Update on MIL's Ovarian Cancer

 Husband often plays music and asks me if I remember it from my youth or if it was a song that only made it big in Britain. 

A while ago, it was Yazz's "Stand Up for Your Love Rights." 

If you're like me, you haven't thought about Yazz since the 1980s, and you only barely thought about them then. I certainly don't recall that song, which I think was only big in Britain. In fact, I only remember one Yazz song at all: "Fine Time" 

Husband is always looking out for me:

We are pretty corny, I know. 

Speaking of Husband, you might be wondering how his mother is doing with the whole ovarian cancer thing.

The current news is a bit of a mixed bag, but it's mostly good. MIL had six rounds of chemo, which shrunk the tumors enough to allow surgery. The surgeon completed MIL's partial hysterectomy from decades ago and also removed the omentum, the fat sheath that covers the abdomen, which was riddled with tumors. This action removed the visible tumors entirely, and MIL's pancreas, kidneys, and liver also appear to be free of tumors. The bad news is that the surgeon saw something concerning in the colon, so she removed it for a biopsy, and that tissue turns out to be cancerous. So MIL will continue with chemo and they will keep an eye on her colon. She's in pretty good spirits despite the prospect of more chemo, but she's tired. 

They moved to Indiana almost a year ago now, and while Husband and his parents and siblings have a weekly Zoom call to stay connected, I miss having them just down the street. Even now, when we take Marmite the Dog for a walk, he wants to veer into their old driveway and go into their house, which is what we always used to do.

I just talked to my own mother, and, while her broken foot is healing nicely, she's been getting a series of migraines that leave her exhausted and brain-fogged. She gets the aural signs of a migraines (the flashing, jagged lights mainly), but, while the headache following isn't too bad, she has that drained, limp-noodle feeling you get in the aftermath of a migraine. Just when she is recovering from one, another one comes along. Her physical stamina is pretty low at the moment, just when she needs to be exercising her foot more. 

My mother is not a complainer, and she doesn't want to be pitied, but I worry about her and my dad, whose stamina is also very low. It's very hard having to face your parents' mortality. Even though Husband and I are middle-aged, it's hard to see your parents as old and much nearer death than you want to think about. We are both very fortunate that we have such good relationships with our parents, however. Not all people can say that. 

My mom did bring up life insurance on our phone call, and she was very pleased that their insurance broker had found them some extra life insurance policies that will cover the costs of their funerals. 

In less depressing news, my two grandsons are healthy and happy. My second daughter, Gabrielle, and her husband, Raine, are currently living with Sian and Nathan and the boys while the landlord finishes fixing up Gabrielle's and Raine's townhome, which needed repainting, re-flooring, and some maintenance work after the last tenants of ten years moved out. The landlord, who is 85, moves slowly and is a perfectionist, so all of them have been crowded into Sian's and Nathan's place for the past two weeks, though the new place should be ready "in a couple days." Considering the rent is so reasonable and the landlord is also very reasonable despite his perfectionism in maintaining his units, it's a small price to pay. I'm just glad Gabrielle and Raine are out of that horrible condo. They were the first tenants in the newly-built condo, but it was built very, very shoddily with cheap furnishings. It wasn't obvious how shoddily it was built at first, but the more they lived there, the more apparent it became. The property management company is a nightmare, to make things worse. One of the things they told tenants is that, if anyone finds mold of any kind in the walls or rooms, it is the tenant's fault and responsibility, and the tenants would be forced to pay the rehabilitation costs, though the property managers got to choose the company. That is a huge disincentive to report anything, really. And Gabrielle and Raine did find black mold in the nearby roof-access stairwell, so it is safe to assume that the mold was also in their own walls. We are all hoping that this move helps their health, which has been terrible for both of them over the past year.

But tiny Nicholas is already teething, the sweet, wee baby. He's only three-and-a-half months old! (I had a kid who waited almost a year to start teething.) He's enjoying gnawing on teething toys, and other than being occasionally irritated by teething pain, he's a happy, talkative little boy who absolutely adores his big brother. He's sleeping through the night, as well, which makes Sian so very, very happy.

Anyway, just rambling on here, so I'll stop. I've only spent a few hours at work this week, and it's very, very nice to just hang out with Husband and the boys (Elannah got herself a summer job at the golf course again).