Amanda here: We
promised updates and then life became a three ring circus. Isaac is doing great
at all the things that babies do. Except when he is deeply asleep, he cycles
through a variety of facial expressions and squeaking noises until the person
holding him becomes a puddle of goo, gives up on adult conversation, and just
stares at him. Matt and I weren’t sure what to expect about newborn care, but
it is surprisingly awesome (Matt: the honeymoon is over on the overnight
feedings). Big events for Isaac over the
last two weeks of his life included a switch to formula, which he seems to be
slurping down just fine, and his circumcision. Welcome to 365 generations a
body scarring tradition that seems to provide some unique health benefits, and a
truly beautiful ceremony. We recently became official members of the Beth
Shalom community, and they have been amazing at welcoming us and our child, extra
baggage and all. Isaac has gotten to know two sets of grandparents and his Aunt
Stephanie, and he’s had virtual encounters with his Great Grandma Ruth and his
Aunt Emily, Uncle Dan, and Aunt Meredith. He also had a great visit with his
Aunt Gabi/Fairy God Pathologist who came all the way from San Francisco to help
us navigate for a few days.
As for my last
two weeks of health updates, here goes. About 1/3000 women (I think just in the
US?) are diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy. During those last weeks
of pregnancy, I was also diagnosed with PUPPPS (pruritic urticarial papules and
plaques of pregnancy, ew, look it up on wikepedia) that affects about 1/100
women during pregnancy. When I went to get a chest port put in to deliver the
chemo drugs, I ended up in the hospital with a pneumothorax, about a 1/200 complication.
Went to get chemo started and found I was allergic to the drug Taxol and
potentially its alternate form, maybe a 1/20 probability. I’m not sure what the
odds are of hitting that many rare medical issues in the space of two weeks,
but they must be astronomically low. Lower than Powerball low. On the up side,
scans and tests so far showed that the cancer spread is local to the lymph
nodes near the tumor which really was good news. We’re grateful for a lot right
now including kind and skilled doctors at the Swedish True Family Cancer
Center, family and friends who are helping keep us fed and cared for, an
outpouring of wonderful e-mails and messages from friends and family all over
the country, sympathetic employers, and lots of other things that I’m not going
to go into because this whole situation reads like a rejected script for a Hallmark
Hall of Fame movie because it is too melodramatic.
Regarding
visits. We’re excited for Isaac to meet our friends and family, but we are
balancing that against protecting my immune system. The chemo drugs that I am
taking for the next two months or so are particularly hard on the white blood
cells, so don’t be offended if we wait a while to see how I am tolerating the
treatment before we become more social.
