As much as I enjoy writing about my poop tubes and blood filtering organs it seems tentatively likely that these updates will become substantially less frequent. That is good.
This morning I had my first surveillance labwork and clinic visit. The lab was packed wall to wall with patients. I have never seen it so busy. I hope it’s only due to understaffing and not some new explosion of cancer cases. The lab techs were all in really good moods and I did not help the back-up by being a willing participant in shenanigans, including several folks coming into the cubby I was in to listen to me explain all my silly tattoos. Got my port poked, sucked, and flushed while cracking jokes and explaining why I have so many tattoos that say some variation of “RW24” (No, it is not a gang. Look at me. It’s definintely not a gang. etc) and talking about manatees and socks and having a low bar for permanent changes to my body.
Clinic visit was fun as always. Scan: clean. My liver still looks beat up but no new lesions. My lung still has “freckles” but none of them have changed and they are almost certainly non-cancerous. My guts are normal, just short and full of staples. Blood work came back messy but not unusual. I got to show off the trophy my brother made, to great acclaim, and explain that the cardiac stuff a few weeks ago was very different than the cardiac stuff 10 years ago. Some chuckles at my chart from that time stating my main symptoms as “dizziness and giddiness” when I said “I don’t know why they put giddiness, that’s just my normal state of being” and also told the story of the ER doctor from back then that accidentally lifted my gown a little too far to show my Special Purpose and then turned to my partner at the time and said “Sorry.”
My prescription is to “life your life and have fun and come back in 3 months unless you turn yellow or have symptoms” and that’s what I am going to do. If you’re going to see The Mountain Goats tonight at Turner Hall, I may see you there.
On Monday I meet a new doc about the lesion on my kidney, which is a different beast but not as scary as the past 8.5 months have been. What’re they gonna do? Cut me open? Pffft. Come at me doc.
I may be getting a little too used to the “Finding Out” phase of FAFO.
Anyway, Happy Wednesday my dudes!