My Dad is in the hospital (again!) with congestive heart failure and mystery anemia. Please send ~ma our way.

It's not a holiday without dad going to the ER, right? He's doing okay, but I brought him in this morning and he was admitted this afternoon for cardiac and neurological monitoring because he's been having bad bouts of vertigo and actually passed out today when we were touring an assisted living facility. On the positive side, I finally have him ready to admit he might need to move into assisted living in 2024. Finding something he can afford that isn't awful yet also allows him to bring his dog is the next hurdle. And getting him stabilized again. So he's in the hospital pending a bunch of tests so we can figure out what's going on with these dizziness and fainting issues, and we are figuring out how to proceed from here. Happy holidays! Sigh.

I had an appt with the neuro-oncologist today. She confirmed no evidence of cancer in my spine or brain, so I don't need to see her anymore! I'll still be working with the ortho-spine guy to try to deal with my back/tailbone issues - but those issues do not include cancer!!

The doctors think Dad has less than 72 hours remaining. I will post again when he is gone. Thank you, all, for your support.

My father, William Robert Taylor, "Bill" to all who knew him, passed away about an hour ago. I have been with him most of the past three weeks all day, every day, but he was such a private person that I am not surprised he waited until no one was in the room. I went to the beach near the hospital with Tina for 30 minutes to sit and remember and be near the ocean, and the nurse said he went just after we left. I came back and said goodbye and now am going to try to move forward. I am so glad his suffering is over but so filled with grief for the fact he will no longer be in my life. To honor him, pet a dog or help out someone without expecting anything in return. Or give someone a hard time. All of these would make him smile.

For anyone not on the Book of Face, here's a link to Dad's obituary.

If you tune into this radio show at 12:40 EST (EDT? whichever one we're in now), you will hear Dylan being interviewed as one of this year's winners of the Ernie DiMattia Emerging Young Artist award!

I have no news to share. But every time I read the thread header I hear Sam Jaffe's "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity" as the preface to every episode of Ben Casey. It's stuck in my brane like a popcorn hull between my teeth.

Had an appointment with Oncology (my main doc's NP) today. There's some evidence that I may have metastasized. Right now it's not definitely cancer, but it's not not cancer either. The CT I had in the hospital showed a "concerning" node on my peritoneum and enlarged lymph nodes. I'm supposed to have an appointment in the next 2-3 weeks with my Oncologist to discuss next steps. I have a PET scan scheduled, but not until May, so that will probably be moved up to get confirmation. Whatever it is, I'm trying to take comfort that it's caught pretty early, but I keep crying thinking of having to go through treatment again, especially considering the bladder and kidney issues I'm already having.

I thought I was getting better. I don't want to re-set the needle.

And in case that's not enough, my mammogram (a couple of weeks ago) showed something concerning so I also have to go in for a breast ultrasound.

So anyway, please send energy, prayers, ~ma my way. I'm at the lousy "not knowing" part and I'm feeling pretty rough.

PET scan this afternoon. Please continue to keep everything crossed for me!