Gardengrrl disappears again!

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Hello, friends! been gone for a bit again, missed you all lots. Had a decent birthday, didn't do much celebrating, just used some free slot dollars to gamble a bit at Delaware Park, our local racino. Dot, my a-sil, has been doing well. She started radiation on Monday, will start chemo tomorrow (Weds). Her incision has healed beautifully, and her stubble nearly hides it now. We can tell by her speech that the remnant of the tumor has been growing, so it is a great relief to finally attack that sucker! The radiation may cause her symptoms to return initially, because of swelling, but that should decrease after a bit of time. It's hard to express how it felt when we were consulting with the radiation oncologists and the neurosurgeon, and they said that their goal was a "stable sustainable remission" and "agressive treatment of recurrences". After a whole month of bouncing around in this effed-up rodeo, a medical professional finally used the word "remission" while talking to us. The Keystone Kops of Cancer Care here in Delaware never once used that word, they just wrote Dot off. Dead in one-to-six-months, sorry for your luck, next! Thank goodness we went to Jefferson! So, we wait. radiation will be done on Sept. 17, followup MRI a month later. That will tell us where we're at. Meanwhile, the bills have started to come in, over $7k so far. We have an idea for the t-shirt we want to sell to help pay them: "Dottie Dearest - the story of one woman beating her cancer like an unruly child!", with some kind of characture-type drawing of Dot waving a coathanger, or something. We don't have a source for the art yet, although we have a sponsor for the cost of the shirts. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: li'l Bro actually put the ring on her finger, right before the first radiation session. She was on the table and locked into the mask, the tech walked in and said, wait, we have to fix something, and Bro walked in and officially popped the question. Supremely cool moment! Dot was shocked as hell! She's been wearing the promise ring for so long, I guess she wasn't even thinking about the actual engagement. They're going to tie the knot on Thanksgiving Day, at an extremely awesome campground called Trap Pond. How cool is that? There's pictures, but he hasn't sent them to me yet. So, we're hanging in there. Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes. I'll be popping in and out, I'll try not to disappear again!