My Two New Favorite Words: Fabuloso Survivor…

On Monday I had a mammogram right down the street from Goolsby. Since I took half a day off for my appointment, I thought I’d go visit my old friends. The folks there blow me away. Every time I go there, it’s like Old Home Week, whatever that is, but it’s really good! I saw so many staff members while I was there, and it was great to see their faces and how good they all look. I went to Beth’s kindergarten classroom. She was just preparing for a read-aloud. She introduced me to all the children with a glowing description of how she learned all about teaching reading from me, etc. Of course, her students don’t know me because they weren’t there last year when I was. I told them the J.J. story about not looking at pictures when he reads. To answer Beth’s question about what that is called, they responded in unison, “Picture clues!” Later that day, I received an email from Beth with an attachment of one of her student’s journal writing for that day. He wrote, “Today M.S. Jacobsen’s frend kame here. She was fabuloso.” Beth explained that their fancy word for that week was fabuloso. That’s one of my new favorite words. I think I’ll request that people refer to me as Dr. Dottie Fabuloso! On Friday, I had an appointment with Dr. Manno, my oncologist. I have not seen him since November before my last chemo treatment. It’s not that I didn’t want to see him. He said I should see him before I started the Herceptin treatments, but his nurse said that wasn’t necessary; and you can’t get past the nurse. I had called after I finished radiation and asked if I might see the doctor again, and this time she agreed and set an appointment for me. Krista planned to go with me. I had a rough week. I had touches of the flu, and I begin to build up anxiety about the appointment with Dr. Manno. A couple of days before, the big Las Vegas story about misuses of equipment at the Endoscopy Center broke. On Thursday night when I got home, I saw on my caller I.D. that I had a call from a doctor who is a gastroenterologist. Although, I had not received any services from that genre of doctor, and the only medical test I’d had was a mammogram, I started to worry. I know that sounds completely crazy because there wasn’t even a message from the caller, but I got all worked up anyway. Krista assured me that the doctor was going to tell me that I was fine and to come back in six months. So, Friday we went to the doctor. As usual, he was all about business. He examined me and then turned his attention to my record on the computer. He asked if I’d started taking the next medication, and I replied that I thought I was to start that after the Herceptin. He said that I could start it now. It is called Arimosin, and the reason for my taking it is because I tested positive for hormone receptors. I believe the purpose is to keep estrogen levels down to inhibit any cancer cells that respond to that hormone. He said he’s heard of almost no side effects and that I shouldn’t worry about any. I will take it daily in pill form for five years. He was quite busy with the computer, but I finally said, “So, where do I stand with cancer now?” He responded with my second new favorite word of the week; he said, “You’re a survivor.” There’s the story of my two new favorite words, one from the pencil of a kindergartner, the other from the mouth of my oncologist. They have a nice ring, don’t you think? Fabuloso Survivor! Now, Ann and Kim, I know you probably want to start lining up the shots, but I have to tell you that although I feel ready, I can’t do it without Bobbie. Let’s wait a little and see if she can celebrate with us.