A good Friday the 13th

What a good day! I had a chest CT today and DocO gave me an "all clear", so once again it is a big relief. For the last year, my CTs have not just been chest but also abdomen and pelvic area and I had to drink a contrast the night before and day of as well as have an IV during the CT. I did not realize the order for today's scans had changed, so I drank the yucky contrast last night. As I was downing the last bit in the waiting area today, Terri, the CT Tech saw me gulping it, and told me I wasn't having contrast today. I have sort of been "promoted" and only have contrast every 6 months, still scans every 3 months. When you have contrast, you can't have anything to eat from midnight the night before until after the scan. So I drank the stuff and starved myself until 11am (when I had the scans) for no apparent reason. But the good news made it all worthwhile.

I now have now been "clean" or NED (no evidence of diease) for a year (since my thorochotomy last August). It is hard to believe, it has now been 3 years since my leg surgery and about 3 1/2 since I started chemo. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and others it seems like a lifetime ago and that it really happened to someone else, not me. I am going to do my best to put is all behind me and forget about it for about 11 weeks. My next tests are Nov 17, so I am not going to start freaking out about them until Nov 10. That is a pretty good break!

Bob and I got back from England last Friday. He was there for a month and me a little over two weeks. We went a few weeks later in the summer than we usually do, hoping for better weather, and we got it. The temperature was about 65 to 68 degrees during the day (when all of you were in the high 90's) , and we had very little rain, so we got to spend a lot of time outside. I got to do a few walks with Bob and his sister Jackie, and others, but I did have a hard time on some of the steeper walks. My leg just does not lift up that well, and I am not so steady on my feet --but lets face it- I have always lacked coordination! But also I could really feel my lungs a little bit more, felt breathless, which kind of scared me and made me suspect my scan might not be so good this time. Maybe I just need to be in better shape and get back to the gym! So that is the plan. We had a lovely trip, and it was great to see family and friends. I could not help but be a bit anxious knowing I was coming back to CT's, so I was a little distracted some of the time. We will probably go back to England for Christmas. Our big decision is whether we wait until after my Nov 17 scans to book our trip, or take a leap of faith all will be well and set it up before hand.

I know so many of you bought Atlanta Sarcoma Walk tee shirts or made donations to the Southeastern Sarcoma Group, and I am so appreciative. They have not provided me a list of contributors yet, so if I have not thanked you, please forgive me. I just have not been told yet. We have a meeting next Wednesday night, so I am sure I will get all the updates then. We have 180 attendees up from 140 last year, which is great. I was a little worried about attendance since it was so hot and also because so many of you came last year, and would not be coming since we would be in England. But as I've learned, the world does not stop turning because I am not there, and I am so glad it was so successful.

We are finally back in the swing of things, over jet lag and now that I am not worried about my scans, it is time for me to get back to "normal" whatever that is! No more excuses! We need to both hit the ground running Monday morning. We have a low key weekend planned, so we will be ready to go. I have a long "honey do" list for Bob, and lots of work planned for me, so life is good!

Thanks for checking in on me!