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For those of you who wondered, we do not yet know anything about the growths on Tim's ribs and hip or about whether or not the lymphoma has been eradicated in the bone marrow. Tim only took a CAT scan for Friday's results, so they could not tell about the bone marrow. About the ribs and hips, the doctor said that there was no mention of any abnormalities noticed from the CAT scan, but the PET scan would give a better view of that. In mid-December Tim will undergo another PET scan and bone marrow biopsy, in addition to another CAT scan and the combined results will be compared with the initial results and the PET scan from last week. The doctor did tell us that since the bone marrow is made up of small cells he expects the lymphoma to not be a problem in that area, but I'm not really sure what that means. We were a little elated by the good news to focus on questioning that, so we'll have to take him at his word for the time being.

At our doctor's appointment on Friday we found out more about the spinal chemotherapy in addition to the good news about the tumor shrinking. Tim starts this coming Thursday. This is one of his chemo weeks and they will do it during his two remaining chemo rounds. He gets four treatments and they are spaced out at 3 weeks each, so he will be getting the final treatment during the second week in January. I will be going in with him on Thursday for the procedure, right after my dentist appointment.

Not so fun fact: Chemo patients are discouraged from visiting the dentist. There is a concern that if work must be done that opens a wound in the mouth, an infection could be acquired that the weakened immune system of a chemo patient may have trouble fighting off. I'm not sure if that's just for this type of chemo, but it doesn't seem like it would be.

Speaking of infection, I'm sick. Someone I work with contracted the H1N1 virus plus I observe a couple of days a week at a school with hundreds of kids, so we were prepared. We stayed for the most part in separate rooms, didn't prepare meals together (which was easy, as I was not eating), and I carried around a can of Lysol with me for the better part of the week thus far. The worst part was the ride home from my parents' house this weekend. I just kept the window open and breathed away from Tim as I slept. So far he's avoided catching it and hopefully we'll be in the clear soon.

We got to see and enjoy the company of the lovely Jessica this weekend, before I was ill. We went to a German restaurant and had steins of beer and dances with elderly men. On Saturday, we drove home to see my sister Angie and her rambunctious pups who are visiting this week were last. We had a bit of a hastily thrown together family reunion on Sunday. It was gorgeous weather and fabulous company...had I not been ill it would have been better, but it was still nice to see most of my dad's side of the family altogether again, plus a few members of my mom's side. I wish I had a picture of all to post, but we had to dip out of there right after dinner, when I started feeling really ill again. Instead, I'll leave you with this: