The last big hurdle is behind us. We made our seventh 2015
SoCal trip this past week to be with Jana during her surgery on Thursday, May
14th. Wednesday evening we celebrated me (Mother’s Day) and Jana (just hours
away from being cancer free) with dinner at Jon and Vinny’s, a trendy
restaurant in Santa Monica that specializes in pasta and designer pizzas. The
food was good, but the highlight was sitting at a table adjacent to The Fonz
(Henry Winkler), who was enjoying pizza with his son (who looks very much like
him) and their wives. I was positioned to look right at him all evening, but it
took others at our table (obviously much more observant than me) to recognize
him. In my defense, he wasn’t wearing his typical white T-shirt and leather
jacket.
We spent most of Thursday in the hospital waiting room watching
time slowly tick by and hopeful that Jana’s surgeon, Dr. Kusske, would have
good news for us following her portion of the surgery, which was the double
mastectomy and removal and preliminary testing of the sentinal node in Jana’s
armpit. We have since received confirmation that the sentinal node showed no
signs of cancer! For Jana, there was no passage of time. She was sitting up one
moment talking to her anesthesiologist receiving her epidural and the next she
was looking up at me in the recovery room, confused and concerned that she
couldn’t remember laying down. It took several hours for her to be moved from
recovery to her private room and it was close to midnight before we left the
hospital. The pictures below begin with the three girls in the waiting room, Jana swaddled in warm blankets in recovery, and Lauren learning to remove the fluid from the drainage tubes that will remain in place for ten days.
Our Saturday started early with a text saying, “Where’s my
mommy?” It was clear my day would be spent at Jana’s bedside, but there were
big plans brewing between Lauren and Verne. For the past year Lauren has been a
volunteer submarine tour guide at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
and when the men she works with on the sub learned she’d be in SoCal for a few
weeks, they urged her to visit the USS Iowa, which is located in the Los
Angeles Waterfront (San Pedro) and available for self-guided tours. Verne took
no urging -- he was more than happy to accompany Lauren on the adventure. Below
are a few of the pictures from their day together.
My day with Jana was “loving”…that seems to be the best way
to describe all of the emotions I was feeling (appreciative of the UCLA doctors
we chose back in December 2014, proud of Jana – her strength over the past six
months and unyielding positive attitude, and appreciative of the outpouring of
family love and support we’ve all experienced). Much good has come from this
life challenge and I believe we’ve managed to make the best of a bad situation.
Although Jana has been declared Cancer Free, she’s not completely free of the
effects of cancer as she faces a year of recovery…breast reconstruction,
regaining her strength (she was running 5-6 miles a day prior to her diagnosis
and now she does well to slowly walk around the block), re-growing her hair and
fingernails (both have suffered from the chemotherapy), and regular visits
(every three weeks) for Herceptin infusions (same place and similar to chemo,
but without the horrible side effects).
I expect Verne and I will continue to make regular visits to
SoCal. The first one will be mid-June to return Jana’s cats to her. I’ve had Izzy
and Olive (a Short-Hair Exotic and a Long-Hair Persian) since mid-September.
Four cats have been a bit much at times (for Verne), but I’ve really grown to
love her two felines and will be sorry to say good-bye to them. I’m returning
them healthy and well-adjusted, but, unfortunately, Olive more closely
resembles a Sphynx than a Persian. I admit it…I didn’t brush Olive twice daily
and she became so matted that the only option was to shave her (a big thank you
to Vera). Sorry Jana, but you and your kitty will both be re-growing your hair! This picture was taken in January, before Olive became a matted fur ball.
