Friday evening Ron and I went with the kids out to visit friends, Shauna Fraser and Fred Yackman. Our usual Friday night crowd. They live on an acreage near New Sarepta, southeast of the city. As we drove out we heard tornado warnings and reports that that a tornado had touched down in Westlock - but all is well at my sister Karol's farm near there.

We all enjoyed the evening. Ron started his 2nd round of chemo before going to bed - many people take the pills at bedtime and sleep through any nausea.

So far today Ron's had a good day, no vomiting, very little nausea. We ate breakfast with Jen and Angus at the Zellers cafeteria, one of our favourite breakfast places (really!) and then did a bit of shopping. Ron's right eye is still not focusing in tandem with his left and reading is difficult so he picked up a couple of books on tape - Ian Rankin's short stories, and Rudy Giuliani's book, "Leadership". -- Jodine  ¶ 4:45 PM

 

Good news! Someone from Health Canada contacted Ron's doctor to confirm they were sending approval for the substance needed for his vaccine trial to open. It will probably still take a little while. Ron starts his second round of chemotherapy later this week - 5 days of temozolomide, which is taken as pills once a day. His white blood cell counts look normal, and that is the most serious side-effect. So over the next few weeks he'll have another chemo threatment and then start the immunoadjuvant therapy prior to his vaccine.

Some not-so-good news, although entirely to be expected - the MRI shows continued tumour growth and spread. Surgery can only remove what is there at the time and doesn't halt growth - only chemo, radiation, or vaccine or immunotherapy treatments can halt growth and kill the tumour cells. So we await these upcoming therapies with enthusiasm and hope.

And finally, more good news - Ron's 2nd acupuncture treatment was today. He is finding treatment helps him relax and it reduces his nausea and hiccups. He had some neck pain today that was also reduced. -- Jodine

PS - Ron looks forward to emails - he checks his mail every day. rgraham@mediaworkswest.com




  ¶ 9:49 PM

  A good day, all things considered. Had a visit from the home care physiotherapist and the homecare nurse and all seems to be well. Still suffering nausea from time to time but that's to be expected. My headache was slightly worse than usual today but Tylenol seems to have come to the rescue.

Jenny and Angus's new summer nanny started today. Her name is Crystal. This should give the kids a fuller degree of attention through the rest of the summer than they've had from mom and dad, in as much as I am not quite as vigorous a participant in their games as I might have been.

-- Ron  ¶ 5:51 PM