ARCHIVES - 1996 to FOREVER

I had kinda been expecting it... but not really. And so had Karen, I think, especially after this last weekend.

The oncologist essentially told us that we had two choices: hospice, or palliative radiation.

The choice was easy, and we went down to see an old friend, the radiation oncologist.

And he told us a lot of things... mostly, that his goal was to make the quality of life as good as possible for as long as possible... and he said, "before the crash". The crash, he explained, takes about three weeks, and hospice is the best choice for this period.

And I am supremely sad, and so is Karen, of course. There are so many things that she wasn't to do and see before she dies, and it's mostly too late for any of that.

Tomorrow she is going to get the treatment planning done, and we'll start radiation on Tuesday.

And nobody will give us an estimate, of course... but generally on the order of three months.

And the oncologist is going to ship the records to MD Anderson, but there is only a glimmer of hope there... but still, a glimmer.

I worked until 13:00 today and met JD and Karen in the cancer center, and then took off the rest of the day... and the next two days. I'm really not sure about next week... I might just take off the next three months.