Sorry for the lack of updates, but I really haven't had a lot to report on the health front. Things are much the same as ever. Trying to cut down on some of the meds to reduce side effects, but this causes other symptoms. Still waiting for the CT scan that will show how effective the radiation has been.
It seems we've been doing a lot of social things! We had a lovely breakfast last weekend with K. and J. and family at their place. The boys are great and they really laid out a lovely spread of breakfast, thanks again guys! Dallas' parents visited for the day on Sunday and left a ton of raspberries. We had dinner with S. and some friends at Carlos & Murphy's on Monday, and went for gelati after, that was nice. On Friday my sister spent the afternoon at the house and we turned most of the raspberries into delicious jam! (We were pretty nervous though as it was our first time making jam and the instructions seemed rather.. precise!)
Today (Saturday) J. and M. took me out shopping for yarn so I can start a knitting project to keep myself occupied (I'm doing a scarf). Dallas' sister arrived from Calgary and we went to the zoo in the afternoon, that was fun. We were all tired out so we ordered a pizza for a late supper, played some Rock Band on the Wii and visited. But now it is late and time for bed... Dallas' parents are coming into town tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a nice sunny day as they are headed to a cabin at Hecla for the week.
Anyway I hope everyone is having a good weekend and I will try to update more frequently!
Love, P.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Good Day
Hey all, Dallas here again.
I just wanted to let everyone know that today was a busy and good day.
Still no news yet on the further scans (it wasn't that good a day) but it was a day with several positive things, which we will take whenever we can. Pam has been able to cut back on some of her meds which seems to be helping build her strength.
We took Gillespie to the vet this morning for her checkup which went very well, aside from her puking in the car a bit on the way home (typical Gillespie car sickness). She has had a chronic thyroid condition for a few months that she has been taking medicine for, and the checkup today was good on that score, she hadn't lost any more weight, and her pulse rate and blood pressure were good. (As an aside, they actually put a tiny cuff on G's arm to check her BP, which was pretty cute).
Pam sat outside with the cats for awhile before lunch. It was a hot day here today (first day of summer!)
This afternoon we went to an eye appointment for Pam, she had an eye exam (for free it turns out) and got a new prescription for reading glasses, and picked out a cute pair. They will be done by the weekend so she'll actually be able to read again which should help pass the time. It was a beautiful hot summer day and Pam was feeling pretty well, so I skived off work for an hour and we went for ice cream at Sargent Sundae. That was really nice. I made up for it by working until 7pm, in case any GWL people are reading this ;-)
Tonight we had salads with fresh strawberries for dinner, and shared a huge burger from the barbecue. Watched a movie. It was a good day. Like I said, we will take these wherever we can.
I just wanted to let everyone know that today was a busy and good day.
Still no news yet on the further scans (it wasn't that good a day) but it was a day with several positive things, which we will take whenever we can. Pam has been able to cut back on some of her meds which seems to be helping build her strength.
We took Gillespie to the vet this morning for her checkup which went very well, aside from her puking in the car a bit on the way home (typical Gillespie car sickness). She has had a chronic thyroid condition for a few months that she has been taking medicine for, and the checkup today was good on that score, she hadn't lost any more weight, and her pulse rate and blood pressure were good. (As an aside, they actually put a tiny cuff on G's arm to check her BP, which was pretty cute).
Pam sat outside with the cats for awhile before lunch. It was a hot day here today (first day of summer!)
This afternoon we went to an eye appointment for Pam, she had an eye exam (for free it turns out) and got a new prescription for reading glasses, and picked out a cute pair. They will be done by the weekend so she'll actually be able to read again which should help pass the time. It was a beautiful hot summer day and Pam was feeling pretty well, so I skived off work for an hour and we went for ice cream at Sargent Sundae. That was really nice. I made up for it by working until 7pm, in case any GWL people are reading this ;-)
Tonight we had salads with fresh strawberries for dinner, and shared a huge burger from the barbecue. Watched a movie. It was a good day. Like I said, we will take these wherever we can.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Cautious Optimism
Dallas here with an update.
We had our appointment with the oncologist today and got the results of the CT scan from last Wednesday. The scan showed some smallish spots on Pam's lungs but were otherwise clear. This is obviously not a great result, but could have been much worse, so we will take something positive where we can.
The oncologist explained that the primary treatment for stage IV metastatic brain cancer, which is what Pam has, is the course of radiation she just completed last week. That type of cancer apparently does not really respond well to chemotherapy and the many small tumours were not suitable to remove surgically. So the upshot is that what has been done so far is really the recommended treatment.
This means that the next step is a wait of about six weeks for the radiation to have its full effect, then a re-scan to see what effect the treatments had. If the tumours have shrunk or disappeared,that's great, or if only a few of the larger ones are left they may be candidates for treatment by "gamma knife" (focussed local radiation). Once it's been established that the treatment of the brain cancer was successful, we will re-assess at that point and determine what's to be done about the lung spots. For now the oncologist thinks that they are not a real threat and that the focus should be on the brain. He speculated that the cancer may have been growing there for a long time before any symptoms showed, and the ones Pam had were not really that clearly indicative of metastasis. In essence he seemed to say that if the CT hadn't been done and showed it up there would really be not much indicating it was there. Not surprising because she'd seen a senior neurologist in the week before she was diagnosed and he told her he didn't think there was anything wrong.
Before we left, the oncologist told us that in his long experience, he has seen cases of Pam's type of cancer respond well to radiation and that we should be "cautiously optimistic" of a good result on the re-test. We really have to keep positive.
Otherwise the updates are that Pam's weight has stayed about the same from last week despite McDonalds breakfast again on the weekend ;-) Her hair is really going now and we are off to the hairdresser tomorrow night to get the rest cut off. Pam's eyes have been bothering her a bit with a vision change that is making it difficult for her to read, so we have an appointment for an eye test to get her some new glasses. This will help.
Anyway, keep sending the positive waves and I will update when we have more news.
We had our appointment with the oncologist today and got the results of the CT scan from last Wednesday. The scan showed some smallish spots on Pam's lungs but were otherwise clear. This is obviously not a great result, but could have been much worse, so we will take something positive where we can.
The oncologist explained that the primary treatment for stage IV metastatic brain cancer, which is what Pam has, is the course of radiation she just completed last week. That type of cancer apparently does not really respond well to chemotherapy and the many small tumours were not suitable to remove surgically. So the upshot is that what has been done so far is really the recommended treatment.
This means that the next step is a wait of about six weeks for the radiation to have its full effect, then a re-scan to see what effect the treatments had. If the tumours have shrunk or disappeared,that's great, or if only a few of the larger ones are left they may be candidates for treatment by "gamma knife" (focussed local radiation). Once it's been established that the treatment of the brain cancer was successful, we will re-assess at that point and determine what's to be done about the lung spots. For now the oncologist thinks that they are not a real threat and that the focus should be on the brain. He speculated that the cancer may have been growing there for a long time before any symptoms showed, and the ones Pam had were not really that clearly indicative of metastasis. In essence he seemed to say that if the CT hadn't been done and showed it up there would really be not much indicating it was there. Not surprising because she'd seen a senior neurologist in the week before she was diagnosed and he told her he didn't think there was anything wrong.
Before we left, the oncologist told us that in his long experience, he has seen cases of Pam's type of cancer respond well to radiation and that we should be "cautiously optimistic" of a good result on the re-test. We really have to keep positive.
Otherwise the updates are that Pam's weight has stayed about the same from last week despite McDonalds breakfast again on the weekend ;-) Her hair is really going now and we are off to the hairdresser tomorrow night to get the rest cut off. Pam's eyes have been bothering her a bit with a vision change that is making it difficult for her to read, so we have an appointment for an eye test to get her some new glasses. This will help.
Anyway, keep sending the positive waves and I will update when we have more news.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Weekend Update
Hi everyone, just wanted to let you ll know how things are going.
Radiation is over as of last Thursday, but I'm still feeling the effects. Tired, unsteady on my feet, and sore throat mainly, plus the hair loss. My hair is well on its way out which is a bit depressing, but there's nothing I can do about that. I have some head coverings to wear anyway.
I went out for breakfast today to the Pancake House with Dallas to meet some of my friends. I had no idea, though, that the organizer had called quite so many friends to come out! Although it was tiring to be out it was nice to see everyone. I had a good breakfast too - oatmeal and bananas plus some of Dallas' pancakes. We also had a call this morning from one of our old friends from Dallas' law school days, which was nice.
Next steps are to see the general oncologist on Tuesday. Hopefully he will have the results from the CT I had on Wednesday so we will know what we're facing. I would really rather know; I am a planner and I find the waiting pretty upsetting. I'm trying to keep my strength up by going out for a short walk with Dallas a couple times a day, I hope the weather tomorrow allows us to keep that up.
That's all for now!
Love, P.
Radiation is over as of last Thursday, but I'm still feeling the effects. Tired, unsteady on my feet, and sore throat mainly, plus the hair loss. My hair is well on its way out which is a bit depressing, but there's nothing I can do about that. I have some head coverings to wear anyway.
I went out for breakfast today to the Pancake House with Dallas to meet some of my friends. I had no idea, though, that the organizer had called quite so many friends to come out! Although it was tiring to be out it was nice to see everyone. I had a good breakfast too - oatmeal and bananas plus some of Dallas' pancakes. We also had a call this morning from one of our old friends from Dallas' law school days, which was nice.
Next steps are to see the general oncologist on Tuesday. Hopefully he will have the results from the CT I had on Wednesday so we will know what we're facing. I would really rather know; I am a planner and I find the waiting pretty upsetting. I'm trying to keep my strength up by going out for a short walk with Dallas a couple times a day, I hope the weather tomorrow allows us to keep that up.
That's all for now!
Love, P.
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