Yes indeedy - an update from your recalcitrant blogger!
So this is what has happened in the last 3 weeks (hmm...guess I need to go back a bit further than that). When we returned to Vernon, Linda had a CT scan to review the fistula and the collection in her abdomen. Imagine our surprise when the radiologist who read the scan announced that there was a 3.5 cm lesion (yes the dreaded cancer) on her liver. We didn't believe it and quite forcefully said - no there isn't a lesion there because...(much medical terminology spouted from my mouth - the gist of which was we knew there was something in 1 lobe and it had to do with fatty sparing and blood vessels). Anyway, Dr H decided to be thorough and Linda had 2 different kinds of scans (red cell and sulphur colloid) and both showed that the area in question was typical of hemangioma rather than c. So great relief in our home - even though we were sure there wasn't anything there - goodness, we are frail creatures when it comes to any suggestion of more disease. This living with fear is the pits!
Linda has got herself set up with a speech therapist. The first visit was an assessment and the therapist indicated that her impairment was mild and gave her a whole swack of exercises to do for prosody which she has been doing sporadically. I think the best exercise so far has been Kim's (from Saskatoon) visit. I thought there was a marked improvement in her speech when she and Kim were blethering on and on about school stuff. This week, her nephew, Chris, has been here from Manitoba - and again, more natural practice is resulting in clearer speech.
She started her 'mop-up' chemo yesterday. It's capecitabine in pill form - she was not impressed with the size of the pills but they have gone down and stayed down. It's a 2 weeks on, 1 week off regime and will continue for 6 months. There's not a whole lot in the medical literature about whether this chemo is really helpful in warding off this particular kind of cancer from recurring but Dr Temple in Calgary (who knows a lot about PMP ) has recommended it and we're going along with his suggestion. We've read about all the possible side effects and have armed ourselves with bag balm and vitamin B and maxeran.
Linda continues to get stronger - fewer afternoon naps, more time spent up and about, more ventures out into the wide world without the wheel chair.
