No answers, but lots of reassurance.

I just have to say first off that Ava is the most gorgeous baby! My goodness. I can't even describe her to you all. Despite the machines, the wires, the people, the needles, everything--you could feel her strength every second you watched her. We missed Jamie and Jamie unfortunately but were blessed with seeing Ava. Wow. She is just a miracle and looked so perfect.

Now, for me. I got no answers but lots of reassurance. I feel like the cloud has lifted a bit--no, a lot. Dr. Wolf is so flippin' amazing--he remembered everything about me (yeh, I guess he could have read my chart) and listened listened listened to every single fear/question I had. First, a resident came in and examined me and said everything looked good. Then Dr. Wolf came in with the Chief Resident (both residents were females) and explained to both of them that I am a very interesting patient, (and then he looks at me and says "you really don't want to be interesting to doctors" with a wink) and explained my whole neck tumor case and then let me explain my symptoms. He was very interested to know that my first bite syndrome is still presenting itself, plus my Horner's Syndrome in my eye, and my palate something or other...he said that the follow up was really good for him as he is learning from me about my past surgery...he was also quite proud of how my incision in my neck looks (I bet a lot of you have never noticed it) etc. etc. He said there is nothing to indicate to him that I have anything but residual affects from the neck surgery--he said the PET/CT scan I had WAS reliable (if ACC was there it would light up) but that I should continue to have them. He said I turned the tables on him--he has seen plenty of ACC/neck and that he always advises his female patients to be very diligent about breast exams since this is a glandular cancer and the breast is a gland--he thought for a moment about my future screenings and just said to keep being aware of my salivary glands in case it reverses itself. He also said that the good news was that for all breast cancers, this is a good one to get, but the bad news is it could come back even 20 years later, but they have learned that MOST cancers can come back 20 years later----ANYWAY. I asked him about the whole coincidence with the type of cells in my breast cancer and salivary cells from first bite syndrome and he explained that very well so I now believe they are not related...I won't bore you with details but I believe him. What else? One thing I did not ask is specifically what is causing my pain, etc but both Ginger and I inferred it is just the whole surgery thing...even in my ear. I also had him check, along with the resident, this lump I have had on the back of my neck since BEFORE the neck tumor--and he leans over and whispers in my ear "it's just fat." I laughed and said, Oh I am used to that, (the resident was much kinder, calling it by its real name a "fatty lipoma". She said it is way too superficial to be anything else. And, another thing I really liked is he dictated his letter to Dr. Ansari right in front of me so I know exactly what he said. I forgot he did that in the past too...I have never had a doctor do that. Ginger loved him too and thinks I should always go back to see him...it was worth every second in the car. I can't say enough about the U of M care system...we got in 15 minutes early, he spent almost an hour with me, and would have spent more if I needed it. Plus I had three doctors check me out. It was just good. (he did have one concern: WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH MY IRISH??? he said) He's a Notre Dame grad, of course. : )

My manly man just came in from hunting so I must see if he brought home the bacon. Nope, no luck.

I need to check my email from work. By the way, Madame T Lynch--good luck tomorrow with your stuff! Call if you need anything and make sure you rest.

Love to all and sleep tight my little Ava--you are loved loved loved!

Molly