Lloyd is a Bit Fussy

Hello, everyone!
I skipped a Dr. Day update (making this post a full four months overdue) because I was on vacation the Monday we got the results in October. Furthermore, I spent a decent portion of the fall travelling hither and thither. This means I am long winded—Boy-Howdy! If you just want to read about Lloyd, I’ve put it all right up here at the top. For those who want to read about my travels, interest in cephalopods, etc., I’ll start blabbing about my life after the Lloyd Report:

Lloyd is being just a little fussy. He is not growing—there is no growth shown on any slides. Also, I feel fine (how I feel counts for a lot to the doctors). However, there is a small “fluid flair” on the rear of the tumor region. This could be indicative of activity. They are pulling older slides to study it a bit more closely, but in all practical terms this means nothing for me: I’m still on the same two-month “watch and see” schedule. We all know that Lloyd is not gone; he is just hanging out quietly. I would have liked for him to have never done anything else at all. I’d like to hope he doesn’t grow at all. However, if all I’ve had is a fluid flare over the course of fifteen months, I’m still doing pretty darn well.

Speaking of doing well, I have now adapted to my drugs as well as I think I ever will. I’d like to think I’m even my friendly and pleasant self again. I hardly ever snap at people anymore, and when I do, well—naturally, I’m completely in the right (smile). I still have difficulty finding the words I want in conversation, but I’ve decided this is part of life now, and the less I fret about it the easier it seems to get. I also notice that this is significantly worse the hour or so after I take my medication twice a day, so I try to schedule around that. I still cry terribly easily—a trait I never had before—and I happily blame that on the medicine, too.

I have applied to Maryland to have my driver’s license reinstated and the state Medical Review Board is reviewing my case. If they decide to approve me, I will have to take all of the tests again. Yes, all of the tests. It feels a bit like that dream where you never graduated from high school—you forgot to show up for one class all semester and suddenly have to pass the final exam to graduate—except I have to go back and pass my written driving test. But first the state has to process my paperwork, and it hasn’t gotten around to that for 3 months, so obviously no one (else) is in a hurry.

My birthday was in August, and was remarkable in that I spent the prior birthday having a functional MRI. What a difference a year makes! Also, I couldn’t read very much on my last birthday, and this year I got a Kindle. Thank goodness there is such a huge crop of e-readers about to flood the market—accessibility has to be on the horizon. Amazon, are you listening? Do you not want more customers? My blind friends want to buy your products. You’re going to be sorry when your door isn’t the only one they have to knock at.

I have been reading voraciously this year. I suppose in part to help my vocabulary, in part to prove to myself that I still have the brain function to do it, but really I just enjoy it. I genuinely like the classics. Recently I’ve finished Crime and Punishment, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and I’m currently reading War and Peace. (I overdosed on Austen and Dickens for a while and decided I needed a Russian counterbalance.) Pleasure reading was a huge part of my life pre-Lloyd, so I’m happy to report that I’m simply back to normal.

We took a vacation in October to St. Thomas in the Caribbean.
Our version of island vacationing is snorkeling and eating. This is, if there isn’t any surf—which there wasn’t. We own our own gear, so we just rented a Jeep and took maps of the most likely looking spots to find abundant sea life. Mark downloaded a program online to practice driving on the left side of the road before we went. On our very first reef, a young sea turtle startled me by swimming up beside me to see what I was. I am obsessed with cephalopods—octopus and cuttlefish in particular. They are so intelligent and interesting, and I am fascinated with their interest in us. Cuttlefish, especially, are so engaged and curious about humans. A pair on this trip came up to us, flashing their spectrum of colored lights in patterns that I can only wish I understood, and actually touched “hands” with us. I floated in the water with them for probably twenty minutes before a barracuda came up and became a pest. Fascinating creatures. Even at the aquarium, they will often come up to the window to start a “dialog” with the humans on the other side of the glass.

On Halloween weekend we found ourselves in Salem, Massachusetts, for the wedding of my dear friend Melissa. She was actually married November 1 in Beverly, but it was certainly fun to be right next door in Salem the day before for Halloween. She, her charming husband, Memo, beautiful son, Luca, and her extraordinary family were a delight to spend time with. The wedding was wonderful, the beautiful fall weather & scenery of the Massachusetts coast was almost painfully stunning, the bride (obviously) was a knock-out—but the love that family had was simply amazing. We enjoyed our time with them immensely.

Thanksgiving was spent with our family back up in almost the same place! Mark’s sister, Sara, and brother in law, Mike, live in Winchester, Massachusetts, and we spend Thanksgiving there every year with them, my niece, Ava, nephew, Jonathan, and Mark’s parents, Harriet and Maneck. Often Mike’s parents are with us, too, and it is a big house-full for as long as we can get everyone together for the holiday. The kids always love to see Uncle Mark, as he is usually game for just about anything they are. Aunt Kristina tries to keep up, but isn’t that what they invented the position of “referee” for, anyway? We had a great time, as always, and even had two new additions to the family this year in the form of the kids’ new twin kittens.

Piggles—that is to say, Nathan, my sister’s son, is growing like a little weed and is happy as a little. . . well, piggy. He always smiles when he sees me, and never cries when I am around, which certainly bodes well for his little Christmas stocking from Aunt Kristina. Considering all he wants is to be held and put down at his caprice and something to chew on, though, this is hardly difficult.

This is what has been going on in my life. I’ve been keeping busy. Work has been busy and good. I’m lucky—I’m well enough to do all of this. I sleep a lot so that I can stay this busy—at least 8-9 hours a night, but that isn’t so very weird. I have to be careful not to try to do too much or to over-tire myself. As long as I get enough rest, regularly, I’m fine. I hope to stay this busy, this fine, this productive, and this happy for a long, long time.

I wish everyone reading this the same happiness I have. I am the luckiest, happiest, most loved person I know. If you think I’m wrong, that perhaps you have that title, then only you know how happy I am. Ah, see? That’s that Jane Austen overload sneaking out. Better stop before I invent a bishop.

I wish you all a very, very happy holiday season. As I am a person who celebrates Christmas, I would like to say, Merry Christmas!

Love, Kristina

Mark says, “Happy Chanukah!”