Sunshine Admix the Storm

Yesterday I received a phone call from Litchfield Floral wondering if they could deliver some flowers to me. I was on my way out the door to go visit with my dad and told them that I would just stop by to pick them up. Many people have learned about the battle I am facing and so I wondered who might be sending me flowers. As it was bitterly cold ( below zero) I did not want the flowers exposed to long outside so I picked them up on my way to work. I brought them in and opened them up and they were absolutely gorgeous! They smell so good and brought sunshine on a much needed day. Thank you so much Jason and Kiley and boys! I really needed that lift.

I spoke with the surgical nurse yesterday as I had some questions that needed answering. I ended up talking with the surgeon about what was going to happen tomorrow. He has been in contact with the oncologist from Abbott Northwestern. He is an outreach doctor that comes out to Litchfield on Wednesdays. It turns out that I may end up staying in the hospital overnight. The oncologist has ordered the bone marrow biopsy but has also asked Dr. Peterson to perform the staging procedures. That means that if he cannot find a lymph node that is enlarged close to the surface that he will have to open the abdomen up and go in to get one of those. It is classified as exploratory surgery. If he has to do that I will be spending the night in the hospital. So far I have not found any lymph nodes that are enlarged on the outside surface. The good thing is that if he does have to go in he'll not have any problems locating the tumor for biopsy.
For those of you that are not familiar with the term staging, I'll explain. It refers to how much of the body is involved in the disease and if the cancer has spread from the original site to involve other systems and organs.Since the bone marrow is involved with the lymphatic system it is one area to be watched closely. In the staging process they determine where the original site of the cancer occurred and that in turns determines the type of cancer and also the treatment for it. The type of cancer, slow growing or aggressive, will determine how aggressive they have to be with the Chemo treatments.
Dr. Peterson will also be putting a port into my chest for the delivery of the chemo drugs.
I spoke with Dad this morning about how he is doing. He said that at this point he isn't feeling stressed as we are still waiting for all the information. He said that if we find out that it is in a late stage and if things do not go well- then he will be stressed. My sisters are planning on coming up t the hospital to be with him while he waits for news. I think his Harry Potter book will help him deal with the wait. He will escape into that world and will be oblivious to the time that passes. That sounds heartless and like he doesn't care but that is how he deals with stress, he just goes off into a different reality for a while. If it helps him cope this time I hope he can get totally immersed. I better warn my sisters though because they are not going to understand that at all! They will be furious with him.
I need to get going as I have a load of things to get done today!
I love you all!