Bottle 7, 8, & 9

2006 Château Douley Premières Côtes de Bordeaux
1999 Parsons Flat Shiraz - Cabernet
2005 Clos du Val Cabernet Sauvignon

Don't worry- I did not consume all of these bottles at once- it has been a crazy few weeks.

The first bottle, the Bordeaux, I shared at a little wine and cheese playdate- which seems like a lifetime ago. It was very good.

The other 2 bottles I drank.

Two weeks ago, Adam went for an MRI to rule out anything serious that was causing headaches that he had been getting for the past few months. Everyone, including the doctor, thought it was stress. I asked him if he wanted me to drive him and he said no- it's nothing.

I was at Universal City Walk with a friend and her daughter, and Penny and Olive. Penny and her friend had just finished running around the squirting water fountain when I saw I had 3 missed calls from Adam. I called him immediately and he said, "It is something, you need to come here". My stomach turned to rock.

I somehow dropped Penny off at her friend's house and got to the MRI place with Olive. Adam didn't know much, he was just about to go into the MRI to do a second scan. The doctor asked to talk to me. "He has a lesion" the doctor said- which is a nice word for tumor. Tumor? What? A brain tumor? WHAT?

Two hours later we were at the ER and the next two weeks became the "lost weeks". I have no idea what was going on in the world. I went from home to the hospital back home to breastfeed, back to the hospital to bring Adam food then to school to pick up Penny, back to the hospital, home to breastfeed, hospital, back home, sleep...then again the next day...and next...and next...

Thankfully my mother in law flew in to help with the girls and my brother in law and his girlfriend were filling in for me at the hospital when I had to be home.

Surgery was needed. Brain surgery. Adam was rightfully nervous, we all were. But I held strong, only hearing the positive when the doctors would talk about the prognosis. The neurosurgeon (who was great) said he suspected the tumor was a "low level malignancy" and there were some possible side effects but he felt he could remove the whole thing. I chose to focus on the "removing the whole thing" instead of letting it sink in that the tumor was malignant or that there were side effects to deal with. I would give reports to my mother in law with a rosey spin because honestly that is all I was hearing, I had to. My mind could not even consider the alternative.

The day of the surgery was a long day. I took some friends up on their offer to babysit so I could stay at the hospital all day. In a weird way it was nice. For a few hours it was only me in the surgical waiting room. I read a book in a quiet room- I haven't done that in ages. It was the one day in the 2 weeks that I was not feeling like I needed to be in two places at once. I just needed to be there. And I knew it was going to be OK. My brother in law and his girlfriend came to meet me and we waited for news.

The doctor finally came 6 hours after surgery began. He had good news, he was able to remove the entire tumor and it had not spread into the brain. We had to wait another few hours to see Adam because he was brought straight over to have another MRI.

Adam was in ICU for 36 hours and in regular recovery for another 3 days. It kind of amazes me how fast his recovery has been. You would think that one wouldn't be able to leave the bed for weeks after brain surgery, but Adam was walking the very next day.

All of our friends have been terrific- some dropping off food, plenty of offers to babysit, and lots of love. Penny's school also stepped up, letting her stay in the afterschool program and even attend school an extra day that she is usually off.

Some nights when I came home for an hour, it was nice to have a glass of wine- I honestly did not pay much attention to the specific flavors or scents. It was just a familiar taste that I enjoy.

Adam's prognosis is great. The entire tumor has been removed. He will have to have MRIs on a regular bases to make sure it doesn't grow back. But as the doctor said this was most likely just a speed bump in life- a big speed bump.