No, not just TGIF, I want to give a follow up post to my announcement of a few weeks ago for my loyal readers because many of you had invested yourselves in my personal challenges.
As many of you know, my family had a huge medical challenge recently. It was all about this familiar symbol.
Back on the week of October 18th, my lovely wife went through a double mastectomy, which seemed to be the best option given the situation. The surgery was succesfull, with no complications, but we had to wait for final lab results and follow up scans. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, and to top it off we lost a beloved family pet of 15 years Monday. Minners is finally drinking clean water somewhere.
So dear readers, please forgive me if I’ve been dour and a little snippy here. I know I have been a bit rough around the edges. I’ve been so frazzled I forgot to do our weekly Sea Ice News last Sunday. I forgot to take out the garbage Wednesday, and at coffee yesterday morning I couldn’t remember the name of a person I’d known for years. Stress is a weird thing.
Late last night, after two days of follow up at Stanford Medical Center. We got the news. No metastasis, they got it all. Now it’s just the long but certain road physical therapy.
I gotta tell you it was like somebody cutting the guy lines to the giant lead balloon I’ve been tied to for the last three months. It took off into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.
I want to thank you all for the kind words, prayers, and most especially for the support of WUWT with ideas and guest articles. I want to give a special thanks to Willis Eschenbach, Tom Fuller, and Steve Mosher for guest posts. Special thanks go to Evan Jones and D.B. Stealey for their support and the kind letters they sent me, and to Charles the Moderator for keeping the chaos managed.
If I’ve missed anyone, please don’t feel left out, I’m just a bit scrambled mentally. Everybody gets gold stars.
In a day or two, I’ll be back to chasing errant weather stations and missing “M”‘s in METAR reports.
Great news Anthony! Praying for a complete recovery for your wife.
Went through the scare with my wife a couple of years back. Glad to hear everything turned out well for Mrs. Watts.
God bless.
God bless, and thanks for sharing the excellent news.
Wonderful news!
Wunnerful, jes’ wunnerful, A. I’m sure you know the caveat that BC metastases can be extremely indolent about presenting themselves, so enjoy evy minint. We lost a young cat this month to traffic. More tears for this one than previous ones, perhaps because she was only six months old. Yea, verily a vale of tears, a dale of fears, and unceasing hills of joy.
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Happy to hear the good news!
And best wishes to your wife for the therapy…
That is wonderful news.
REPLY: Thank you. And Verity, I owe you some special thanks too. You helped with a couple of articles and moderation. Everyone be sure to bookmark
http://diggingintheclay.wordpress.com
– Anthony
Excellent outcome to a horrible time for your wife and yourself. Best of all possible good things are wished for you all.
Great news Anthony 🙂
Great news!
That’s very good news! I continue to pray for a speedy recovery.
Best wishes for you and your wife – let’s all hope and pray she stays trouble free.
Yippeeeee!!!!!
(Been through something similar and I know how great the relief is when the good news comes. I’m very happy for you and your family.)
Sun’s well over the yardarm, so ‘splice the mainbrace’.
Rum not allowed these days, so single malt all round, and make ’em doubles.
That’s wonderful news! I wish you and your wife all the best.
Condolences on your pet. I had never been an animal person until the last couple of years when my irresponsible son stuck us with his two puppies. They are now part of the family and I can’t imagine losing them.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Anthony
The report of your wife’s positive surgical result is indeed the greatest kind of news. I had begun to worry that the delay in hearing an update suggested other possibilities. Thanks for taking the time to bring us up to speed and congratulations on the hopeful prognosis.
I’m sorry to hear of the loss of your long term pet. Having had a number of animals in my own life that lasted much more than a decade, I know how ingrained in the fabric of one’s life they can become and that the sense of loss when they go can be much more profound than we anticipate.
Do continue to take whatever time you require to care for your lady. I think the last few weeks have shown that this blog has the power to persevere and I would like to add my thanks to all those who have pitched in to keep things going. If anything it seemed that the pace of postings increased.
You asked forgiveness for your increased irritability, but none is required. Even at your most stressed moments, you still displayed much more forbearance than I, or I think most people, could present in much less trying circumstances.
The best news I’ve heard all day! Congrats and I pray for a very speedy recovery.
Great news love and best wishes to you all.
I am sorry your wife had to go through this, but am very happy that it appears to have been contained and a good outcome is highly probable.
My best wishes to all of you and please stay healthy in the future.
Great news!
I hope she doesn´t has to pas chemotherapy. I also was lucky 6 years ago , had a tumor in the back of my tongue.
Best wishes
Robert
Fantastic!!
Anthony, wonderful news. My wife and I are further on this trajectory (she was diagnosed in April), I can tell you that hitting the no-metastasis lottery is the best news of all. You still have a hard slog ahead – they always want chemo, and maybe radiation (we hit the lottery big enough to avoid the latter), followed by reconstruction. But being alive to be annoyed by those is far better. 🙂 From here on out it’s mainly turning the crank on those steps.
Again, best of luck to the both of you. I look forward to you declaring an all-done in 9-12 months!
Peace.
Very happy to hear that news about your wife Anthony.
Sorry your happiness is tinged with sadness. Your cat had a long life though.