Friday and Saturday were quiet days of recuperation from our hectic Tucson trip. We did a little cleanup of some patches of snow, tidied up around the house, played with Ramsey and Kelsey, and prepared for the Super Bowl on Sunday. For no good reason that's a big deal for me. This year it is especially so because the Broncos are in it.
The highlight on Sunday was, of course, the Broncos big upset victory over the favored Panthers. While I naturally rooted for the Broncos, I had the feeling all along that Cam Newton would have a spectacular game and Peyton Manning would have only a so-so game, and the Panthers would trounce the Broncos. I was right about Manning but wrong about Newton. The Broncos defense just smothered him, and he was completely ineffective. Yea, Broncos!
Monday morning we finally got the results of last Wednesday's biopsy. The bump on my neck was malignant, as we had frankly suspected. That means we need to quickly start an immunotherapy regimen, which apparently can be done by Dr. Mathern's office in Flagstaff---meaning we do not need to be involved with Tucson any further. In an odd way, that's a relief, notwithstanding that it means my cancer is active. I placed a call to Dr. Mathern's office to get on his schedule. It turns out that he is in Europe for the entire month, but he has associates who can take care of the situation while he is away. Late Monday, I heard from my contact, an administrator in Dr. Mathern's office, that it wasn't quite that simple, and he would get back to me. It was hard to sleep Monday night.
Tuesday we had appointments in Flagstaff with our medical team anyway, so we waited to attack the situation. First, we met with Dr. Cohen, my new cardiologist, who announced that my echocardiogram last Friday was normal, and that all was well with my heart---except for an occasional bit of atrial fibrillation, which he said was no big deal as long as I took my blood thinner regularly. That was great news.
Our next meeting was with Dr. Boettcher who announced that my recovery from the December surgery had progressed to the point that we no longer had to apply the magic solution to the surgery site, and I no longer had to wear a hat 24/7 as the result. Yippee! We discussed with him the frustration we were having over the progress with Dr. Mathern's office regarding the next step in combating the active cancer. He explained that medicine was practiced by doctors, and not by assistants and administrators, and he immediately called Dr. Mathern's office and was told we could see Dr. Mathern's partner as soon as we could get there to plan the next steps. We saw Dr. Kuefler a few minutes later, who gave us a thorough explanation of the next steps, and scheduled all of them.
While this whole process for the last nine months has been a complicated dance involving doctors, labs, and assorted others, I must admit that the communication and cooperation among all the people involved has been amazing. I mentioned that to Dr. Boettcher, who said it is due in large part to the fact that Flagstaff is a relatively small town and every practitioner involved knows each other. We celebrated with another wonderful Pablo Picasso Mexican Salad from Oregano's that we picked up before returning home. Tuesday was a good day, all things considered.
Wednesday we prepared for the imminent visit of Becky's brother Peter and his wife, Terry. They drove up from San Gabriel that day, arriving at 2:30 in the afternoon. We immediately had lunch (Gazpacho, which Becky had made on Tuesday) and started catching up. We hadn't seen them for several months and had a lot to talk about. 
After lunch, the three of them went for a long walk with the dogs while I puttered around. By the time they got back it was time for pre-dinner cocktails and snacks (hummus and veggies). Then dinner and more conversation. Thursday morning involved breakfast, another long dog-walk, then all four of us went to Bearizona for a visit. We were almost alone there, so we had plenty of opportunity to commune with the animals. It's always fun to go there; it's a nice asset to Williams.
We then had lunch at the Red Raven, our favorite, and it was suddenly time for Peter and Terry to head home. They were here only 24 hours, but it was a wonderful time. They are very nice people. Just after lunch, the Buffalo Fence people showed up to finish the job they started a couple of weeks ago.
Thursday night we collapsed. It's great fun to have guests, but it's tiring.
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