Good news in the scheduling department; I’ve got some key appointments recently confirmed:

• Wed. Nov 27 (Thanksgiving eve): Doubleheader with MRI and CT Scan. I’m happy these scans are actually happening this month, instead of December. As I’ve been quite anxious to learn what this long slog of radiation & chemo has accomplished.
• Mon. Dec 9: Sigmoidoscopy and prep discussions with the surgeon. I’m assuming at this visit I’ll learn if I will indeed be undergoing surgery, or not. There’s a chance — they said around 20% — that the radiation & chemo may have completely wiped out the tumor (and affected lymph nodes), thereby rendering surgery unnecessary.
• Fri. Jan 3: If it needs to happen, surgery will be on this date. This is a Low Anterior Resection (LAR) surgery.

This past week has had its ups and downs, basically as I expected. I am thankful (again) that I took the entire week off from work. In my down periods — which don’t really happen on a set schedule — the brain fog continues to mess with me.

I did have a chance to get out for a couple walks today; that was the most exercise I’ve had since before Halloween. Seattle in Autumn is a time steeped in sweet nostalgia for me, always bringing me back to my first year in college in 1992. As I was out and about today, I listened to music that was on heavy rotation for me in that time period. R.E.M. — particularly Reckoning — was in my ears likely every single day throughout the early 90s. Today, So. Central Rain really took me back:

And the Sundays … I’ve waxed nostalgic about them before, way back in 2012. Although I do espy one little white lie in that post: I didn’t have an actual Walkman — not the name brand version, too expensive! I think my portable cassette player was made by Sanyo or some such brand, and was suitably low-cost. The classic Sundays track for me will always be Here’s Where the Story Ends –

This song vividly evokes those Autumn 1992 memories for me, those solitary walks up and around Queen Anne hill in Seattle. Those first months of college were so exciting, and thoroughly formed the foundation for the rest of my life — but I recall it was also a very exhausting time, and I found refuge in music. As I still do, to this day.