Lunch at Cyrus O'Learys

Ok, so it was a little early for dinner, and late for lunch when we arrived. You don't really expect the place to be jumpin' at 3:45 in the afternoon do you? Thanks to the doctor who was TWO HOURS LATE for our appointment, with no explanation or apology prior to FINALLY coming into the room, we were starving when we left.

We used to go to Cyrus O'Learys when we went to the conventions in Spokane for principals and other public school leader types who needed some R&R once the school year was over. We've had some great times in this place with friends and collegues over the years. Kinda sad to see it so empty...but it was 3:45 in the afternoon.

Lois did not have to eat her lunch alone! I repeat, she did not have to eat her lunch alone. I sat with her and kept her company and we ate our lunches together. My lunch was so good, I had to take a picture of it; so here it is, about half gone: It's honey glazed salmon on a bed of spinach drenched in a roquefort with slices of avocado and cucumber. Mmmmm. Lois had a sandwich and she didn't like it, so it didn't make the cut for posting with my salmon.

To Reconstruct or Not To Reconstruct

Hi everyone, it's been a while since any updates were posted here and now we have one. We just got back from a lightning trip to Spokane, WA., for consultations with two surgeons: one a plastic surgeon for reconstruction; and two, a surgeon who specializes in breast cancer surgeries who would perform a mastectomy on the other breast.

We saw the plastic surgeon first and felt good about what he had to say. He even hooked us up with a couple, also from here in the Tri-Cities, who had the second breast removed and reconstruction surgery at the same time, about two weeks ago. She and her husband were very encouraging; she said she was very happy with the choice she had made. We also were shown pictures of patients who had had reconstruction. I was amazed. This guy is good!

The other surgeon gave us concern. First, she was TWO HOURS late for the appointment, my patience wore out about half an hour earlier; and once she sat down and started reviewing the reports Lois brought, she started questioning why there had been no radiation treatment. Lois deferred to me to explain and I did the best I could by telling her what both our radiation and chemotherapist oncologists had told us (for the number of nodes which were identified with cancer in them, there is no clear evidence that radiation makes any difference in long-term survivability); but it was pretty clear she wasn't convinced. We told her we would feel better if she contacted our oncologists. She said she would do so and call us back tomorrow; so here we are feeling like it's last summer again when we were in limbo with "what to do."

Here's a "not very good picture" of the both of us following the consultations. You might be able to see we didn't sleep the night before and we're both sick with chest colds. A rather miserable day in many respects; but...we stopped in one of our favorite places, Cyrus O'Leary's, for a very late lunch. It's the green roofed building behind us.