Steele

Two days until we head to Seattle for surgery. Getting a little nervous, but glad to be at this point.

I already know what I'm wearing to the UW Medical Center on Thursday morning. Last weekend my friend Randy Jones gave me a gift bag. When I opened the bag and saw that it was a T-shirt with "STEELE" on the front, I knew immediately when and where the T-shirt would debut.

Years ago Randy gave me that nickname in a circuit training program I was in (he was a trainer). He has called me that ever since. Thanks, Randy.

I'm also taking the quilt that some friends made for me. It has their names embroidered on one of the panels. I use the quilt every night.

So thanks for your prayers and words of support, especially this week. They mean so much, more than you know.

Next Step

In a nutshell, my test results came back with about the best-that-we-could-hope-for results.  The scan shows that the tumor has continued to shrink.

The small spots on the lungs have shown no change, which is a good sign, they say, and are probably scar tissue at this point. There does not appear to be "activity."  (I won't try to use the medical terminology the doctors used.)  

I am scheduled for surgery at the end of this month at the University of Washington Medical Center.  One month after that I will probably resume chemotherapy treatment. Radiation is a possibility as well.  And, I will continue with Herceptin treatments.  

Until surgery, I don't have to be in Seattle for any treatments. That means I will be home for a straight 2 1/2 weeks! That hasn't happened since September. 

If you see me out and about I have transitioned from wearing knit hats to scarves.  That's how I can tell the weather is getting warmer.  Someone told me today that she liked my turban. That wasn't the look that I was going for, but now that I heard it described that way, I like it.  

I'll get a picture posted as now you have seen me bald, you can see me with my turban.  

Sun in Walla Walla

On Friday we have an appointment with the oncologist to hear the results of the PET scan I took two days ago.  We will see if I’m ready for the mastectomy.  Then on Monday, we have an appointment with the surgical oncologist.

It’s almost a month since I last posted. Hard to believe that just two weeks ago I was sitting on a Horizon plane at the Walla Walla airport for an hour while the plane was de-iced, twice. I’m so happy to see more of the sun.

Last weekend, I was at my sister's house in Olympia and I read "The Long Winter," the Little House book by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a book I've read many times.  Of course, I wouldn't compare our winter with six months of lethal prairie blizzards, but I enjoyed reading of Laura and her family's joy of seeing spring come.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago by a friend, Kimberly Miner.  Nowdays, I typically wear a scarf in public, but here is what I look like with no hair.  For the record.