Cancer Free!

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.