Tumor markers are a crap shoot

I had my first six month post-treatment checkup with my oncologist this past week. He's such a nice guy! Anyway, he tested my blood for "tumor markers," which is one way to detect if there are any active cancer cells in my body. The good news is that the test showed no cancer activity but these tests are often times inconclusive. It's possible to have active cancer and still have normal blood tests. I'm all too aware of this, because my tumor marker test was in the normal range at the time I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. Isn't that comforting? So while I'm happy the blood tests were normal, I don't take a lot of stock in the results.

Polly's cooking adventure

Last night I decided to cook dinner for my husband and his mother, who is in town visiting. Anyone who knows me well is probably a little surprised to read this, as I rarely cook. In fact, despite being with her son for the past eighteen years I have never once cooked a meal for my mother-in-law. So I decided to make turkey chili. I've made it once before and both the hubby and I enjoyed it, so I figured it was a safe bet. After an hour and a half of chopping, measuring and simmering, the chili was finally finished. While I was serving it up though, I noticed that the consistency was different this time. There seemed to be a lot more liquid left. Should I have let it cook longer?

We all took our first few bites with no one really saying anything. Finally I said, "It tastes a lot different than the first time." Mr. Pincushion agreed as he kind of pushed the chili around with his spoon. Looking at the recipe I quickly realized what happened. Instead of one and a half tablespoons of apple cider vinegar I mixed in one and a half cups! No wonder our nose hairs were going crazy. Tears ran down our cheeks as we laughed and cracked jokes over my disastrous mistake. In the end though, my mother-in-law actually ate most of her portion. She was a good sport, but I have a feeling I"ll be reminded of my chili fiasco every time we're together.

The good news is that according to the internet vinegar can cure all kinds of ailments, such as high cholesterol, arthritis, gout, and acne, and help you lose weight.