A Change of Plans . . .

Well, RV’ers say that their plans are written in Jello, and that’s very true in our case this time.

It now looks pretty certain that Jan and I  will not be able to make the 54th Escapade up in Goshen this month. We were originally supposed to leave for Elkhart tomorrow morning (Friday), but some bad news/good news brought that to a screeching halt. While we were waiting for it to get a little warmer up north, we were also waiting for things to play out with the results from Jan’s mammogram on February 18th.

As has happened several times in the past, they found something that warranted a further look. So in March, they did a diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound. And in the past, this is where it stopped.

But this time they found a problem that called for a needle biopsy, which was done toward the end of March. The diagnosis from the biopsy was ductal atypical hyperplasia. In layman’s terms this is a lot of funny looking cells in a milk duct. And funny looking cells are sometimes an indicator and precursor for cancer.

So on April 16th Jan had a lumpectomy, or more correctly, an excisional biopsy. And today, May 1st, is when she had her follow-up appointment and got her results. And this is where the bad news/good news came in.

The bad news was that they found carcinoma in situ, an early form of cancer.

The good news is that the lumpectomy got it all, leaving only healthy tissue.

But her surgeon wants her to see an oncologist to follow up on any further treatment. The only thing that has been suggested is that she might have to start taking Tamoxifen, a daily pill to prevent any possible further cancer growth. It’s not considered chemotherapy, and is only about $10 a month from Wal-Mart..

The surgeon’s office faxed over Jan’s records to the oncologist to be evaluated. Then they will call us to schedule an appointment. It’s probable that this will be late next week if we’re lucky. Since the latest we could leave here and still make the Escapade is next Wednesday the 7th, that’s probably not going to happen.

As I told Jan, if we had to have bad news in this situation, this is the best news we could have.

Now back to our day today.

We left the rig about 8:45, heading down to Clear Lake for Jan’s appointment. We made a quick stop for gas and a bathroom break at the Flying J in Brookshire, finally making it to the doctor’s office about 10:45 for her 11am appointment.

We actually were in and out of the doctor’s office fairly quickly, and Jan decided she wanted to have lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico down in Dickinson, because she wanted to have a Margarita, understandable under the circumstances.

Coming back up to Clear Lake, Buc-ee’s was on the way so we stopped in for some of their great muffins. Then after a quick client visit and a stop at Half-Price Books, we headed back north into Houston, so I could stop off at Interstate Batteries to drop off the 4 old batteries from yesterday’s change out. I definitely wanted my $129.90 core charge back.

Then it was on to Brandi’s house in Katy, arriving about 2:45, and giving us both time for a nice nap before we met Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at our favorite Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro.

As you can tell form the photo, Landon has a good time where ever he goes.

And after another great meal, we finally got home about 7:15, after a long and eventful day. Tomorrow will probably be just a stay around the rig day. Well deserved.

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Thought for the Day:

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” — Thomas Mann

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