Ron Graham Update
This newspaper article,
B.C. woman responding to cutting-edge cancer vaccine is both a tragic and inspiring story. I'm not sure what the treatment is but it sounds similar to the vaccine therapy Ron will be receiving.
We have just returned from a great day at my sister Karol's house - she hosted a gathering for Herb's 85th birthday. The little kids swam in the pool all day. I went for an evening swim and hot tub. Ron had a good day, little nausea, no hiccups, and he alternated between resting on the couch and joining us on the porch. - Jodine
I can't say enough good things about home care. A nurse visits weekly and she was concerned about Ron's increased nausea and vomiting, so she came around yesterday morning. The day before (Ron's acupunture day) he vomitted about a dozen times and so he was a little dehydrated. Instead of sending us to the hospital, she arranged for a saline solution that can be administered at night or for a few hours in the day whenever Ron isn't drinking enough liquid - it's not an IV - it is a subcutaneous (in the skin) infusion. It's comfortable and has a low risk of infection. So Ron slept last night with the saline drip and he was refreshed this morning.
Wednesday was the worst day and yesterday and today Ron has been able to keep his food down, which is good. We should get the MRI results monday.
Ron's vaccine trial continues to be delayed - some paper pusher with Health Canada in Ottawa hasn't gotten around to sending an approval letter to a US firm to allow them to release a substance needed to make the vaccine. Very frustrating.
This afternoon we'll head out for our usual Friday afternoon pub visit with friends. -- Jodine
It's been a few days since I posted - Canada Day was quiet and a welcome break. I took the kids to the fireworks display; Ron wasn't feeling up to coming out that late at night. Yesterday Ron had his first acupunture treatment, which he is hoping will help alleviate his nausea, hiccups, general gastric discomfort, and also strengthen his immune system. He picked a good day to go - the most nausea he'd had in weeks. Today he is better and it looks like the nausea this time is caused by a gastric bleed - probably created by the decadron (a very powerful steroid with lots of side effects including stomach ulcers) and exacerbated by celebrex. Ron is no longer taking decadron, and taking celebrex instead both to control intracranial swelling but also because it has anti-tumour properties.
(Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in cancer treatment - abstracts) He'll be off the celebrex for a few days while the bleed heals.
His MRI was Monday afternoon and we will have to wait a little longer than usual for the results because of the holiday in the middle of the week.
Ron wrote an email today and I'm enclosing an excerpt here:
"Yesterday I had another experiment on the frontiers of medicine, for us Westerners, anyway. I went in for an acupuncture treatment with
Dr. Aung. I have been experiencing continuous nausea for many days now and yesterday reached its peak of throwing up - 10 times in one 24 hour period. It's better than hiccups but only slightly. Acupuncture is supposed to relieve things like hiccups, nausea, and more importantly, I think, generally improves the whole immune system by balancing the body. Anyway, always a skeptic, I managed to throw up right after the treatment was complete. It is very, very relaxing and so must be doing something good.
With so much sickness these are tough days for me and it takes a lot of willpower just to get through the simplest things. Nausea is crueler in the general sick feeling it leaves you with than the actual event of upchucking.
I get breast milk donations from several lactating mothers in the Edmonton area. Jodine, initially fearing the volunteer route might not yield enough milk for me, took some pills to help her relactate and began pumping her own milk.
The use of breast milk by a man in California recently had fairly atypical results - his prostate tumour shrunk to nothing and his PSA levels were kept very low and it was clearly established that it was the breast milk. Since they still don't have any miracle cures in the astrocytoma department store, I thought this was worth a shot. Of course I am hoping they do have a miracle cure, namely the vaccine which is being engineered for me and which I am taking in a few weeks time.
My doctor and my surgeon both approve of the breast milk - the surgeon is also the scientist working on the vaccine, Petruk - he says it'll help boost my innate immune system which needs to be strong for the vaccine to work.
This morning I indulged one of my cravings - a tall, cool glass of orange juice. I'm sure it won't stay down but it's worth it. Another side effect of my nausea is my taste buds seem to be shot and I can't stand the taste of McDonalds food anymore. Yesterday after the acupuncture we spent the afternoon with the kids at "Amma's", Jodine's mom, Rosemary. She blessed me with the gift of a shawl, the perfect instrument for keeping warm when one's thermostat is broken."
Well, the MRI and blood tests (to check white blood cell count before next round of chemo) happened today. As always the staff at the Cross were exceptional, pleasant, helpful, and very skilled - especially when they install an IV line. (The IV line is used for the contrast dye given to enhance the MR images)
Ron is getting a lot of feedback on his healthcare columns - mostly good feedback from patients, but today he got a very nasty letter from someone inside the U of A. I think it's the nastiest communication from a reader ever, and that includes the ones he got from teachers when he noted the ski-hill exodus during spring break!
More later.
Ron's second column in his series on healthcare is up on the Sun's website.
Sleeping pills? But I was asleep (June 29)"
Here's an update on Ron's condition from his own mouth - from an email he went to his sons Kevin and Stephen:
"I've had a week of mixed progress - good things, bad thing, typical. Good things include walking around the block just about every day. Bad things - I totally exhausted myself by trying to walk about a kilometre one day. I mean totally.
Jodine bought me a tricycle, no kidding. But I found out all the instincts that allow one to safely ride a two-wheeler are counterproductive on a tricycle. I was terrified and traumatized.
I have had a lot of stomach illness the past week or two. Well, at least it kept the hiccups at bay and now I've discovered that I probably have an ulcer which is pretty common amongst people that take steroids but happily I think these things are cleared up with pills or an antibiotic pretty quickly. I shall soon find out.
I'm getting an MRI tomorrow and a blood test as mileposts for the final phase of our campaign to kill the tumour with the vaccine soon to be administered. And another round of chemo starts shortly, ugh."
