Good Times, Bad Times

Shall we start with good times?

Another PET Scan (this one at the end of August - yes, I KNOW I'm very late informing you all), another good result.  Most of the tumors are "a little less bright" (onc-speak for shrinking in size) and the large one in my shoulder is staying about the same size.  We discussed the possibility of "zapping it" (more onc-speak), i.e. radiating it, but it doesn't hurt and it isn't growing so we decided to leave it for now.  Blood work continues to look good, we're staying on the current chemo regimen (which, believe it or not, I have been on for almost a year now), and I probably won't have to have another scan until early next year.  I continue to tolerate well the medication - tiredness/fatigue and a bit of irritability at the end of a cycle, but otherwise no major side effects.

Want more good?  My cousin Blake, whom you read about in a previous post, came home from the hospital in late August and continues to recover from the Lemierre's infection (totally nasty one that!).  What an ordeal that kid and his family went through and what wonderful support they received from all corners of their lives.  Blake is back in school and although he continues to have some restrictions, he looks to be on the mend permanently.  And hey - while in the hospital...he DID get a visit from King Felix (with a swag bag!).

All that being said, tough times lie ahead for DL and family (did I really just refer to myself in the third person?).  For the first time in 35 years, I am going to be unemployed.  Getty Petroleum, my employer for the last 27 years, is liquidating under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding - my last day is October 4th.  I suppose it would be a little more bearable if we employees weren't losing so much - health insurance (no COBRA under a bankruptcy), life insurance, minimal severance (about 30% of what we should have expected), the loss of all accumulated paid time off (not an insignificant amount for most of us), the loss of close friends, and of course, the loss of our salaries, bonuses and any other compensation.  And, as most of you know, I have been the primary provider in our household so financially it will be supremely challenging.

Given my health situation and the unknown prognosis for my disease I would certainly prefer not to work (or at least not to work as hard as I have for the past 35 years).  With a mortgage and tuition and bills to pay though, that is not an option, so I have begun the sometimes tedious process of searching for a job, both in my field and outside of it (hey why not look at this as an opportunity to explore options I've dreamed about like working in College Admissions or Career Counseling).  It's certainly a difficult market to begin a job search (as many of you DO know, having gone through it recently yourselves) and I clearly present some unusual challenges - my age (c'mon we all know employers DO consider that even when they say they don't) and my obvious facial disfigurement, which is probably less noticeable than I believe and more noticeable than any of you LEAD me to believe and which, let's face it (no pun intended ha ha) is going to cause a couple of potential employers to (unconsciously at least and consciously at worst) reject my candidacy for a position.  I'm confident about my skills, my qualifications, my ability to freakin' NAIL an interview - but I'm sad (and yeah, a little bit angry) that I even have to undertake this task at this stage in my life.

I'm not looking to boo-hoo the bad times before they even arrive though so let's end this with more good shall we?  In late August, our Tabolt family got to celebrate the 80th birthdays of my mother-in-law Carole and my father-in-law Roger.  Kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, friends, relatives and neighbors all came to honor a truly remarkable pair whose extraordinary love for each other over the years inspires us all.  They are not without their own challenges, but they meet them together with love, courage and a deep and abiding respect for each other.  We should all be so blessed.

Blessings and Love to All.