(Original title – The Deathday Party)

Cancer really enjoys slamming you when you’re already down.

It’s been a while since my last update, and so much has been happening. I received my Super payout and did a bunch of fun things, like…

• I bought a new car, a Suzuki Swift GLX in the shiny blue. His name is Tamatoa because he’s so shiny;
• My bro Matt and I went looking for a new house to live in, saw ten, applied for four and got one;
• I paid off some credit card debt (thanks Minou for your kidney failure);
• And I paid for a trip to Disneyland and my October holiday to NYC to see Hamilton.

I love love love love my new car. I will drive anywhere for however long, because it smells like a new car and is so much fun to drive. We move house on the 8^th of July, this Sunday, and I am super excited for it because we’re moving from a one bedroom unit where I sleep in the lounge room with a curtain for a door to a three storey townhouse with my own bedroom with ensuite and an actual door for a door. And a kitchen I can bake in because there’s more than six inches of bench space.

I head off to Vancouver, LA and Chicago on the 14^th of July, and I’m away until the 30^th.

That’s about it for the good news.

I had the MRI’s on the 18^th, and it was different to the other MRI’s I’ve had before. They strapped me into a head cage, and an abdominal plate. It was really weird. I’ve been strapped in before because you don’t want to move when you’re having an MRI, but this was a whole new level of preparation. Thankfully I’m not a nervous scanner, or claustrophobic, and it was actually quite comfortable.

The scans took forever. About 10 minutes for my brain, and about 30 for my liver. There was so much to-and-fro-ing on the table, so many “breathe in, breathe out, breathe in and hold your breath (for 15 seconds), breathe normally” commands, that it started to freak me out a little bit.

I emailed my breast nurse to ask her to keep an eye on the results as they came through, because I’ve been dealing with a pretty intense headache and migraine, and nausea, for about six weeks or so now – probably longer. I was worried that the scan was going to show brain mets, which would be rare, but apparently ovarian mets is unusual for my type of cancer too, so I’m not exactly going to adhere to the cancer rule book here. She called me later in that week to tell me the brain scan was totally clear, which was a relief, not just for me but for her as well, because when I told her about the headaches she was worried for me. But, all clear, so that’s good.

I got a phone call from my oncologist on Friday night, because I’d asked for her to call me if my liver results from the scans were bad, since she was not working at the Peter Mac next week for my oncology appointment and she’d have someone else fill in for her. I don’t like hearing bad news from random oncologists, I like mine.

I haven’t had a liver MRI since November last year, and this one didn’t disappoint.

The original spot has shrunk to 2mm, down from the 9mm it was previously recorded at (not including the ultrasounds not being able to find the spot in the meantime). So that was great news. But in not great for me news but great news for tiny liver spot, it now has a 5mm friend in segment 8. They can’t confirm it is more cancer yet, it could be something else, but I’ll know for sure in my next MRI due at the end of August. Apparently there’s a liver-specific contrast they can use for it so that will be fun.

So between packing for moving, organising utility connection and disconnection, ongoing appointments, arranging holiday packing, liver results, and my general day to day stress, I am feeling really overwhelmed and am definitely at the end of my very short fuse. Thankfully this current place is only super tiny, so there’s not too much to pack and I have been delegating like a pro, and I have so much help for unpacking at the other end.

I’ll try to update before I head off, but on the off-chance that I don’t, I’ll find a way to let you know I’m still alive.