My mother died earlier today. I was with her, holding her hand, at the end.

Quick update: I finished radiation & chemo on 11/11. (They did a little ceremony & gave me a certificate of completion at the radiation center. It was very sweet & made me a weepy mess!) I'm recovering from the burns and accompanying difficulties in the radiation spot and adjacent areas. Still fighting the fatigue, unfortunately, but that's hopefully improving too. For right now, I'm in a holding pattern because the radiation & chemo "keep working" for a month-ish even after active treatment has stopped. I have a PET scan & an MRI on December 6 (and a dentist appt, but that was just an unfortunate coincidence). Then I see my chemo doc on 12/12 & my radiation doc on 12/14...to discuss where we are, and next steps I suppose. (Please send all prayers, vibes, etc. you can spare to the hope that the tumor will have shrunk enough to be removed. I want this fucker OUT!)

Hi everyone! Well, two days after my earlier announcement, I did have to go back in the hospital for a couple more weeks. I didn’t get a chance to update Buffistas. Org or Facebook because I was depressed. They were also trying to find me a place to go in for convalescence, but we ended up compromising and then back home. Andi has been trained to take care of my wound and we’re gonna go from here. I have no idea when I’m going to be going back to work. Even though I haven’t been around here chatting much lately I do miss you all. It's just that my spoons have been drastically reduced for now, but I should be able to forge new ones as time goes on

Made a new blog post. [link]

Just turned in my final research paper for grad school. Holy shit y'all I actually did it.

Had to take Jacqueline to the ER with acute abdominal pain.

We were looking at an 8 hour wait until she pinged her boss. It helps to have a Division Chief boss at the hospital where you're being seen.

Anyway, she's had her bloodwork (she's not pregnant!). No fever.

She's in the queue to get a CAT scan.

Could be kidney stones. Could be pancreatis. IDK.

Not serious -ma is welcome.

I'm back at home waiting to see if I need to bring her anything for an overnight. Matilda is with Emmett.

eta: She's had her scan. Waiting to hear if she's coming home or staying overnight.

She’s admitted at the hospital and has received pain medication. But not a room.

She’s staying overnight in the hallway.

She has colon cancer.

Tomorrow we meet with oncologists and try to get a biopsy during Xmas week.

For those of you who may not see updates on FB: My friend was able to go with me to meet the new surgeon. She and I were both impressed by the doctor & her staff. Still don't have a surgery date, but now I know the *plan* and I have good *information*, both of which make me feel better. So, a couple more scans in the meanwhile, then surgery probably in early to mid-February.

Mom's finally seeing a podiatrist tomorrow. Hope he can help, and that we could get our groove back.

I'm scheduled for breast reduction surgery tomorrow, in hopes of mitigating my chronic upper back, neck, and shoulder pain. It should be pretty routine, as surgeries go, though I'm still feeling a bit nervous, since that still means going under anesthesia and all.