A Four-Dessert Evening and A Long Needle

We had lots and lots of fun last night and discovered that our dining room table will indeed seat fourteen people for dinner if everyone squeezes in tightly and doesn’t mind a bit of coziness.

Here is the table before the guests arrived. My very own personal husband whipped up the place cards. Is he a talented guy, or what?

He also helped with the dishes; twenty minutes after the guests left, our kitchen looked like this. Do you think he deserves a raise in his allowance?

And speaking of my husband’s talents, he also a gift for creating arrows out of masking tape. He made these arrows as sort of a joking way to help with traffic flow. But even though he said it was a joke, if anyone had gone against the flow and gone the wrong way around the table? Well, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

I also wanted to show you a candle arrangement my dear childhood friend, Lorrie, sent me for my birthday. Is that cool, or what? I just love interesting candles.

It was a great night—especially with four desserts to choose from. Life doesn’t get much better than a Four Dessert Evening!

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And on a totally different subject, I thought I would share a little info for anyone who may not be sure what a stereotactic biopsy is—that’s the procedure I’ll be having Monday morning. Although I had one about ten years ago, I did a little “refresher course research” to remind myself what is involved.

STEREOTACTIC BIOPSY

In stereotactic breast biopsy, a special mammography machine uses ionizing radiation to help guide the radiologist’s instruments to the site of the abnormal growth. At most facilities, a specially designed examination table will allow you to lie face down with your breast hanging freely through an opening in the table. The table is then raised and the biopsy procedure is performed beneath the table.

One of two instruments will be used:

• A core needle, also called an automatic, spring-loaded needle, which consists of an inner needle connected to a trough, or shallow receptacle, covered by a sheath and attached to a spring-loaded mechanism.
• A vacuum-assisted device (VAD), a vacuum powered instrument that uses pressure to pull tissue into the needle. (This is the one they’ll be using for me.)

Other sterile equipment involved in this procedure includes syringes, sponges, forceps, scalpels and a specimen cup or microscope slide.

There now. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Pressure, tissue, needle, scalpels, ionizing radiation, vacuum assisted device—all words that just make me want to smile.

Sort of. Not really.

Maybe when they pull out the long needle, I’ll just cast my mind back to our Four-Dessert Evening. That will make me smile for sure!

Menu

I've had several of you ask what menu I had planned for tonight and it occurred to me that what I posted a couple hours ago might have been a bit misleading.

Yes, I am hosting fourteen people for dinner but it's a potluck dinner so I'm not doing all that much except to organize the menu, clean, make a dessert (chocolate eclair torte) set the table, think through the traffic flow, unload the dishwasher fifteen times, and make sure the guest bathroom is somewhat clean.

The menu will include roast beef, potatoes and gravy, pineapple casserole, green beans, lima beans, rice, rolls, coconut cake, my chocolate dessert and another dessert yet to be named. In other words, there will be calories (and laughter) galore!

But thankfully, I am NOT the one cookin' all those calories!

The Father and Son Happy Tire Rotation Routine

Thank you to everyone who shared your stories, tears and personal experiences in the comments area after my post yesterday. It’s so nice to be reminded that we aren’t alone on the grieving journey.

Today’s post is going to be a bit different from yesterday’s but different is good, right? Since I’m having fourteen people in for dinner tonight (our Board Members and their wives) I figure I’d better spend my time cookin’ and cleanin’ rather than writin’ and postin’. (I’m sure the dinner guests would heartily agree because after all, it’s sort of hard to dine on a blog post.)

So instead of writing, I’ll post some pictures from Nathan’s visit last week.

He and Steve discussed all throughout the week how much tread is on Nathan’s tires and how much tread should be on Nathan’s tires. (Hey, it’s cheap entertainment!) Finally, they decided that the time had come to do the Father and Son Happy Tire Rotation Routine.

While the men stayed busy with their manly man duties, Sarah and Meagan (Nathan’s girlfriend) took care of important business of their own—thrift store shopping! Here they are, about to leave the house. In the course of the shopping trip, they also engaged in some discussion about the all important subject of boys! Sarah is really enjoying having a big sister in her life.

And lastly, a picture that should make you smile. My sister sent me the most colorful, beautiful cheery umbrella for my birthday. (It’s one of the things I asked for.) I firmly believe that there should be a law against black umbrellas; if it’s rainy, it’s already gloomy and who needs more gloominess? This is the way umbrellas should look!

And with that cheery sight, I will sign off. And start cooking. And cleaning. And running amok.

Which I’m actually fairly good at!

Always

Your Wednesday Dose of Old Beauty

Yesterday on our way home from the surgeon’s office, Steve decided that his forlorn and exhausted little woman needed a little diversion from all the Serious Talk that has been flying around in our lives lately.

And as usual, he was right.

The diversion was in the form of an antique store along the way highway leading to Manteo.  The place was a veritable photographer’s delight.  Every corner and cranny was overflowing with stuff—valuable stuff, junky stuff, beautiful stuff.  Old beauty.

 

 

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day.  (Some of them may already be in a collage but I wanted to post them full size, as well.)

I loved the idea of an ancient gas pump sitting next to a (formerly) fancy sitting room chair.

I adored the over sized diaper pins.

 

 

So there you have it.  Your Wednesday Dose of Old Beauty. 

And may I just add that I hope you find unexpected beauty--both old and new--filling the corners of your life today.

Surgeons and Naps

Before I lie down for the longest nap of this century, let me fill you in briefly on the day.

First of all, I was so blessed by all the messages greeting me when I got home a few minutes ago; thanks to each of you who took the time to send an encouraging word, a virtual hug or a long distance prayer.

There is good news and bad news:

The good news is that a secondary suspicious, cancer-related issue that had been mentioned turned out to be a "no go," representing nothing at all to worry about. Whew!

However, when the surgeon put my films up on the light board he said, "Uh, HUH."

Translated to mean, "My, my, my, my."

What he saw was a large number of microcalcifications in several different areas on the left side. From what I understand, macrocalcifications can show up in anyone and are very rarely a sign of cancer.

On the other hand, microcalcifications can sometimes be a sign of cancer, but not always. Certain patterns of calcifications, however— such as tight clusters with irregular shapes — can indicate breast cancer.

It seems the radiologist who read my mammogram is worried about the shape of the calcifications. The surgeon who examined me today is concerned that the extensive array of microcalcifications on this recent mammogram were nowhere to seen on the one I had just six months ago. And since calcifications are usually slow growing, this is obviously a reason for some worry.

Bottom line is that he told me he was going to go ahead and schedule a biopsy, and whether the calcifications were benign or malignant, he was still probably going to recommend having them all surgically removed at a later date, just because he would feel a bit "safer" that way.

They had an opening to come in on Friday but we already had a Board Dinner scheduled at our house and since that took a good deal of maneuvering to get the schedules of fourteen people to align, we we didn't want to change that.

Instead, I'll be going next Monday morning for the biopsy and will go back to the doctor the following Monday for the results.

So now you know what I know.

And now I'm going to bed.