A Long Day for Terry

Yesterday was a long day for Terry. She had a checkup at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida as part of the continuing follow-up for radiation enteritis caused by the treatment needed to save her life when she was diagnosed with stage four cervical cancer in 2000.

Back then, her first oncologist gave her six weeks to live, but he had no clue how stubborn my wife is. She fired his butt on the spot and we found a new doctor that said he could save her with radical treatment but warned her it would be very rough and that there would be a price to pay down the road. She has been paying that price for many years now, but she is alive and extremely grateful for every day. And the good folks at Mayo have helped her deal with the issues caused by her treatment.

She started the day yesterday with a CT scan. The worst part of that was the barium oral contrast she had to drink along with the barium oral contras right before the procedure. If you have ever had these, you know they can give you a huge internal warm flush and can also really mess up your stomach. Terry had both reactions. The good news is that the scan did not find any new or unusual changes to be concerned about.

The next appointment was to check on the status of the Interstim device that was implanted back in 2019. Terry received one of the last models that were not MRI compatible, and eventually the battery will age out and they will have to replace it with one that is. It looks like that will happen in the next year or so.

After that she had an invasive physical examination and Heidi, the specialized nurse practitioner, went over the results of the CT scan and talked about her symptoms, medications, and such. We can’t say enough good about the wonderful folks at Mayo. Not only are they 100% professionals, they care about their patients on a personal level, never talking down to patients or their families and answering any and all questions in detail.

Between the 8½ hour, 500-mile drive from our house in Alabama to here on Monday and the long day at the hospital yesterday, by the time we got back to our hotel we were both pretty tuckered out. We rested for a while and then, since we had not eaten all day, went to dinner at a place called the Seafood Kitchen. It was recommended as a small restaurant where the local people go for good seafood, and not at all touristy like so many places near the beach.

We sure made the right choice, because our waitress Lanie was a delight, and the food was awesome. Terry had the special of the day, blackened triggerfish, along with a baked sweet potato and okra. She shared some of her fish with me and it was delicious. I opted for blackened shrimp, French fries, and applesauce, and would order it again if triggerfish was not on the menu.

With Terry’s Mayo appointments out of the way for the next three months, both of us are looking forward to getting back home, where we still have a lot to do, and our own comfy bed to sleep in. Thank you everybody who posted Facebook comments or sent messages wishing Terry well. We appreciate all of you.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – How something winds up is never dependent on how much you worry about it.