Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
On Friday, May 12, we got great news from Marianne 's oncologist. "Great news" and "oncologist" do not usually appear in the same sentence, but Dr, Riviera gave us the remarkable news that this week's PET scan showed NO SIGN OF CANCER. In late March, a biopsy had identified cancer spread: metastasis of breast cancer cells into skin near the incision. Now, even that area did not register on the scan.
We quickly spread the news to family and friends. And we quickly started re-planning our lives. Bought a Lotto ticket. Celebrated with (non alcoholic) champagne on our sunny patio. Europe popped back into our hopes, probably next Fall. A road trip or two for US travel and maybe our first flights in years, just because we can.
I can not over-emphasize the relief. We had not let ourselves believe a good result was even possible. Thanks, too, for everyone's prayers and good wishes.
Now, what else is happening? On Saturday we went to the San Joaquin Clay and Glass Association festival. We looked at everything, but focused on friend Ren Lee's ceramics and Bob Kliss' glass creations. I don't know that we are in the market to expand our collections from these two artists, but it is tempting.
Sunday, Mother's Day, started with a warm morning walk on the bluffs above the San Joaquin River. Our initial ambition of a long riverside stroll faded as we failed to find an easy path down to the water and as the morning warmed up. I snapped a landscape shot, a couple of wildlife pictures, and we called it quits.
Back home, we enjoyed a Mother's Day brunch of barbecued burgers. This may not be traditional, but it's what our local mom wanted. So be it. The pineapple guava tree contributed flowers. This is as good as it gets.
I think we both spent much of the rest of the day planning our return to Germany. I looked at Frequent Flyer award travel and that seems doable. Round-trip, business class, may take the million miles earned over a decade or two of flying, but it seems worth it. I also discovered that renting a Tesla is far less expensive than other cars, so we should be able to continue electric driving. We'll send diaries!
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne