All is Well!

Hi All,

This will be our last post for awhile. Things are going well with the chemo and my strength is slowly returning.  I may even attempt to hit a golf ball or two on the range next week!

Lorraine and I are traveling to Saskatoon in a couple of weeks to visit friends and attend a few retirement celebrations for former colleagues.  It will be good to visit our old stomping grounds.  We also look forward to spending a few days on Salt Spring Island in mid July visiting with Lorraine's grandchildren and family.

As far as returning to work - my doctors have recommended that  I wait until after Christmas to begin my gradual return to school.  I am anxious to get back into the swing of things with school, but I also know going back too soon could prove to be problematic.  So, I will take their sage advice.

Thanks again to all of our friends and family for your unending support and love when we needed it the most.  It made an incredible difference to us.

If there are any changes we will start up the blog again, but for now the future looks bright and we look forward to every day - even the rainy ones!

Take care,

Love,
L2

Home 8

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.

Home 7

Well, I guess I've fallen down on the job...thought I'd be writing a couple of times a week but it just hasn't happened. We've started getting out more and, inevitably, we run into someone Linda knows. Everyone is very surprised at her appearance because of the weight loss and some folks haven't recognized her. An interesting experience. The food is starting to go down easier now with much less nausea, although her beloved beef can be problematic. Much to her chagrin, fish has been easily digested!! We got some new water from Devine Vintners which is alkaline based and supposed to help with digestion - we'll let you know. And we've started some exercise - more walking when we're out, trying not to use the wheel chair at all. I'm still hoping we can walk the pooches together soon. We're still fiddling with her INR which is high but we know it can take a while to balance the amount of coumadin needed for the correct 'score'. She will be very happy when she's not being poked with needles anymore.

Home 6

So we're finally getting our mountain legs! We've been getting out a bit more - Friday to Costco (is it true that a Costco is to built here in Vernon?) and today to the Mall for a look around and a purchase of a beautiful knife (I was sooo envious of Tracy's knives). Linda got some new clothes - cordoroy pants, her favorite material - now if it only came in plaid. We're still working on getting the food/eating right - Linda is still experiencing nausea with some foods so we're trying to figure out how to lessen that without relying too heavily on gravol and other drugs. We'll get it organized! And we're just about ready to start the 'exercise regimen' - hopefully, the weather will cooperate so we can try walking the pooches together - yes, we'll start very slowly.

Lovely to see Kate on Friday - so good to hear that laugh!!

Home 5

A busy day yesterday - we both got haircuts from Sharon - so good to see her again - so now we're looking semi-presentable! Then off to see Dr H in the afternoon. I'm thinking we should be taking photos of people - a series of photos - as they come to an understanding of what Linda has gone through - we'd have quite the series of shock and surprise pics. Anyway, he agreed that she's a miracle! More bloodwork, but at least this time the nurse listened to Linda and went in through her hand instead of trying in the crook of her elbow - makes a huge diff to Linda (I think her veins hide whenever we are near a medical facility). Still not sure when the chemo will start; Dr H is thinking we need to get her a bit better, stabilized, especially in regard to weight maintenance - so probably not for another month. But it will be in pill form (we both silently cheered).

Linda's off with Lucille this morning - doing some shopping and then out for lunch with Deb. Great that's she's out and about!! I am trying to re-organize the ensuite bathroom - wish me luck!

Home 4

We got the results from the CT scan today - no mention from the Doc about the fistula and only minimal info in the report so we're assuming that it is healing. Really great news about the collection - it's shrunk to just 18 mm and it shows as fluid rather than abscess - another plus! Tomorrow is Dr H at the Cancer Clinic here in Vernon - we'll keep you posted.

We had a busy weekend with Christmas at Lucille's on Saturday - yes, we pigged out on turkey! And then we went off to the casino where Linda's luck with the machines continued. And it was great to see Kari and Barb and Yosh there.

Home 3

Goodness - we have been sleeping!! Nothing like dogwarmth (yes, that's one word) to send you into cozy dreamland. And we've been working on getting the eating schedule and menus functional. Yesterday was a great day for food - lots of it (compared to her eating habits in the hospital) and very little nausea. Lizzie was over this am for a wee visit and regaled us with family holiday stories; then, we both went to bed and slept for the afternoon. Tomorrow is the CT scan and next week, we have appointments with Dr F and Dr H, the oncologist, who, we hope, will give us some more info about when the chemo will start.

Thanks to Bentley and McDuff for the gorgeous fleurs and hugs to Stew and Eleanor in Regina.