Celebrations and Hang-overs

Friday night was a very enjoyable evening. Mark and his friend, Phil, came over after work and had dinner with us and then spent the evening with Judith playing Set.

Yesterday (Saturday) evening Ingrid did not feel like cooking and, anyway, we felt like having a bit of a celebration after Judith's encouraging test results so Ingrid, Judith and I went to Al. Gonquin's, a restaurant where Judith used to work last year. It was a good idea - a nice way to have a mini celebration.

Muriel the home nurse had come in the morning on Saturday to give Judith her post-chemo injection and found that the doctor had ordered 1000 ml of IV hydration, not the half-litre of the previous 2 occasions. As this takes about 10 hours it was agreed to have it overnight so after we came back from our dinner Muriel came and set Judith up for the night. Well, it was not to be a night of rest. Between occlusions (mostly false it would seem) and failures the IV pump beeped us out of bed right through the night. I did not keep track but it would not be an exaggeration if I said this thing must have beeped us approx. 20 times. I think the longest sleep stretch was about 90 minutes. When Sandy, Muriel's nursing colleague, came to remove the IV at 8:00 this morning we all felt like we had been partying all night without the fun (Remind me to request the machine get serviced.) Sandy said that if Judith could take in a liter and a bit of liquids during the day then they could assess this evening whether it will be necessary to do another hydration tonight.

Judith has been sleeping most of the day so far (normal for the 3rd and 4th days of chemo) so we have been waking her periodically to take in some liquids. Approved liquids exclude caffeine and alcohol.

Deo Gratias

Deo gratias is a Latin phrase meaning "Thanks be to God." The results of the tests that Judith had this week left the oncologist very pleased with the progress of treatment so far. The lumps in her neck and under the arms have gone; the mass between the lungs has diminished significantly and the mood in our household has lightened considerably. To those of you who have been praying, thank you for your prayers - please don't stop now; and to every one of you, thank you for your support, kind words, emails - just for showing your interest in reading the blog. When I put the hit counter on the blog I had no idea how many of you were reading this blog on a regular basis. It is very gratifying to see so many of you showing such interest.

Comments now enabled

Some of you expressed disappointment at not being able to leave comments. I have changed the setting so that anybody can leave comments. However, they will be moderated so you will not see your comment until it is published by me or Judith, the two administrators of this blog. This is to prevent spam and comments by sicko's.

Week of Reckoning

Well, this week Judith will be having the tests done to see how the treatment has been working.

On Monday she gets the agent injection for the Gallium Scan on Thursday. Then, on Friday, the day of her next treatment, in addition to the usual blood test she will be getting a CT scan. By the time she sees the oncologist he will have seen the test results and should have a good idea of how things have been going. Please pray.

New Photo Albums

I have added 2 new albums, one of the fallen tree saga, and one with some pics of baby raccoons which may be living in our willow tree - possibly displaced by the storm on Monday night. No idea where mommy is. After we took the pics we did a bit of chasing to make them scared of us.

The Tempest

It was a dark and stormy night. It was raining cats and dogs and the thunder and lightning was nearly as bad as it gets on the Highveld. Just as George Bush (chewing with his mouth open) was about to reveal to Tony "Yo" Blair his now famous insight about what to tell the Syrians, we lost the satellite feed for the Monday night BBC News. We switched off the TV and soon after that the house lights started going on and off like a Christmas tree. I had just switched off the home computer when there was a mighty crash and the whole house shook. Judith gave a yell and we went through to her room where she was lying in bed. Looking out from her window all I could see pressing against the window pane was leaves from a tree that was supposed to be about seven metres away.

I got up early in the morning on Tuesday and found that what had happened was a tree with a double trunk on the fence line between us and our neighbours (there is no fence as such) had been blown over such that one trunk was on our house and the other trunk on the neighbour's. Unlike a lot of other trees that came down on Monday night where the trunks actually snapped, in this case the root system gave way first causing it to fall more slowly. It landed on the roof directly above where Judith was lying in bed but the house structures held. I think it is possible that if the trunk had snapped and the tree fallen differently that the house may not have held up so well and Judith could have been injured, or worse. So, we all thank God that all the damage is replaceable.

Meanwhile the tree has been removed, the roofers have come and taken photographs, and I await the next company contracted by the insurers to pay a visit to my home tomorrow. Fortunately the company I work for, GE Healthcare, has made it possible for me to work from home when necessary using high speed Internet access.

Click on the photo images to enlarge.

Faux Pas a la Terry

Did I say "Maureen, the home nurse?"
Please make that "Muriel" :-(
The Editor regrets the error and apologizes profoundly.

What does 42 look like?

Session 4 (2b) went off without a hitch. Thanks for your prayers. The white blood cell count was actually slightly above normal - which is much better than below normal. In addition to Ingrid and myself, visitors included Mark the Boyfriend who took the day off from his summer job to be with Judith during the whole time of her treatment, Mark her brother, who came in his lunch hour, and our former neighbour, Moira.

Towards the end of the proceedings, Judith commented to Mark D about a picture in a magazine she was reading, "Courteney Cox really doesn't look 42." The nurse sitting at a nearby work station overheard the comment and asked, "So what does 42 look like?" Even after a lot of drilling with an expanded audience of amused nurses, Judith declined to answer the question... I think they quite enjoy having a teenager in the ward.

This morning Maureen, the home nurse, was at our place at 8:00am to give Judith her "day after" injection.

Next Treatment on Friday

Session 4, also known as 2b, will be tomorrow (Friday). Please pray that Judith will have a good white blood cell count, and also that the drugs will do what they are supposed to do, and that she can be spared the worst of the harmful side-effects; also that the post-treatment nausea can be controlled.

Our thanks to those of you who have sent emails of support and assurances of prayers.

Danger is Relative

This has been a good week - which is what you would hope for in the second week after treatment. Judith has been pretty active: on Sunday spending the day with Mark Dankowych (aka Mark D, Mark Dank, Dank the Tank, or "the boyfriend") and his family watching Mark compete with his off-road motorbike; Tuesday going flying with her friend, Andrew; this evening going for thrills and spills at Canada's Wonderland. Judith told us that Mark did well in his races, coming second overall across four races. I was thinking, "I'm glad Judith doesn't do that; that could be quite dangerous. I probably wouldn't let her if she showed too much interest." Then on Tuesday I heard that a friend Judith knows from Cadets, Andrew, invited her to go flying with him. I was told that Mark D had also been invited but his parents ajudged it to be too dangerous so he would not be going.... Curious irony.

Judith took some pictures which still need to be put into an album. Meanwhile here is one that she took from the air of her school, Dr John Denison.

Last Week in June

Judith graduated on June 28 and is now officially done with high school. Each graduate had their moment of glory for approximately 10 seconds when they received their diploma and then there were some who also got a prize. Judith shared the Earth and Space Science Reward with her good friend Hannah. The tall guy beside them in the photo is Mr. Bush, their teacher.

On Friday, Judith had her 3rd chemo - or rather 2A, having had 1A and 1B. The injection she had to stimulate white blood cell growth worked extremely well which means that she will definitely keep to the two week cycle. Apparently this is very important for the type of treatment regimen she is on.

Today, Muriel the visiting community nurse, came to set up her IV hydration at home. Judith spent most of her day sleeping. This procedure will be repeated tomorrow. We are so grateful that this service is available for her as it seems to prevent the dibilitating nausea she experienced after her first chemo. According to the pattern we have observed, day 4 (which is tomorrow) is usually the most challenging with nausea and tiredness but fortunately it is a holiday for Terry and me so we'll be around for the day.

Thank you all for emails, phone calls, enquires and chats.It is good to know that we can talk about these events in our life.

With love, Ingrid