Update, or Why I've Been Quiet

Aside from the obvious answer of "BUSY!" which has become rather an automatic response to anyone asking where I've been...

We are in a holding pattern right now.

The new floors are done, and we can't put the tree up until Advent starts (Mom sez!), and we are back to our regular work schedules more or less this week. I don't want to even THINK about Christmas cards, but I guess I had better...we received our first one Saturday.

So, the main holding pattern is around Beast's mom. She went in the hospital last Sunday with abdominal pain. After some tests--MRI, CT scan--they've discovered that there are some anomalies around her pancreas, her lymph nodes are also 'not right', and there's something funky going on in her lungs as well. She is going in today(actually, is probably there right now) for biopsy/ies. We should have a clearer picture of what is actually going on by the end of the week, or whenever the doctors get the results and can interpret them.

However, whatever the results are, as adults we all know that when three totally separate systems/organs are involved in something like this, it's not good. And the doctors have pretty much laid the groundwork for a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer which as probably metastasized to her lungs and maybe her lymphatic system.

Beast has been holding off on telling Sparky anything, and in my unfortunately common Magical Thinking rationale, I haven't wanted to deal with it here either. Saying it--and typing it--makes it real, right? So, the list of those "in the know" is small: Beast's family (of course), Amy (because she was here this weekend), my oldest sister and niece (who may have told my other niece), and...that's all. I need to call church and give them an update for the prayer chain. And I'll mention it to my boss tomorrow in case I have to leave precipitately.

To clarify what I said in my last post about this reminding me of Thanksgiving 1994: my dad died the Sunday before Thanksgiving that year, so this is just another reason to NOT 'celebrate' that particular day. Unfortunately, it frequently falls on either Beast's or my nephew Don's birthday, so we do tend to celebrate on that day...which is confusing. And it's harder again to find obvious things for which to be thankful this year.