30 November 2015 End of Spring

And what a Spring it has been - hot one minute and cold the next. Bushfires one minute and storms the next.
This is what it looked like out of our front window last week:  

Yes, cold and wet - but this photo made me aware of the dead roses that needed a prune!

So today I managed to wheel the wheelchair onto the grass and prune the rose bed. It was worth getting bogged in the grass now and again, as it looks much better now, even if it isn't the proper time to prune roses.

 Last week I had my routine appointment with the oncologist who fortunately visits Portland weekly, so we didn't have to travel. All is looking good and appears stable so that is good. I do get a bit more back and hip pain now that I am off the steroid drugs, but I can live with that. He told me of a new drug showing great promise with kidney cancers. It is an immunotherapy drug, and appears to be very effective in activating the immune system to recognise and attack the foreign cancer cells. I like the sound of that - even though the drug costs $120,000 a year!!! Fortunately if I do go onto this drug I don't have to pay that - but I guess someone does. In January I will have further CT scans to check the progress a bit more clearly and to determine if I need any change of drugs. 

Meanwhile Brian hasn't had the best of weeks, with a lot of pain that he just can't seem to get on top of, and he has spent quite a bit of time lying flat on his bed or chair. Tomorrow he is having a skin cancer removed from his ear, so hopefully that goes smoothly. He's having a few tests done and various drugs to try, but we haven't found the answer yet, so we'd appreciate prayers for that. It's times like this that I especially feel my lack of independence - particularly driving. However, this is not something I dwell on, as I am fortunate that there is so much I can do. 

 Wise words indeed.