Ship of Fools

And so the easing into a more ordinary day-to-day existence continues. Karen's energy, after about a week where she seemed to be going backward, is maintaining its steady momentum toward something more robust. As a result, Karen has committed to return to work this coming Monday, February 18. She'll be spending some days working from home but on that day she'll be braving the actual commute in to the office. Initially she had targeted the 15th for her return but not only does she have an oncology appointment that day, but I'll be out of town for work. After some deliberation, she decided she'd prefer to return to work with me in town just in case it doesn't go absolutely swimmingly.

You say "cruising" and this is what I think of. 

And we have committed to that freaking Alaska cruise. I am trapped. Deposits have been made and cabins have been secured. And while we have never splurged on travel insurance before, we ponied up the extra cash this time because, c'mon, wouldn't you? The trip should be an absolute nightmare like all cruises are and Karen cannot wait.

Next week we will be hitting one of our first big milestones. Karen has a PET scan slated for the 21st that will give us a literal look at the state of her disease. We've got evidence the crizotinib is doing its job since she's breathing better and her energy is rebounding but the scan will really let us know how all the tumors are doing.

Although the state of the tumors is unknown, the state of the Coffeys in general is clearer. We're all doing pretty well and are welcoming the return to something approximating normalcy. Dash has been terrorizing innocent people on BART with this creepy artificial hand, Miranda is working out in the most hilariously inept way imaginable, and I'm especially looking forward to March since we have issued a moratorium on visitors for that entire month. Finally, I don't have to feel guilty about puttering around in my sleep clothes well past noon.