I forgot to mention that my checkup was physically and emotionally exhausting, but completely sarcoma-free. My adventures for the day included:

--Getting caught in a huge traffic jam on the interstate. Trust me, as much as I've driven to Moffitt, I've got it timed to the minute, and my one hour, fifteen minute drive turned into a full two hour commute.

--Dashing upstairs to Radiology to get my contrast and go through the usual motions of being "polite but very firm" about getting my hep lock before I started drinking the (ugh) contrast laced Crystal Light. The IV only took two sticks--hooray, but they had to put in a smaller gauge needle than was desirable.

--The lab receptionist jumping up and hugging me when I was able to tell her, "No, Kathy, I DON'T have a port anymore."

--The man next to me in Radiology sharing (out of the blue) about his rare form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He has been battling for 8 years and 5 rounds of chemo, and his remissions keep getting shorter. He was so sad and matter-of-fact when he told me "I think I'm on my way out. I don't really want the bone-marrow transplant they're pushing on me". I didn't have time to do more than listen to him before his name was called for his test. I'm praying that he just needed someone to listen to him, and that it brought him some comfort that day.

--The lab was late with my Creataine level, requiring the Radiolgy people needing more blood to do a rapid test before the CT. The lab came through at the same time as the rapid test--not that it mattered, as three of the CT machines (including the one I was scheduled for) went down with a computer virus at the same time. Back to the waiting room...

--The automatic voice in the CT machiene had been reprogrammed from my last scan. It is now a veddy veddy proper British man requesting that one "Take a deep inhale and hold your breath"...then commanding that "You may carry on breathing". Do you know how hard it is to hold your breath when you want to giggle?

--The CT snafu made me late to clinic. It was nice to see the MA and my favorite receptionist, Margie...both asked about the kids and complimented the slowly returning 'do. Margie made me promise to come back by and give her the scoop after the checkup.

--I saw the new oncologist about an hour and a half after my scheduled appoinment. This is not unusual. He's nice, but I miss Dr. D'A....we just have more history together, and she doesn't have a thick Italian accent to navigate. Emory is lucky to have her.

--I stopped in Plant City on the way home and grabbed a flat of strawberries. It was only after I had devoured a pint of them did I realize that I'd been fasting since 7 that morning and was really, really hungry. Next stop, some protein.

By the time I got home, I was ready for the couch and a hot bath. Hooray for a family content with leftovers for dinner.

I thought the emotional hangover was done. I dragged myself out of bed this morning and headed out to the mall to return some pants for my little guy. We walked around, grabbed a coffee, played in the play area, and then exchanged the pants. After all this was accomplished, we hit the family bathroom, where I glanced in the mirror and noticed that I'd been wearing my sunglasses. Indoors. All morning.

I wonder if people thought I was a celebrity mom gone slumming or just a really big dork.

At least I'm a cancer-free dork.