1/23: Come on baby, let's get outta here...go hang out in Key West for a while...

No pictures today but a quick update on our status.
Craig's cancer type is the least aggressive and surgical pathology showed that it was contained to local tissue. This last week the captain had a chest xray and CT of the abdomen/pelvis to evaluate for metastasis. These tests were completely clean!! Since this type is described in medical literature as "exquisitely sensitive" to radiation, current standard of care is to proceed with radiation to eradicate any microscopic cells that might not yet show up in the lymph nodes on CT. It is typically 20 treatments, administered daily Monday through Friday.

In a nutshell (ha!), localized seminoma+negative tumor markers+negative CT+radiation = 98-100% effective cure.

The captain has an evaluation appointment at the radiation center Monday afternoon. The closest radiation center is in Key West. Oh, darn. What else to do but move S/V Hakuna Matata to Key West so that we do not have a daily commute. So, we are on our way back to Key West, at anchor tonight in Bahia Honda State Park which has been one of our favorite hidey holes in the area. Although we would like to be at anchor or in a mooring field for the month, we decided that a marina might be better suited for treatment or if I have to fly. We located a spot in Stock Island (see prior post), not quite Key West proper, but only 7 minutes from the center, ample parking and not as crazy expensive as downtown KW this time of year (north of 2K/month for this size boat...yikes!)

As soon as treatment and recovery are complete, hopefully the first week or two of March, we are headed way south. At this point, the only decision is whether to turn back east to the Bahamas and cruise down the path as originally planned, or do we reverse course, blast over to Cozumel and do the western Caribbean??