11 April 2016

Once again, I am delighted to report that I have been feeling remarkably well over the past few weeks - with virtually no pain. I am so happy about this that I asked the nurse overseeing my medications if she thought I could reduce some of my considerable number of pain relief medications, but she quickly responded that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". In other words, enjoy and appreciate it instead of changing anything! 
Brian meanwhile is much the same - that is, some good days and some not so flash. I guess that's better than all days not so flash...

This morning I had a CT scan - this follows 3 months of being on the new immunotherapy drug. Last time I had a CT scan done here at Portland they had a lot of trouble finding a vein, but today before starting, the radiologist and nurse (both Christians that I know well) said a prayer over me, and boom, not a problem - they found a good vein first try! I haven't got results yet, possibly only next week when I go to Warrnambool for the next infusion. 

Less than 3 years ago, I had the privilege to be part of a Compassion Insight Group to travel to the Philippines and visit child sponsorship programs in action. Included in this group of 9 were my brother Geoff and Simon & Caitlin. We met many wonderful people, including some amazingly mature young adults taking part in a Leadership Development Program. One 17 year old girl Jessa, had just lost her sponsor, and so Simon & Caitlin took over this sponsorship so that she could continue in the program. 

Here she is on the left, at one of the Projects we visited. Such gorgeous kids!

The reason I mention this is that Jessa is graduating from the Program this coming weekend, so Simon & Cait are travelling to the Philippines for her graduation! They will also visit some other younger children who are being sponsored by people from S & C's church in Melbourne, so it is all very exciting for them. They'll complete their travels with a few days in Singapore with my niece who shifted to Singapore to live 2 months ago. This mother will be saying a few prayers for them, but trust that they will all experience a wonderful 2 weeks away. 

This envelope in our letterbox recently gives new meaning to the term "snail mail".