Finally: Home Again

This has been an interesting and sometimes difficult week. Several months ago, my hubby noticed a lump under his (empty) eye socket. For those who don't know, T had radical cancer surgery in 2004 which resulted in the loss of his right eye/orbit. Following weeks of radiation and almost five years of quarterly, then annual visits to MD Anderson Cancer Center (the best cancer hospital in the world!), he was told to go home and live his life. He was finished. And we did. Then about a year ago, the skin graft in T's orbit started showing infection and this lump got bigger. After messing around with over the counter treatments and less than adequate medical care, we went back to Houston.

I am more than happy to say it was a good week. All the tests were negative for cancer. We also learned a lot about some of the issues T will face with the orbit. We learned that the skin graft is far more sensitive than we realized and will probably always present some issues. Six weeks of intense radiation will do that. The only awful moment came when the doctor, our fabulous Dr. Esmaeli, decided that the lump needed a needle biopsy just to confirm her diagnosis. It was extremely painful and it had to be done twice! Not fun! However, the reason it had to be done twice was that the doctor doing the procedure was unable to harvest enough cells for the lab. After the second dig, getting what he needed, he informed us that usually when cancer is present, the fluid vomits into the needle. His word, not mine. This did not happen and the initial reaction is that the lump is part of the restorative process: scar tissue, for us laymen.

So we are home again and thanking the Lord for health and a future. I am grateful every single day, that I can grow old with his man, my high school boy friend, the love of my life.

While we were there (in 104* temps!) we did some vacationing. We went to Galveston for the first time and returned to Spring, the site of an old-time village, full of cool stuff. We think we found a coffee table to replace our hand-me-down of 11 years. We'll see. We haven't received the medical bills yet and they promise to be significant. Not that I care - I don't care - I'll pay them off over ten years if I have to; I have my husband!

T with his new buddy in Galveston