No news to update. I just wanted to say how happy we were to arrive at the hospital at 5:15 and see our friend Denise sitting in the lobby waiting for us. We knew she was coming but did not expect her to arrive so early. And I thought we had to get up early. Denise started her morning at 3 am from Santa Barbara. 

Also, just wanted to let everyone know that these posts will likely have all kinds of errors and lack some eloquence since my editor is in surgery.

Scott just headed to surgery. He's in good spirits. 

Final day before surgery. We met with the cardiovascular surgeon who will be helping with the surgery and he seemed confident that he could get the tumor out around the aorta. This evening, Scott spent a lot of time playing guitar, a great way to reduce anxiety. And Maz had an amazing day with Noam and Chaana. After a trip to Home Depot, Noam built Maz the best fort ever. Below is a photo of the two guys at work and one of them proud of the finished product. Noam and Chaana's house will never be the same. 

Scott, Maz and I also did a little early present opening on Tuesday night. 

I will update the blog throughout the day tomorrow. Surgery will start about 6:30 a.m. and will take between 5 and 10 hours.

Fort building

The finished product

Early Christmas at home

Two days left till surgery. Christmas holiday prep work has really ramped up since we seem to be trying to fit in every Christmas tradition before heading up to L.A. on Wednesday. We cut down the tree last week, and Tuesday night we plan to have our jaunt around the neighborhood enjoying the Christmas lights. We took our own lights down early this year after an overloaded circuit caused an outlet to catch fire. We are incredibly lucky the couch and insulation somehow didn't ignite. More miracles!

We've had some busy but great days recently. On Saturday, we went to a carcinoid cancer conference in L.A. We were happy to have access to a lot of the major experts in one room. It was also nice to meet a few other people with carcinoid cancer. We didn't meet anyone with thymic carcinoid, but it was still nice to hear other people's stories and feel part of the "family you didn't want to join," as one woman put it. Our friends Chaana and Noam put us up for the night. It was so nice laughing and chatting with them. After the conference we had a great dinner with my brother's family and my mom. It's always fun to see them (and we will be seeing a lot more of them soon as we are staying with them during Scott's hospital stay). And on Sunday while I worked my last shift before going on leave, Scott and Maz got to visit with Scott's stepdad BobBob.

We also felt so blessed to get a visit from our Philly friend, Denis. Denis asked to be put to work, so now the porch is swept, the Christmas lights have been attended to and the inside of the house is sparkling. Thanks, Denis.

Today, our friend Stacy took Maz to the movies after school and Scott and I enjoyed a super low tide at the beach. So nice to spend some time relaxing before the big day. After a sunset walk, we met up with Denis to catch the very tail end of the sunset and we were also lucky enough to run into our good pal Pendo, post-surf session. It's always fun to hear his animated accounts of the day's waves. Tonight I made one of Scott's favorite meals: pesto pasta. The basil came from Monica and Eric's garden and it was AMAZING! Thanks, guys!

Maz working hard to cut down this year's Christmas tree.

Today at the beach.

What a sunset!

With our good buddy, Denis! Miss you Denis. California is always willing to take you back.

Scott and Pendo

Pesto!

Traveling back and forth to LA hasn't left much time for detailed posts. After our appointment Friday, we stayed the night at my brother's house and then had to get up early to rush back to San Diego for Maz's karate belt ceremony at 11 a.m. on Saturday. He's now a proud yellow-belt.

The plan is to head up to LA on Dec. 18. Scott is scheduled for surgery at 7 a.m. on Dec. 19 at Cedars-Sinai. His surgeon said he should expect to be in the hospital about 7-10 days. I got a miniature tree for his hospital room and I have it on pretty good authority that Santa is stopping by to bring some gifts for Scott and Maz.

Visitors are always nice so if anyone finds themselves in LA around the holidays, please feel free to stop by and see us. I tend to answer texts much faster than email. My cell is 619-272-1401.

The surgery is a go! It's scheduled for Dec.19!

We won our appeal!! The insurance company will have to pay for the surgery. Can't even put into words the relief we feel. Maz summed it up, however, with "Great, I won't have to give you my hundred dollars."