8 April 2015 Update on Brian

Just a quick update on Brian, who has been in Geelong hospital now for 5 days.

He is very happy that he is being discharged today (Wednesday), and Dale has just left Portland to pick him up.

The scan that he had (MRCP – or ‘MRcholangiopancreatogram’ for anyone interested) showed that his abdominal pain has been due to sludge in the bile duct (his gall bladder was removed many years ago), and while he is coming home today (yay!) he will need to go back next Monday for a procedure where they ‘sweep’ out the bile duct and enlarge any narrowed sections to minimize the chance of this recurring. It is a simple procedure in the scheme of things, and he should be able to be discharged the same day.

Hopefully that is one area of his health that can then be ticked off.

6 April 2015 - A few twists and turns in the road

And another one down, and another one down, another one bites the dust… another month that is, and another monthly course of chemo drug done and dusted. All has continued to go well with it, and the only further issue I have had is an increase in back pain – in a different spot this time. A bit of juggling with pain relief options is helping there.

Life continues to have its twists and turns though. For the past few weeks Brian has had a period of relative ill health, some days feeling better than others, and this culminated in a time of sharp abdominal pain on Good Friday, so it was off to the Emergency Department (thanks to dear friends transporting him). After some tests and observation they decided to transfer him to Warrnambool. However Warrnambool hospital had no available beds so at 2am Brian ended up being transferred to Geelong by ambulance – in fact by FIVE ambulances (Portland to Warrnambool, then to Terang, then Colac, then Winchelsea and finally Geelong). Fortunately by this stage Brian’s pain had subsided which was just as well because it took 5 hours instead of an expected 3½ hours. Brian has spent the past few days in Geelong having further tests etc, somewhat compromised by the long weekend unavailability of some of the services and personnel. At this stage they think he has had a gallstone, and a further scan tomorrow may shed more light on this. 

All being well, we expect that he may be discharged on Wednesday.

We’re not too sure what it is about major church festivals – my illness became apparent at Christmas time, and now Brian has had a turn at Easter. Watch out for Pentecost!

This of course has made life a bit interesting for me, because of my lack of mobility. However I am fine and amazingly Geoff (brother) and Robin had already planned to visit for Easter, so I was very well cared for. They took over the kitchen, and kept themselves busy with lots of unexpected jobs around the house and garden. It was lovely to have them visit (and not just for their hard labour) and the timing of this visit couldn’t have been more perfect.

I am also very thankful for the many offers of support we have had, and it has been necessary to humble myself and take up some of these offers – eg driving me to Warrnambool tomorrow for an echocardiogram.

I am so grateful for the love and care from friends and church family – our fridge is brim full too, so that makes life much easier for me as well.

Thank you.  

Geoff and Robin taking over the kitchen

25 March 2015

I’m a bit overdue with this blog, but it doesn’t seem that much of significance has happened over the past week.

But then again…

Last Monday Dale moved out of our house and into his own digs after having lived with us for approx 3 months.

His life had unraveled following a very stressful marriage breakdown last year, and we were happy that we could provide some short-term space for him. He is back on track now, feeling much more positive about things and enjoying his half-time care of 14-year-old Kodey. We enjoyed having them both here for this period – lots of guitar playing, and quite helpful in fact to be in the house while Brian and I were away in Geelong.

During the shifting process last week I couldn’t assist of course (head wants to, hip says no), but at least I could provide an evening meal for the workers – which ended up being 9 hungry helpers.

Now our house seems disconcertingly quiet, tidy and spacious! This also means that we have beds available again for anyone traveling to this neck of the woods.  

I continue to do well on the cancer drug, with basically no side effects. I saw the oncologist last week for my monthly appointment, and he’s happy with my wellness and blood test results. I have an appointment for a CT scan (here in Portland) in 3 weeks. This will be the first check since the diagnostic tests in early January, so it will be very interesting to see how things are progressing after radiotherapy and several months of the chemo tablet.

These results will no doubt be important in determining what will happen next. I’m trying hard not to let myself get into a flap about the results of this scan, and just to keep taking things one day at a time. Even if the cancer is responding very well, the oncologist said it would probably be several months before hip surgery because of the complexity of the surgery, and the probable need to specially design and make some of the components (possibly in America). I had an unexpected call several weeks ago from the orthopedic team from St Vincent’s hospital, and it seems they are still keen to follow things up. I referred them to my oncologist, who expressed surprise at their active interest.

I am continuing to enjoy the Cancer Rehab Group which I attend twice weekly. The exercises are very good for me and the interaction with others is good too.

Last night I had a lovely phone chat with grandson Liam, who wanted to know how my sickness was going and could he send me $20 that he had saved up. Aww…

He changed schools this year and Lauren began school too. I didn’t know that it was possible to buy a size 3 school dress, but Sonya managed to find one – and then took up the hem so far that she had to stitch up the pocket!

They are both doing well.