Morning of the longest day

Good morning! Well, the day is underway here in balmy Minnesota. We had a good dinner last night, managed to make our way around downtown without going outdoors, where the "real feel" temp was -26 degrees. Actual was a much warmer -4, so it wasn't as bad as it might seem. (Just keep telling yourself that over and over, and eventually your mind starts to believe....nah, doesn't work. It's still cold.)

Then, Dee Dee had to drink liquid nastiness to start to purge her system of the nuclear medicine that they injected earlier in the day. There's a lot more detail that I could share here, but...I'd better not.

Today begins with a 2 1/2 hour scan, started at 7:30. For this scan, she is on her back, with large velcro straps fastened at chest, waist, and knees. The scanner is between 1/2 to 1 inch above her body. For 2.5 hours. She gets a bathroom break at the 90 minute point. Egads. She told me that my brother Randy would simply have to be unconscious, knocked out, and even then might not be able to do it. (Randy, you see, does not do well in confined spaces. At all.) By the way, Randy would have appreciated me singing Radioactive yesterday!

After she finishes the scan-athon this morning, she has an endoscopy with ultrasound today at 2:30. She has to fast for six hours before that test. She had to fast for 12 hours before the morning scan. Add it up and she has fasted from yesterday at 7:30 p.m., and will be able to drink or eat again today at about 4:30 or 5:00.

Me? Well, while she is in the scan this morning, I wandered over to my favorite Rochester cafeteria, Pannekoeken. They serve traditional Dutch food, and they are amazing. I had my daily serving of fruit (pannekoeken - think pancake/pastry cross, finished to a golden crisp on a griddle - with sliced apple and cinnamon sugar!) When you order a pannekoeken, they bring it to your table on a run, while chanting, "Pann - e - koek - en" over and over. Fantastic slice of Americana. Strangley, Dee Dee recommended that I get my Pannekoeken fix while she was otherwise occupied. She puzzles me....

Prayers for today are for strength. It is a tiring day for her, a really long day. She feels worse today than any other. If they decide to do biopsies during the endoscopy, she gets pretty sick. So, we're also praying for no biopsies. I'm praying that she is able to sleep between tests.

Listen, this whole thing reminds me that we all know a lot of people with cancer. Pray for them, for their families, for their medical teams. Pray for ways to plug into their lives and show grace and mercy to them. It's a tough road, and they need it.

We appreciate you all, and as we read your comments and FB posts pray for you as well.

Tony