Patty's epic adventure

  Monday, November 24, 2025 My right leg still hurts like a booger. This experience has been a little less than fun. Otherwise, I am doing fine. Have you ever made a boob call? Not a butt call. Everyone has made those at some point. I’m talking about a boob call. This is how it happens You wake up one morning and your lymphatic fluid has decided it’s too lazy to move about your body and just settles into your upper left quadrant. You’re so swollen that you cannot get a bra on. So, you consider putting your compression camisole on, but it’s a hot day. And compression camisoles are Very hot. And tight. And when you sit down, the bottom portion rolls up. Other than that, they’re great. As you consider this option, you realize that you are sore and very tender and putting a Compression camisole on sounds like it could be a bit horrifying. So, you opt for one of your husbands fishing shirts – that has double breasted pockets. This seems to be the best choice under the circumstances to c...

  November 9 Today is Sunday. I had my Verithena procedure done on Friday.  I’m going to tell you all about it today. If it’s boring for you, quit reading. I was in the clinic for about an hour and 45 minutes and I drove myself home afterwards. When I got there, I took off my pants, socks, and shoes, and put on a pair of adorable paper shorts. I walked down the hall to the room where they were going to do the procedure and climbed up on the examination bed/table. I laid down, they positioned my leg, and then they proceeded to disinfect the entire leg. I told him not to get rid of all of my bacteria, because it was the only culture I’ve got. What do you know? He clean the whole thing anyway. They covered everything else up in sterile wraps and I felt like a mummy. They told me to put my arms across my chest, also. Truly, a mummy. Then a guy started working on my leg with his ultrasound. (Turns out, I’m not pregnant after all) He put dots all over my leg and he stayed there thro...

11/2/25 I haven't posted anything for 5 months, but I've been told by my daughter to get crackin'.  I had surgery on May 8th to remove Melanoma from my arm and a spot on my cheek.  I had surgery on May 13th to remove Squamous Cell Carcinoma (stage 2) from the top of my head.  I had a bit of a bald spot for a few months, but only people taller than me would possibly notice it.  I'm 5' 1" now.  So, see?  No one noticed. On July 7th, I had an Endoscopy to rule out some stuff and see if my fundoplication was still intact.  It was.  I'm back on heartburn medicine even tho the fundoplication should prevent that.  Apparently, I'm really good at producing stomach acid.  If you're gonna do something, do it right....... I've had a bit of heart trouble the past few months and have had regular visits with my cardiologist.  My heart likes to occasionally act as if I'd just finished a marathon, even tho I'm sitting my recliner.  Oh, well....

  6/16/25 I’m back. By a show of hands, everyone that loves my charts, and patient portals, etc. raise those hands high! Hmmmm, I see none going up. I have sent messages on my patient portal on several occasions and heard nothing back. So, I call the office and leave a message, because you never get a real person the first time. No one calls me back. I think I might drive to the office tomorrow. ….. sigh. On a good note, my ctDNA test came back negative. Hooray! And I go back to MD Anderson in Houston in two months. I have an endoscopy in three weeks. I see my rheumatologist in two days. I need to get my dermatologist to take a look at my head. It’s been five weeks since she cut that open and it still has not healed. It’s still scabby and bloody. So, I still cannot get in the pool. And I have to stay out of the sun. It looks pretty icky on the top of my head, I’m sorry to say.  David and I celebrated my good news by going to Shreveport this past weekend. We had a good time. Th...

  6/8/25 Well, here I am again. I had the cancer removed from my head, and it turned out to be quite large. She had to stitch me up with an S shape. It was either that, or take a skin graft from somewhere else. I had about 20 stitches in it. I still have a scab on my head. The incision on my arm is healing up nicely, and the scabs are all gone. I saw my cardiologist again and he took me off the nitroglycerin. It wasn’t helping. He wants to wait for the endoscopy results before we move on. I cannot wear my CPAP mask because it sits directly on top of my incision on my head, which has not healed yet. I went to the pulmonologist, and he said just to wait until it heals, then start up again. I have a hole in my head that my finger fits in. Now, if someone asks me what’s wrong with me, and do you have a hole in your head? I can honestly say yes, yes I do! I went to my oncologist on Friday, and she was not pleased that I had two different kind of cancers removed. She was going to get the...

  5/12/2025 It’s been five months since I’ve written in my blog. Several people are upset with me for taking such a long break. However, my life just hasn’t been very exciting these past few months. I will appease the masses and update my blog today. David and I went on a seven day cruise in January and I continued with physical therapy twice a week for my back. David and I took a road trip in February and March. We drove thousands of miles and stopped in to see a lot of old friends along the way. We made it to Vegas and we got to see Garth Brooks in concert. That was a lot of fun. We kept going through Utah and Colorado and finally made our way back home. I cut almost 10 inches off of my hair in March. It was my first real haircut in years. I had another sleep study done and saw the pulmonologist several times. He wanted a special kind of sleep study so I went back for a third one. He ordered me another CPAP machine, but this one has a different mouthpiece and I sleep pretty well ...

1/10/25 It's Friday.  2025.  Holy cow.  When I was a kid, I thought in 2025 we'd be living in space or something and robots would be our maids.  Like Rosy, on the Jetsons.  This is gonna be a nutshell post: I had several doctor appoints since I last wrote. Had another sleep study for something my cardiologist ordered.  Long word, can't remember it.  I bought a new car.  Christmas was simply delightful with all the kids home.  ct/DNA test came back negative (woo-hoo!).  Went to Houston to MD Anderson this week for an MRI and my surgeon will call me this afternoon with the results.  However, I read in MyChart last night that my tumor had  grown only a tiny amount in the past 2 years, so I'm stopping the MRIs because it's probably benign. (woo-hoo!)  I'm still doing physical therapy twice a week in the pool to try and help my back.  We went to a New Year's Eve party and I did something a friend told me about.  I tol...