I can only laugh about my day and recognize that I must not be in very bad shape since I survived it.  I was supposed to meet the vet at the barn where my daughter winters her camp horse for spring shots and a lameness evaluation.  Because the world has gone insane with swine flu and, hence, my work life is similarly insane I had to go straight to the barn from work.  No big deal.  We’ve been dry for days here so it shouldn’t have been a problem.  I sat in my car, listening to an audio book and watching the horses graze in the pasture in front of me - a bucolic Connecticut scene if ever there was one.  When I had been there for 30 minutes I called the vet’s answering service to confirm that he was coming.  By the time I got off the phone he was pulling into the barn and lo!, the horses had disappeared.  I grabbed a halter and went off in search of them.  This took me to the back of the pasture, or “the swamp,” where I skipped from stone to stone in my capris and nice navy flats (received as a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter last year) and reached the horses.  I attempted to put the halter on Dennis, but couldn’t get it fastened.  I led him off that way.  I couldn’t go back the way I had come so headed for the little stream, hoping to find stones to step across.  Instead, I sunk my foot into the muck, the horse pulled back, the halter came flying off and he ran back to the herd as I went hands first into the muck at the base of the stream.  Both shoes came off - one buried for all eternity somewhere my searching hand couldn’t find.  I slogged across the stream and then the pasture barefoot and got a hug and a promise from the vet to come back on Monday and try again.  If I could accomplish that stupidity without breaking my hip, I don’t think I need the cane any more.

I met with the orthopedic oncologist at Yale on Friday and he didn’t feel that that hip metastasis was an imminent fracture threat and recommended radiation therapy rather than surgery.  This was a huge relief for me - no major surgery and recovery.

Yesterday I met with the radiation oncologist and had my first treatment.  He’s going to deliver the treatment in 5 sessions, which will not disrupt my schedule in the least.  Two down and three to go.  I’m once again covered with Xs to mark the spots and lots of little pieces of circular tape that I’m not supposed to disturb until after the last treatment on Monday.  Fun times but nothing that hinders life in the least.

I’ve emailed the oncologist at Dana-Farber to see where we stand on genetic testing of the tumor.  I’m not going to let anyone do anything to me as far as systemic treatment until after my daughter’s graduation and until I don’t feel pucky and puny from the Cisplatin/Taxotere any more but I know my oncologist will be anxious so I’ll try to get a time estimate from Dana-Farber.

So other than swine flu insanity, a confounding horse and persistent side effects from the last chemotherapy everything is going pretty well.  The daffodils are on the wane and the tulips are starting to bloom.  The trees are all wearing their spring wardrobe and there’s the first sign of dogwood getting ready to burst forth.  I’m excited for mine to bloom - a pink one that was a gift from my son last year.

I hope spring is putting a little bounce in everyone’s step and that you are all enjoying beautiful spring weather and blooms.  Every once in a while someone should remind me that a) I’m not a teenager and b) I really should have developed a little more sense by this point in my life.