I'll be a happy phantom

Howdy there folks. Per usual, it's been some busy times around here. Had another brain MRI a couple Thursdays ago. Other than it taking three people seven tries to get an IV run, it was pretty uneventful. There was the scanxiety-riddled fretting to follow. But I found distractions for the week before my results this last Friday. Turns out all three of the small brain tumors have now dissipated. The largest tumor has continued to reduce in size, currently down to 12mm from the last scan size of 17mm. This makes it about half an inch in size now, and likely continuing to respond and shrink. And the best part of this update is that there are no new tumors or activity. Woot!! I will keep getting MRIs every three months. So July for the next news on that front.

The next most exciting news is that I've just replaced the Matrix fairymobile I loved so. An experience I haven't shared with too many people is that I had an accident back in January in one of the big snowstorms. I was not hurt at all, and no other cars were involved; just me and the center divider. Being a 12 year old car though, the cost to fix was too high for my insurance company's taste and they decided to total it out. I did get quite a nice payout for the Matrix though, which allowed me to shop for a good replacement. The searching process was frustrating because I wanted another manual transmission. And let me tell you, that makes a massive change in your search response. A general search for hatchbacks and wagons would bring up (as one actual example) 154 used cars in my radius and price range. Check the manual transmission box in advanced search and that number came down to 8. That is 5% of the initial response. Two of those were larger cars than I was interested in, and one wasn't even a manual according to the pictures. I had come to a point where I was willing to acquiesce to an automatic for the right car in every other way. Luckily I had the luxury of time to continue searching and finally found what feels like the right replacement. It is a 2006 Subaru Forester in a lovely silver color. Not only does it have the magical manual transmission I wanted, but it also has a tow package. This has me very excited for some road trip possibilities. Vanity plate is on and soon there will be fairy stickers and decals galore. I've already got over 10 hours of driving in on it, and it feels great so far.

More exciting things happening lately, is that I got to spend time with this handsome fella. He is a silly one, my nephew, but quite the sweetheart when he's not otherwise being a typical three year old. He has reached the "why" phase, which has me rather excited; though his parents are waning on it already. But I am more than happy to give him long scientific answers to each question until he becomes so baffled that he changes the direction again. It's quite entertaining and already made my sister smile and shake her head a couple of times. I'd call that a win-win. And the fact that he insists I ride in the back next to him is positively endearing. Though the Jeeves comments to the front aren't always so appreciated. Sometimes it is just about amusing myself.

What more, what more?

That pesky chemo session number five was upon us today. I had to tag team my chemo buddies, but those gals are the best and took fantastic care of me. Home, in the toasty pajamas for what I can only hope is the last truly cold day/night of the season. Feeling okay. Just a bit wiped out. But very on top of the food and hydration today. I might even have something like a proper full dinner soon. More compliments from the nurses about my attitude and style. Apparently being an informed, self-advocating patient who also smiles a lot is not the majority. I was recently called an oddity by a friend, (a compliment I will receive rather heartily), and this continues to bear out as some kind of truth.


I know there is more on my mind, but the edges are all a bit fuzzy right now and anything resembling intelligent and thoughtful thought might be off the menu for the rest of the night. Rest assured I am still doing well. I can only hope the same for all of you out there. *mwah*