No, I didn't see Johnny Depp.

After I took Glen to the FurBQ at Irvine Regional Park, I went to Disneyland. I knew they were closing early for a special event, but I wasn't quite sure what it was until I got there. Then I understood why Rachel had asked me on Monday if I intended to go to the Pirates of the Carribbean premiere.

I have never seen so much red carpet in my life - Mainstreet was almost completely covered in the stuff from the train station to the castle (and possibly beyond, but it was so crowded I didn't make it past the central hub). There were camera crews set up at regular intervals along the route, and both sides of the street were lined six deep or more with screaming fans.

Even had I been inclined to stick around for another couple of hours to get a glimpse of Johnny Depp et al, I wouldn't have been able to, since I needed to pick Glen up about the time they were supposed to make their entrance. In any event, that's not the sort of thing I do. I did snap a photo of a cute guy with a press badge that some of you may recognize. I don't, but that doesn't mean much.

Unknown Cute Guy

USC Norris Cancer Center Visit

Mother and Daddy came to my house on Tuesday, where they spent the night, and then yesterday morning I drove them to the USC Norris Center, where mother had an appointment with Dr. Annie Yessaian at 10:00. The trip was uneventful, and until I got to the Mission Road off-ramp near the interchange of I-5 and I-10, quite familiar to me. We had no problem finding the valet parking in front of the Norris Center, and we had plenty of time to get Mother checked in before her appointment.

She had gone expecting to be scheduled for surgery, and she was also afraid that her Baghdad-educated specialist would be difficult to understand. We could also find nothing to indicate that Dr. Yessaian is a surgeon.

Dr. Yessian turned out to have only a very slight accent, and she is a surgeon. She did a thorough examination and had a list of questions to ask about medical history, recent symptoms and so forth. She concluded that Mother is in no condition at present for major surgery, though that is the only option available for treatment of her endometrial adenocarcinoma. Mother should not have hormone therapies because of her stroke and Coumadin treatment, nor can she have radiation, since she has so many adhesions as a result of her previous surgeries. Before surgery, Mother would need to be, in Dr. Yessaian's words, "fine tuned" to be in much better physical shape. Uterine cancers advance slowly, so there is time.

The doctor also expressed concerns about the weight loss, fatigue and pain, since these are not usually associated with early stage uterine cancers. She planned to order four blood tests for tumor markers, including the CA-125 I had been campaigning for. This test can be useful in determining whether gynecological cancers have spread to other areas. The other tests included one for liver cancer (probably an Alpha-Fetoprotein test), a CA19-9 for gastrointestinal cancer, and one other whose purpose I can't recall, although I think it may have been a GT II, also for gastrointestinal malignancies. Mother is not being tested for testicular cancer, which is about all that's left, I think.

Whether her doctors can get her in shape for surgery remains to be seen, but Mother left Norris yesterday feeling as if she had a reprieve. When it took her a week and a half to recover from her D&C, I have to wonder if she would ever recover from major surgery. For the moment, she only has the four blood tests hanging over her, and she has been having her blood drawn nearly every week for some time, so that part shouldn't be especially onerous. Waiting for the results will be nerve-wracking,however. Then, whatever the results, positive or negative, she will have more tests and procedures to look forward to.

Happy Anniversary to Us

Today is Lee's and my 29th anniversary, but I'm spending the day at Disneyland...with Evan, Rachel and Aaron. Lee loves Disneyland (it's where we got engaged; I don't have an engagement ring, I have an engagement Mickey Mouse watch), but it looks to be a long day, and I don't think Lee would enjoy it much. This isn't the first time I've spent our anniversary away from Lee. For our 25th, I spent the day at a roller coaster convention and had dinner at the Coaster Con banquet.

I did do something special for the occasion, however. I sponsored today's Kevin and Kell comic strip, one of our favorites.

Evan and Aaron (and two total strangers)

My "New" Luxury Car

Any blogs I'd have written lately would have looked pretty grim, or at least plaintive. I've been taking care of all kinds of details for my mother (she's been referred to USC Norris Cancer Center, and it's a pain to even get an appointment) and my kids (college and auto insurance).

We've largely got the college straightened out. Glen intends to finish the couple of classes he needs at Pierce College this fall to complete his AA in History, transferable to any Cal State University, and at the same time start attending classes at College of the Canyons in Valencia. They offer an associate degree program in Computer Animation, and now that he's got his driver's license, he can commute a couple of days each week and get started on it. Where he'll go after that is anybody's guess; presumably he will find out what universities offer bachelor's degrees in animation when he's in the program at CoC.

Evan lacks a single one-unit health class of completing his AA in liberal arts at Pierce, so he's planning to pick that up but at the same time start attending LA Valley College in Van Nuys. They offer both Cinema and Respiratory Therapist degrees, so he could take classes in both. In this way, he could prepare for work in what interests him - movies and TV (below the line, that is, in production rather than acting) - but also have a fallback option when that kind of work isn't available. At any rate, we can see how the dual major works out. If it takes him until he's 30, so be it.

Adding two kids with brand new licenses to auto insurance is expensive. Ironically, though, adding a third car, if it is an older one not requiring collision and comprehensive, can save money. Originally, I looked at Corollas, and then I realized that the older Corollas would probably be too short for Glen (Toyota added a couple of much-needed inches of headroom in 2004, the year I bought mine) and started looking at Camrys. I signed up for CarFax, checked VINs and asked my Toyota mechanic of many years' standing how much he'd charge to check a 1997 Corolla with 115,000 miles I was thinking of buying for $4000. I also asked if he happened to know of anybody who was interested in selling.

Well, Jerry had a 1992 Corolla with 155,000 miles on it that he was asking $2500 for, but he also had his daughter's 1993 Lexus ES300 with brand new shocks and tires and only 85,000 miles that he'd sell for $6000. Oooooh, a Lexus. The more we thought about it, the more we liked the idea and arranged for a test drive.

Glen, Evan and I all drove it, and I really put it through its paces, taking it on the freeway out toward Simi Valley and then coming back via Box Canyon Road, a twisty mountain lane. The Lexus rides smooth and drives like a dream, even at 13 years old. The extensible aerial rattles and clunks a bit when it goes up or down, but except for that, the car is very quiet. When I got back to Jerry's, I was ready to get my checkbook out. I figured I'd drive the Lexus, and the kids could use my 2004 Corolla, even if we'll insure them on the older car.

Jerry gave the car full service and even took it to one of his neighbors for a smog test before letting us have it, but we drove it home last night. The car cover Lee got for his Camry when he had to park it outside for a few months fits the Lexus beautifully, which is a good thing, since the only parking space we have left is under a tree.

So I finally have my luxury car, and though it may be a clunker by age and price, it is still a very nice set of wheels.

The Big C Confirmed

Mother had her D&C a week ago, and we got the results on Thursday. There's no sign of endocervical carcinoma, but she does have an endometrioid adenocarcinoma. In other words, endometrial cancer. Based on the pathologist's report, it appears to be grade one or two; unfortunately the pathologist did not give any quantitative information.

The gynecologist referred mother to a gynecological oncologist at USC, but she wants to consult her own hematologist/oncologist first. Her primary care physician has ordered a CT scan with contrast (iodine, to which she is allergic - she has to take a series of antihistimines and histimine blockers to counteract any reaction). This may determine whether or not there is any metastasis to other organs. Her symptoms - rapid, unintended weight loss, pain, etc. - suggest that this is possible, even likely. This test will be performed in Lancaster next Friday, and presumably she will see her hematologist early the following week. At that time, she will have some difficult decisions to make.