A Flat Tire & A Flat Pancreas

So we were on our way up into the wild blue yonder...actually we were just a ways outside of Sisters when our tire blew out...not just a little hole...but this huge gaping hole! Well the girls had just gone through a car care badge so we got out the spare, leaned it on the back of the truck as a sign to passing motorists that perhaps the two women and four girls on the side of the road could use a little help. We tried to get the tools out, but the latch on the door was broken...too much wood hauled in the back of the Suburban, never opened before and it rusted after all these years, I don't really know why (the manual didn't show a blow up of the latch). So we tried to flag down another Suburban...aparently having a spare tire and lots of children on the side of the road and waving both arms in the air means, "Please honk and wave". We got lots of honks and waves and smiles to bolster our mood while we tried, but alas, help did not arrive and we had to call Les Schwab to come change the tire. So while we were waiting the phone rang...

It was Aspen's doctor; not the nurse, bad sign. The tumor is exactly the same size, no bigger, no smaller, but her pancreas has started to atrophy. I don't know how withered it is, or how much smaller it is, but her records are being reviewed by a new gastroenterologist who will do a biopsy. She will be put to sleep and they will go down her throat and run a needle through the side of her stomach into the tumor and aspirate some cells. It's kind of low risk (you never really want a hole in your stomach though). It will probably be mid to late September.

I had so much hope that the tumor was gone. I was sure it was our last visit because every time we go we ride the tram and every time Aspen tries to take a picture of the tram car moving in the opposite direction as it passes our tram car. Every time it has been blurry or just part of the car...but this time she got a great picture...mission accomplished!