Hello Friends & Family

I've set up this blog to post updates on where I'm at with all of the cancer stuff and Dave will be updating when I'm not able.  I decided to call it Two Martinis, Please because anyone who knows us knows that Dave and I love a good martini and usually when we are out to dinner the first to order a drink will say something along the lines of "Bombay Sapphire martini, up with olives" and the other will just say "same".  So the name is a reminder of all the good times we've had together so far as well as looking forward to ordering more martinis together in the future.  (For the record I do not currently have a taste for liquor of any kind.)

Here's the story so far.  The weekend of August 7/8 I was feeling very bloated and couldn't really move; the only comfortable position was on my back or side.  I had been feeling a little "off" for a couple of weeks but never to a point where I was incapacitated.  On Monday the 9th I made an appointment with the doctor who basically took one look at me and sent me to the ER where I was ultimately admitted for testing and fluid drainage (three liters!).  Tests of the fluid and a later biopsy showed cancer but additional testing was needed to determine more specifics.  I was released on Thursday that week and scheduled for a colonoscopy on the following Monday the 16th.

The colonoscopy itself went fine but I did not recover as people normally will.  The doctors described it as my bowels having gone to sleep and I could not release the gas that was pumped in as part of the procedure.  It was truly agonizing and they sent me in an ambulance back the ER where once again I was admitted and held for observation (and additional fluid drainage) until today, Thursday the 19th.

So I am back at home, on antibiotics and painkillers until I meet with the oncology group next week.  The painkillers are helping a lot but I'm pretty fuzzy throughout the day, moving slowly and taking naps (call that a silver lining - I love naps!).

That's all for now.  If you are out to dinner and thinking of having a cocktail, have a martini for me.  They're especially great if you can get them with blue cheese stuffed olives.  :)

More soon!