A Successful Surgery and Good Times at the Beach

October is here like a breath of fresh air. The garden maintenance is much slowed at this point, we are just reaping the rewards of tomatoes, peppers, and melons, and tending to a few cool-season crops that I have growing; kale, cabbage, beets, kohlrabi, lettuce, and celtuce ("celery-lettuce"). But I have been happy to refrain from yard work recently, partly due to the warm and dry weather this time of year. Charlotte and I took a nice trip to nearby Shell Beach this past weekend with our good friends Alexa and Tavis, and Tavis' son, Cillian, a very sweet little guy who has been fun to watch growing up over the last few years. The tide was high, but we saw sea stars, crabs, and sea anemones, as well as a surprisingly diverse community of different fun-shaped sea weeds washed ashore.

Out on the rocks were a number of harbor seals. They seemed a bit wary, even of us humans on shore, at least 40 or 50 feet from them. I heard there was a Great White shark attack near Bodega Bay that same weekend.

It was a gorgeously clear, surprisingly warm day on the coast.

All in all it was a very pleasant day, one that was mentally helpful in preparation for Charlotte having surgery two days later. Just a few weeks ago, her doctors (who we have the highest regard for and have been incredibly supportive, considering how difficult the medical system so often can be) decided on a plan to remove a mass that had not diminished like all her others did with the chemo- and then immunotherapy treatments. Additionally, they did a hysterectomy, as she had a polyp on an ovary and it was deemed the most thorough way to eliminate those couple of masses all at once. We were happy with this course of action (not wanting to have children, this wasn't a hard decision to make) and eager to get the masses removed. We went with her parents to the hospital in San Francisco yesterday and surgery went very smoothly! We were very happy to hear the doctor say that they saw no other masses in the area, nor did anything have to be removed from the nearby colon - it was all apparently central to the ovaries, which was the best possible outcome. Charlotte was in and out of the hospital in about 8 hours and could walk and eat that very evening. Pretty amazing! Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge after a long day in the city, the sunset was a soothing sight.

We will be focusing on recovery and allowing Charlotte's body to heal for a number of weeks ahead, and continuing with bi-weekly immunotherapy treatments indefinitely, as well as focusing on a more anti-cancer diet as an ongoing form of strengthening her system and eliminating any remaining cancer cells. (Yeah, we USUALLY eat pretty healthy, but things like sugar and hollow carbs can often get consumed in large quantities... and there is always room for more vegetables in the repertoire, as well as certain foods known to be rich in antioxidants, lycopine, and other nutritional goodies). We are both very thankful to have such caring and supportive friends and family members in our lives, near and far, who have helped immensely to make this year manageable. Happy Autumn! 🍂 I was treated to this young deer's exuberant performance as I glanced out our window the morning of surgery. We love our deer-in-residence, despite their destructive appetites. How lucky we are to get to witness such unbridled joy of life in our very own yard! (Sorry, for some reason I can't make paragraph breaks on the blog anymore, hmmm...)