Everyone measures time in treatment differently - it's called their 'cancer-versary'.  Some people measure from the day that they were diagnosed, some celebrate when treatment ended.  My cancer-versary is murky at best.  I was diagnosed twice in the last 5 years and finished treatment twice...but not really since I still receive treatment.  How's a girl to celebrate??  For the moment my family has been celebrating every year that that I've received my NED (No Evidence of Disease) with a 'Not Dead Yet' impromptu party when my scans come back...and they came back clear again last Friday marking my 3rd cancerversary!

Of course it was not without some drama.  I had the CT of my chest, abdomen and pelvis on a Monday morning and usually have the results in a few hours.  Nothing Monday...or Tuesday??  Finally on the Wednesday I started making some calls.  Of course I can't get through to a person at the imaging center so I tried my oncologist's office.  Except I can't find his number!!  I know, this is an insane 1990s problem.  I don't know why, but the hospital's main number is the one in my phone and they keep transferring me to a cardiologist with the same name.  This could also be user error...I was slightly agitated and was trying to make the call before leaving for an appointment.  In desperation, I emailed my nurse navigator Diane - she can make anything happen.  She got right back to me and told me that the imaging company has been super backed up and it's nothing to worry about...and she'll call a friend over there and see if she can push my results along.  I had my 'no malignancy found' results within an hour.  Diane and I have decided we should run the world.

I had my MRI a week ago Thursday and knew I wouldn't have results for ages, so I was calm.  I got to my imaging place and was walked back by a guy I've never had (this is probably normal for most people - lol!).  On the way, I passed Kathy my favorite tech who I've seen since I didn't have any hair.  She transferred to an imaging center in Fountain Hills and only occasionally substitutes at my location.  We shrieked and hugged in surprise - what are the chances??  I was pulled away to get changed and because she had actual work to do.  Then I had my IV from a new girl who was training.  The guy watching her had just done the IV for my CT on Monday.  The poor girl was so nervous!  I assured her that I was easy and had giant veins (I do!).  Her supervisor asked if I thought we should keep her and I said she actually did a painless IV.  She thanked me for saying that after her supervisor left and I assured her that it really was completely painless.  After I had my IV and went into the MRI room, I got another surprise...Kathy had switched patients to be my tech!  We quickly caught up.  I told her that this was my 3 year anniversary MRI and asked how her husband was doing.  He also has cancer and has been in active treatment for as many years as me (he's still hanging in, but his numbers aren't improving).  I told her she had to be my good luck charm for this test.  We laughed about my lucky underpants and it was the most relaxing MRI I've had.  I still can't believe it used to take a handful of Xanax to get me into one of those machines!

I had no results all day - no matter how many times I refreshed the MyChart website!  Luckily, they arrived on Friday morning when I woke up...and I spread the word.  I had said to Adam and my parents (since we still live there - more on that later) that if the results were good, I'd like to celebrate with everyone...but we don't know when the test would come back...and it would be bad luck to plan anything or even talk about it in advance (because you know this entire thing is based on luck, crystals, blessed medals, papaya, good vibes and lucky underpants).  Anyway, my family can do an impromptu party better than anyone!  Erica and Brody had been at a crew dinner and somehow still managed to show up with giant balloons.  Without a question, my Godparents came with flowers, cheers and hugs and my parents had champagne and cupcakes.  I want to thank everyone who lifts me up all year, every year.  I appreciate you reading this nonsense.  I appreciate the comments, the cards, the text messages, notes on Instagram, prayers.  Everyone being in this with us really does lighten the load.

Now let's not forget that we have also become a home improvement blog.  When we last checked in on the house, plumbing had been completed and the contractor was about to demo the floors.  I'm not even sure I can get into everything they found when they took up the floors and opened up the rest of the walls.  There was black mastic (aka asbestos) under the wood floors throughout, so the entire house was abated.  When we took up the tile in the laundry room we found there was a 1" topping layer of concrete so that the laundry room was level with the house.  We'd had a leak at some point and that had caused the topping layer to separate from the slab, so you could pick up giant pieces of concrete.  There was a wood curb at the primary shower, we found an air return that didn't have any ductwork, crazy electrical and possibly termites.

Now the good news.  We finally placed the order for the new kitchen island and learned that it would arrive in the 4 weeks I estimated, rather than the 6-8 weeks they projected.  I had a hardwired makeup mirror installed in our bathroom this week.  It is LITERALLY the only thing in the bathroom (#priorities 🤣).  We cleaned up a bunch of electrical issues while all the walls were open, so that's super cost saving.  Tomorrow we're having a guy come to see if we can have the house drilled for termites while there's an open slab, so it's protected for decades...and before my bougie wood floor goes down!  I attached some photos, because it looks horrifying.  The guy who packed us up came by to pick up a check and he was shell shocked.  It looked like a nice house before!  Now we know why everyone in the neighborhood just knocks these houses down and starts over.  A 70 year old house is a mess!

Our two months with my parents looks like it will turn into into FIVE...and luckily they are too nice to throw us out on the street.  I'm pretty sure they allow us to stay because of our 14 year old dog (who has gained weight because he loves bananas and my mother eats bites of banana all day...and she has to pay the 'banana tax' every time she touches one!).  We are staying at my sister's house this week while she's out of town and mom said she'd miss us - this is good, right??  AND...I haven't even come close to losing our bedroom door.  I famously lost my bedroom door in high school from excessive 'slamming'...and rightly so.

I went for my oncologist visit and infusion yesterday with mom.  All this shenanigans is having zero effect so far on my health.  My BP was my normal low, my white blood cells have finally shot back up to a normal range...oh, you'll love this, I told my oncologist that I had a staph infection 6 weeks ago from my low white blood cell count and he said that it wasn't his fault!  I told him I went 50 years without a staph infection and since I met him, I get one on my scalp about every 8 months (when my white blood cell count is low), so I'm pretty sure it's his fault.  He admitted it could be the treatment.  It is my mission in life to get him to laugh every visit.

That's it from here.  Hopefully next time, I'll have something more than a makeup mirror to post from the house.  For now, we'll be basking in the glow of our year 3 cancer-versary!!!

XOXO,
Kristen