I have started this blog so that I can keep you all better informed as I head into what may be the "home stretch" of my three years+ of cancer (uterine leiomyosarcoma, stage IV).
You have all been patient and loving and I would not be facing this nearly as well without all the support we have received. I know you all want to do what's best for me and my family, and this blog will be a way of letting you know what we need and to give you the latest developments, without exhausting ourselves. I am putting some thought into how best to balance my desire to see everyone, and the need to conserve energy, given that my stamina is weakening. There will be more about this in future postings.
The latest medical info is that I have been dropped from a clinical trial that was being run out of Toronto. My tumour growth has been too agressive, and my liver is in particularly bad shape. My lungs are more or less fine, and I am not in any pain (good drugs for that!). I will be getting a little blast of radiation on a tumour that is bugging me, on May 4, at the Ottawa Hospital, and I have one more visit to Toronto to provide final blood test results on May 15-16. In between these dates I will visit my folks in Edmonton, dates to be determined.
The biggest change at this time is that there is no reasonable treatment available to me, even experimental. I would not qualify for another clinical trial.
What has not changed: I can still walk and read and enjoy visits and dinners that do not run too late. I am really looking forward to our garden and canoeing on the Ottawa River and I am thrilled that Ada and Franck are both home for the summer.
And now, for a complete non-sequitor. Here is a picture of the upstairs orchids that Geoff had blooming for me when I got home from Toronto (pretty sweet , eh?):
