On Thursday Judith played field hockey with the school team in a local pre-season round-robin with a number of other schools. Judith and her team mates did very well, drawing one game and winning all the others.
On Friday Judith started her second round of chemo. This is the round where they were not sure whether to do a second round of chemo, or radiation. Eventually they left it up to Judith to decide after presenting her with some nasty facts associated with each. She opted for the chemo - another four sessions - and we had the first of these on Friday.
During the days leading up to Friday she had more tests: CT Scan, Gallium Scan and a chest x-ray. The Gallium was still negative and the size of the mass on the CT Scan was unchanged. As before, they are still not sure if that is the mass that is lingering, or scar tissue. We are hoping and praying and trusting that it is the latter, especially since the Gallium is negative.
Chemo sessions are never very pleasant at the best of times but this one was particularly unpleasant. To begin with it started late. Usually Ingrid takes Judith in the morning for her bloodworks and appointment with the oncologist, after which the nursing staff start the chemo if the oncologist gives the go-ahead based on the bloodworks. I generally get there around 1:00pm and Ingrid leaves to finish her work hours or to do other things if she has completed her hours for the week. (Today it was to make Pavlova for Miriam's birthday.) When I got to the hospital at 1:10 yesterday (Friday) they had just inserted the intravenous (IV) line but had not put up the drips yet. It was going to be a long day...
On the positive side for Judith, it was a holiday for students (PA Day - when teachers have professional formation,) so her boyfriend Mark was able to be there to give her moral support. Around 3:30pm Judith started to feel cold; nothing too unusual, so she was given a warm blanket. Then she started to shiver - and then shiver violently - so much so that she could not drink a glass of water without spilling. In the space of five minutes her temparature went from 38.4 C to 39.7 C. Apparently developing somewhat of a fever is not too uncommon with one of the drugs that she is being given, but this was decidely disconcerting and it did mean interrupting the infusion until the shivering and temperature were brought under control. Sometime after 4:30pm a decidedly groggy Judith was able to leave the hospital with Mark and me.
Judith was determined that this was not going to stop her spending a couple of hours helping Miriam celebrate her 30th birthday with the whole family in attendance - even Stephen who had bussed in from Kingston for the single night occasion. We had to finish the evening early anyway as we had to take Mark (McCann) to the airport to attend a tradeshow in Frankfurt. (Wie gut sprechen Sie Deutsch, Mark?) Naturally Mark will be spending a day in Holland visiting "the cousins".
Tomorrow, Sunday, if previous experience can be relied upon, will be sleeping and IV hydration.
Thank you to all of you who are so faithful in reading this blog, and for your prayers and concern for Judith.
