November 30 - Dr. A called this afternoon. She said the scan showed everything to be normal post surgery and post radiation. I asked her if that meant there is no swelling. She said no, there definitely is swelling but there is no cancer re-occurring. I fell out of my chair. I didn't know she was even suspecting it might be the cancer coming back, for crying out loud! Thanks god it's not. Meanwhile, she really wants Dr. C to look at it and give her a second opinion. And she said she's not going to put up with one of his PA's looking at me, she specifically wants HIM to look at me. She's concerned about part of my airway passage being blocked. I guess she tried calling him a few times today but he was in surgery all day so she's going to try again next week and she told me to expect a phone call. Meanwhile she didn't say anything about steroids. She said she thinks the swelling is being caused by the thrush (I disagree but I actually hope she's right and that these lozenges get rid of it!). She asked if I was noticing a difference yet with the lozenges. I told her things were still bleeding when I brush my teeth and there's still a lot of pain. She said okay but are the cottage cheese clusters still on your tongue. I didn't have a good answer. Can't say I've been looking at my tongue. Although I looked at it right after I got off the phone with her and yes, they're still there but hey, it's only been 3 days with the meds and she says it takes 7 to get rid of the thrush. I'm still willing to give it good odds at working! The last thing she said before letting me off the phone was "You had better be eating a ton of calories over there, missy!". I told her I had an eggnog milkshake sitting on my desk right then and there. And it was actually half a milkshake because I had already been sucking it down! She said she wants to hear that I'm eating a milkshake every day instead of every other day. I told her I'd try.

Earlier this week my most complimentary coworker, H, broke my heart. He always has a 'hey beautiful', 'hi gorgeous', or a 'good morning sunshine' for me. Monday morning he took one look at me and said 'hey bony'. He's been given the cold shoulder for the week. Meanwhile, everyone else is telling me how fantastic I look and suddenly the guys are stopping by my desk and inviting me to lunch with them, lending me their juicers, offering to be my movie date once a month......this losing weight thing definitely has some benefits. On the down side, the black satin pants I bought on my Waterloo shopping trip with Sammy for the company holiday lunch in two weeks, no longer fit. I tried them on this week and they're swimming on me. I received a 25% off coupon for Lord & Taylor in the mail today. Looks like next weekend some more shopping needs to take place. This morning the scale said 127.8.

The nurse who inserted the IV for my CAT scan was oohing and ahhing over the scar on my arm. She said she couldn't believe I just had the surgery in July. She claims it looks awesome and that it's the nicest job she has ever seen on that particular surgery. I was telling this to Karen at work and she said that the nurse who took my blood when we had the biometric screening earlier this month had said the exact same thing after I had left the room! I feel like I should swing by the plastic surgeon's office and pass the kudos along to Chrissa. I was so horrified by the surgery site when it first happened that I refused to look at it during the first couple appointments. Chrissa had made a comment jokingly that she was a little hurt because she thought she had done a pretty darned good job. Guess she may have been more serious than joking with that comment and she definitely deserved a little more appreciation than I gave her!

Both our Japanese and Korean service engineers were in town this week along with both my Rochester guys so our boss took us all out to dinner at the Crab Shack (yes, it was my suggestion). I finally got to eat my lobster bisque and thank goodness, it was delicious. My whacked out taste buds didn't screw up that particular flavor which had been worrying me enough to prevent me from going there the past month or so even though I've been craving it. Of course with my walnut sized stomach I only managed 6-7 spoonfuls and then I was stuffed.

I believe that's all the updates for the week. This weekend I'm heading out to a beautiful "log cabin" (I put that in quotes because it's nicer than any house I ever hope to own!) that belongs to my friend Kit and she's going to teach me how to knit the twirly scarves. I'm going to teach her how to play Play 9 and then proceed to trounce her. :-)