Get news that gas pipe is leaking at new house and Entergy thinks it will be ok until Monday.  Realize we now have no heat, hot water, or working stove at new house.  Decide to still "kind of move in" this weekend as originally planned.  Make sure husband goes in for pre-op workup.  Find amazing co-worker who agrees to come in and cover last four hours of shift. Rush across town to husband's doctor appointment - find out PET scan shows nothing new and surgery will continue as originally planned.  Rejoice.
Dilemma of two cars at hospital. Drive home alone.  Have husband pick up last three family members and an additional dog at airport and drive home in rush hour.  Finished when 1000 sq ft shotgun house is bursting at the seams and cannot handle any more activity.  Enjoy!

Additional topping: Cover with wine and let cool overnight.  Fly in one more family member tomorrow morning.

New year for me!

Had a fabulous birthday yesterday and am thankful for all the love you all sent my way.  I felt preeetty special.  Scott got off of his 30hr call yesterday morning and brought me donuts and flowers - he's such a rock star :)  Last night we went out for sushi at Kyoto, one of my favorite little restaurants, and then met up with more friends for desert at Sucre!

They finished sanding the floors yesterday and put the first coat of polyurethane on!!!

Today they will be buffing everything out.  Then mixing all the sawdust (they've saved this all from sanding the down the floors) with corn starch and whatever else is in their secret concoction and going around filling in all the cracks between the floor boards, before they add another coat.  Several coats are required and each one brings out an added level of the richness that is in those old boards.

We have a date!

Today we met with Dr. Moore at Ochsner.  We really like him.  Scott knows all the residents with him right now too and likes them, which makes everything a little bit like a party when we go in for these appointments.  We had a very long chat about everything and looked at the scans together and have a plan.  Scott will be having a PET scan on Friday - just to make sure nothing else lights up. (This is the glorified CT scan where they give him the special dye that the cancer loves and measure uptake times to see what shows up).  Next week we have a follow-up appointment for that to review scan results and sign consents and do pre-op stuff.

Monday, November 21 we're on the books for surgery.

The plan is to do a little more involved of a surgery than originally thought.  The first lymph node that we noted definitely needs to come out.  There is another good sized lymph node that doesn't look too bad yet, but the consensus is that we should just take it out now while we're in there to avoid another surgery later.  Also, they will be taking the tiny little border of Thyroid tissue that was left from the first surgery as the idea is that while it's in there - it's just a risk for growing more cancer.
So, please pray for us.  Lucy has surgery scheduled next Wednesday for her knee (an appointment we have agonized over how to handle, and then waited and waited for, and cannot move now), the house will be ready to be moved into by next weekend, and then Scott has surgery the following Monday.  I am fighting to get ahead with school and have an overwhelming amount of work to get done in between all of this.  Also, it would be good if I found time to go to the grocery store sometime and could clean my nasty fridge out.  Details that are low priority for now... Again, *deep breaths* and one day at a time - I kinda wanna puke when I think as far ahead about everything as I just did.