Long Time Gone

When I began writing this, the geographical Palmyra, in Syria, was best known as being the residence of amazing antiquities, but in the last few years, as a signal location in Syria's awful war, it's had some really bad times and enormous damage.  Here at Palmyra Notes, we've not been that blasted, or at least not yet.

It's been about a year since Ed quit any kind of treatment for his stage 4 cancer and since I last posted here.  During that year, we have not escaped unscathed entirely, but there has not been much change.  All his regular blood test numbers have heaved themselves up into the normal range.  The CEA numbers which are checked every month go a bit up every month, and then went down for a few months and then went back to going up...but the last one was at 124.  At the end of 2015, he was experiencing some abdominal pain but when he talked to the doc about it, the doc said, "try Tylenol," and definitely did not feel that Ed had reached some stage that signaled a major change.  What he said, exactly, was this: "Well, we usually say that if you have stage 4 cancer and are receiving no treatment, then your life expectancy is about 6 months.  But, of course, in your [Ed's] case, it's a little hard to know when that six months starts."

Three months later, there is some additional decline, we've both observed.  Less stamina, less energy, less appetite, more tiredness.  He's still doing lots of stuff (just finished our taxes yesterday, about to start on our non-profit library fund-raising organization's tax return today), although not very physically strenuous ones and not for long lengths of time.  It's definitely different than it has been.  He's not inclined to go back to chemotherapy or to pursue big interventions in the case of sudden changes in his medical status.  We've talked about his getting moved over from the oncologist to a hospice program so that he won't be one of those patients who hit hospice only a week before their death.  Not entirely clear what kind of hospice service is available from Bellingham up here in the back of beyond, but there is some, we know, as a neighbor made use of it until her death last fall.

So, there we are.  News and not any better to hear than most of the news we are getting this year.  On the other hand, not unexpected.  We're coping; and hope you are, too, with whatever you've got on your plate that needs your attention and best self.