August

It's been a hard month. Near the end of July I found out that I had a large ovarian tumor and had surgery the next week to have it removed. The surgeons were pretty sure that it was cancer, so they also took out my appendix and did staging. It took about 3 weeks to get the complete test results, and it turned out to be a borderline (low malignancy potential) tumor (which is just about as confusing as it sounds). The good news was that it was still in an early stage, meaning that there was no evidence that it had spread.

I met with an oncologist last week to get more details and figure out what happens next, and he described it as slow growing cancer that is usually non-invasive. The main treatment is usually surgery to remove the tumor, and then close follow ups to make sure it doesn't come back. There were a few cells of the tumor though that were invasive, which is rare, so I'm not sure whether I'll have to do chemo. My oncologist said he wouldn't recommend it because it's not clear whether it's effective for this type of tumor, and that it might do more harm than good. But he's getting some second opinions from a tumor board this coming week. I'll also be meeting with my surgeon, who also wants to present the case to a tumor board. I did, however get some good news a few days ago that the cancer antigen blood test that was high before my surgery is now close to normal.

This last month has been especially difficult because I haven't been able to pick up Annabelle. But my recovery is going well, and in another two weeks I'll hopefully will be able to carry Annabelle around. John has been amazing, taking care of me and Annabelle. Thankfully my Mom was able to come out to stay with Annabelle so that John could be with me in the hospital. We've been especially grateful for the prayers and support of family, friends, and neighbors.

As any post isn't complete without pictures of sweet Annabelle, here are a couple from earlier this summer that have been making me smile. She loves playing on the back porch, and wearing John's hats.