My Christmas Gift

Yesterday I sent this information to my friend Ms. K, via email:

Interface dermatitis with cytotoxicity consistent with cytotoxic drug eruption. Erythema multiforme-like drug eruptions or post-viral erythema multiforme. . . Furthermore, a mild perivascular dermal lymphoneutrophilic infiltrate is also seen with a focus of interstitial mononuclear cell infiltrate with occasional neutrophils. . . . A focal dermal hypersensitivity reaction to an endogynous antigen, such as a persistent arthropod bite response, cannot be entirely excluded.

"Holy fucking mother of jesus cow! You mean that doctor was wrong? The one I liked who was so confident?" screamed Ms. K from her fifteen story apartment in Brooklyn.

I wrote back to confirm. The skin biopsies, all three of them -- one from my armpit, one from my chest, and one from my back -- all came back with that long garbled explanation, which was frequently punctuated with the words "benign" and "No malignancy represented."

It's a reaction to a drug or a supplement or an infusion. I don't know which one(s), and right now I don't care, because it's Christmas Eve and the redness is slowly fading and is not cancer.

I still have rising tumor markers, I still have metastatic breast cancer, but I don't have cancer in my skin.

This was a big learning experience for me. Again. I will explain why I feel this way, in a later post. But right now, I must do a few things in preparation for our Christmas Eve guests.

In two hours Blake and Emerald, Jack's children, are coming over for dinner. (My Will just flew into Chicago from Paris. He's hoping to get to SF in early January. Fingers crossed.) We're having crab cakes, salad, a mixed squash stir fry with carrots and onions, and pumpkin and apple pies with ice cream. And white wine. And if anyone wants fancy coffee afterward, I have my nifty milk frother.

Last but not least, I found out yesterday that I have the same birthday as Chevy Chase.

Comments

[Jeff Kennedy]

Good news!

[harlan lewps]

Harlan happy too.

[Julie]

Oh, Merry Christmas, Jane!!!!

[Jennifer D.]

Let's have some more Christmas miracles. Just today, a friend who's been unresponsive since surgery for a brain tumor the past two weeks opened his eyes and spoke to his wife. I'm rooting for you, for both of you, that it will only get better.
xoxoxo
Jennifer

[mary ann stein]

This is Fabulous news and I love Ms. K too!

[linda]

I AM SO HAPPY THIS CHRISTMAS EVE! My heart is happy, my eyes are happy.

[Jill]

I had a feeling!!!! I was just saying yesterday that I felt they could be wrong about the skin thing, as they have been wrong before on other things! YAY!!! Your Christmas gift has become mine! So happy to have some good news! HALLELUJAH and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love you!

Jill