Crossing Streets

While Rick was here, he sang us a song he had written back when Darcy was 17. And so I convinced him to go into my studio and record it. So here it is. I'm really glad we could capture that. You know, he has so many songs. We should record a lot more of them.

I just love it. Though of course it makes Darcy cry. Rick is so cruel.

Nana and Pop, thanks so much!

My dad and Debby just left after a grueling week here, taking care of the kids, the house and that rascal "Dikkens" while I had my surgery. They discovered the joys of parenting small children (again) and the kids discovered the joys of being with their grandparents for some fun, music and treats. Nana bought the kids new jammies (which they didn't want to take off for two days straight) and changed the bag on the vacum cleaner (who knew you could do THAT????). Pop got all the clocks working and chiming merrily and Dikkens got more hugs and walks from him and Nana than he's gotten all year. Besides this, the kids got some hugs and reassurance at a scary time for all of us. Amelia seems to have gotten some good lessons in crawling, as she's now scooting around the house getting into all sorts of mischief. I wish that we could have taken some more time to show them the sights of Stillwater, but the visit was so great, anyway. I thought of telling my dad as we left at 6am, tuesday morning that in fact I didn't have cancer, but just needed a break and was headed to Vegas. Unfortunately, inspiration was slow in coming, and I didn't think to say it until we were well on our way to Rochester. Oh well.

I'm starting to feel better and better each day. Still very tired, but the spectre of having "cancer" is looming less and less over me. I feel in a way, like I have a second chance - though it's really the same old chance I always had. I'll know more in a week from monday, when I meet with the endocrinologist to determine the next course of treatment... basically if I have to have radiaion treatment. For the first time though, I feel like I am going to survive this. (knock wood). Thanks to all of you for your prayers, cookies, cards, kind thoughts, and love.

Love,
Darcy

Home again, home again...

Hi my friends and family, I just want to say thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts, they seem to have worked! My biggest wish was that they would tell me that the cancer hadn't spread and that they appeared to have gotten it all, and my wish came true! My throat is still very sore, and I have a three-inch incision that gives me a "bride of frankenstein" look, but they tell me it will heal cleanly. Frankly, I am just happy to be home, to be alive and to be (knock wood) on my way to recovery. The big question now is whether or not I'll need the radiation therapy. The doctors at the Mayo tell me that most other places in the world would do it just to be safe, but that their data has shown that in my situation it is not necessary and may actually pose additional risks for the futre. It's hard to know what to do, I'll have to talk to my endocrinologist here in Stillwater and see what she has to say.

You have all been so kind to me, I wouldn't want to ever have cancer, but the experience has taught me the power of love. I have never felt so surrounded by it in all my life. I guess this is a lesson I needed to learn. I want to say, "I get it, I get it!" now it's time to get back to the things that really matter - friends, family, children, music and chocolate! love you all so very very much, Darcy

Home Again Home Again

Darcy was discharged from the hospital today, and we are home, at last. She is recovering quite nicely. Not moving her head from side to side at all, as you might imagine. But chipper and better every day.

The kids are so glad she's home. She's sitting at the dining room table, talking with Rick and Debby now, and she sounds great.

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes and all the loving support. All indications at this point are that we may be through this now. It's too soon to make predictions. But I have good reason to hope it's true.

Success, and All is Well

Darcy's out of surgery and back in her room at the hospital. The
surgery went very well, if a bit slowly - 3.5 hours, instead of the 1.5
- 2 predicted. Nevertheless, it's a very good outcome. None of the
lymph nodes were affected, and they were able to save 3 of the
parathyroid glands in place, and reimplant the 4th. A very clean and
happy result, indeed.

I'm exhausted, so I'm going to take a nap here at the hotel.

Room 6418

I'm sitting in room 6418 in Rochester Methodist Hospital, all by myself right now. Darcy won't be joining me in here until at least 1:00 or so. If you want to send flowers, I'm told "no lilies", because of the floral scent. Who knew. There's also a direct line to the room. Since this is a public forum, send me an email or call my mobile and I'll give you the number.

Darcy will only be in this room until tomorrow afternoon. After that, we're driving home if all goes well.

Waiting Room

I'm sitting here in the family room waiting room, with Darcy's wedding ring in my pocket. I guess they've had trouble with people's hands swelling during procedures, so they want to have her ring-free. They're so efficient and personable here, an unusual combination. We're definitely in the best of hands here.

I expect it'll be a long wait, but I'm loaded down way too many things to do, including this laptop. So email me if you like!

Good News

We met with the doctor and surgeon today, and it looks very reassuring. All the tests they did this morning came through clear, so no bad stuff in the blood sample and the lymph nodes on the sides of the neck appear clear by ultrasound.

The surgeon, Dr. Grant, described the procedure. They will remove the entire thryroid gland, both sides of it, and the surrounding lymph nodes, 15 or so. The nodes removed will then be biopsied immediately. Then, they can definitively "stage" the cancer, though they said they feel she is stage one, which is such great news.

The Mayo does take a somewhat controversial stance on radioactive iodine treatment, in that they don't recommend it for everyone after surgery, unless it's past a certain high score. Dr. Fatourichi said Darcy's score is 4.7, well below the score of 6 mentioned in the article. We'll cross that bridge after the stage is firmly established and we meet with Darcy's normal endocrinologist, Dr. Rosenberg.

We have to show up for surgery at 6:15am tomorrow morning, and she'll be out by noon or so. She can expect nothing more than a sore throat and neck for a couple of days, so the doctor says.

We're keeping our fingers and toes crossed. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and well-wishes. It seems to be working!

Nappin' at the Days Inn

We listened to 'Freakonomics' on my iPod on the drive down. Man, the things that guys knows. Fun with statistics, that's what I would have called it. But I guess that wouldn't have sold so many books...

Darcy had some tests done this morning, and we checked into our hotel for a nap. Funny how it happened. I dropped Darcy off, and parked the car in the hotel lot. Now, you need a permit to park there so I dropped by the desk and spoke with the lady there. She was very nice, I was very polite. It was a pleasant exchange. She mentioned that the room wasn't ready yet, but might be ready before official check-in time (2:30), gave me her card, encouraged me to call. After an early lunch, we came back, Darcy went to the desk and asked if the room was ready yet. The very same lady snapped at her, "check in time's 2:30!". Hm. So we waited for a while, went for a walk, did some window shopping, etc. I thought to myself, let me try. So I went off to a quiet corner of the baby store and called from my mobile. "Hello, we spoke earlier, and you had asked me to call. Do you think my room might be ready?" "Oh yes sir, it most definitely is". I looked at my watch. 1:30.

So we're taking a nap at the Days Inn. Darcy thinks that lady's sweet on me. Must be the new haircut.

The Week's Schedule

This weekend: Have a date. Clean the house so our guests next week will get the incorrect impression that we're tidy people. Put away the window air conditioners so as to guarantee several days of very hot weather.

Monday: Nana and Pop arrive in the afternoon!

Tuesday: Very early, Bruce & Darcy drive to Rochester for a day of tests and consultations. Stay overnight at a hotel.

Wednesday: We very much expect we'll be going into surgery early in the morning. Depends, I suppose on how Tuesday goes. They'll keep Darcy in the hospital overnight, after.

Thursday: Drive home to Stillwater.

Like all things medical, all of this is subject to change. But that's what we think will happen. I'll keep you posted.

Power to the People!

Darcy wrote an email to the Attorney General of CT and he actually listened!. It seems some believe there are an inordinate number of thyroid cases near the now defunct Connecticut Yankee power plant. He wrote a letter asking the Commissioner of the Dept of public health to look into the connection between the nuclear power plant and cancer rates further. The Mayo clinic says radiation exposure, especially from Iodine 131 (like what comes from power plants) is one of the major causes.

Cool, huh? Just watch. She'll be on the front page before you know it.

The Three Princesses

Evelyn and Eli Harrison saw our last movie and really wanted to get into the action. So we went over to their house yesterday and made another movie. Here it is. Again, it's a quicktime movie, click "Get Quicktime" on the home page to get Quicktime if you don't already have it. If you have a slow connection, download it before you play it. It's about 11meg. Enjoy!

I'm going to experiement putting some of my movies up on YouTube soon, too. I'll keep you posted.

Impressions of the mayo Clinic

Bruce pretty much told you the facts about our trip to the Mayo Clinic, I'll tell you some more of what I remember, and my impressions. Someone I met recently told me that going there is like travelling to "Oz" and it's not a bad description. It is not just a medical "clinic" but really a whole cluster of highrise clinics, a hospital, hospice centers, hotels, a whole little city centered around medical treatment. There are liscence plates from across the country and people of all nationalities. My doctor is actually Iranian, though speaks English very well. He was definitley a "just the facts" type of person and answered my many questions with multiple "yes" and "no" answers. Not the chatty sort, but I have often found many excellent physicians are that way, very scientific in their approach. He said that he did not see any evidence of the cancer having spread beyond my thyroid, but that he would not be surprised to find evidence of it in the lymph nodes when looked at more closely during surgery. This, however, would not hurt my chances of a good recovery. I asked if the tumor was considered "large" as he said it is 3X4 cm. "It is not small", he replied. (OK I guess that means "Yes") but then he thought that my age did not mean this was disasterous news. He said that as far as my chances of leading a "normal life" (and life exepectancy?) they are about 90%+. I think that's pretty good, though of course I wish it were 100%.

He thinks I probably WILL need the radiation therapy, which is outpatient, as Bruce mentioned before. It will happen about 6 weeks post surgery, but I have to start weaning the baby right now as the milk absorbs the radiation. I don't think there's worry about my losing my hair, but it does cause nausea and extreme tiredness. The hard part will be keeping the kids away, as being near me would be harmful to them (as well as to anyone else). Luckily we have lots of offers of help from family, such as my brother, Jesse, to take them for a little while and keep them safe from harm. My dad and mom, as well as Bruce's mom, have offered to come and stay in order to help too. Dad will be here for the surgery, and mom after that. It is nice to know that I have such caring family and friends to help me. If I have learned nothing else from this experience, it is that.

I still feel afraid, but know that I am in good hands. Please keep me in your prayers on the 20th for a good result - that they can get all the cancer, that it hasn't spread and that I still have my voice. (There is about a 1% chance of it being lost or damaged). Then I promise I will record more songs and send them to you. I really appreciate your kind thoughts and words. They help me have the strength to face this.

Love you all so much,
Darcy