28 December Christmas celebrations are over, but the memories aren't

I notice from the last entry that it has been quite a while since the last update. Sorry, but like everyone else I have been quite busy. In fact I recently said to Brian "Goodness I really need to sit down for a while" Duh... I spend all of my days sitting down... 

I am very glad to say that after a period of medication adjustment, my back pain has eased considerably (due to a large increase in the nerve drug Lyrica). This was such a relief as I was determined to be able to enjoy the Christmas worship and family get-togethers over Christmas. I haven't forgotten (how could I) that it was on Christmas Day a year ago that things 'crashed' for me - with an ambulance trip to hospital, leading to tests that soon identified kidney cancer and the spread into four tumours in my spine and left pelvic bone.  
I am so thankful that I could thoroughly enjoy Christmas this year.
Unfortunately Brian is still struggling to find the right relief for his pain, so there are more appointments shortly to continue the explorations. I will also have further CT scans in January to check how things are progressing, so our lovely new January calendar is already starting to fill up with appointments. 

It was so lovely to have Simon and Caitlin spend some days with us over the Christmas period. Sonya and Scott also bravely tackled the 8 hour trek from Albury to Portland with their four children, and together with Adrian, and Dale and Kodey, all the 'chickies' were home for Christmas this year! This of course lead to a delightfully chaotic but enjoyable time. 

On Boxing Day we drove to Melbourne for our traditional 'Miller' post-Christmas gathering. We have been doing this for over 30 years - and have all treasured this opportunity to catch up and see the 'rellies' that we often haven't seen from one year to the next. Instead of sharing Christmas gifts with each other, we all bring along 5 photos of the past year, and 'share' these happenings. It's lots of fun!

Enjoying the sharing of photos at the Miller gathering.

Today Brian and I travelled back home - just in time to say goodbye to the Albury crew who are heading back tomorrow (except for the 2 girls who are having extra holiday time in Portland). After such an enjoyable time, I have no shame in admitting that yes, I really am quite weary!

Here we all are on Christmas Day (minus Dale who unfortunately was at work). Note the amazing 'fruit tree' made by Caitlin for the children to enjoy and eat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I simply have to conclude with the following letter and drawing. It was written the other day by Lauren, who will turn 6 shortly. She is writing to her sister Emily, who died at 11 weeks of age (before Lauren was born), and she also refers to 'Lacee' - her cousin who also sadly died when she was 9 days old. Those precious little babies are so lovingly remembered, and the children talk about them often. Dear little Lauren (wearing a red crown in the above picture) has such a compassionate heart, and sometimes sheds a tear for this sister that she never met.

"Dear Emily, I just want to tell you I made this card by hand. I really miss you. I hope you are having a great time with Lacee. Now have a merry Christmas next year, Love Lauren"

11 December

It's been a little while since I've updated this blog so I'll try to catch things up.
I was very happy to finally discontinue the steroid drug about 2 weeks ago. 
The good news: is that some of the obvious side-effects I had been experiencing (face/ankle swelling, flaky skin etc) have almost gone! I am grateful!
The bad news: is that I have had a gradual increase in back pain since that time, including some fairly debilitating days. Grrr
After putting up with it for some days, I was encouraged by a friend to seek help now! 
So I did. As a result, I was blessed to have an appointment with the pain management doctor who 'just happened' to be in Portland this past week (on her one-day-a-month visits to Portland) and 'just happened' to have a time slot for a home visit on Thursday. She's a woman of action, and likes to leave with an action plan - and I like that! I'm now on a helpful slow release NSAID drug, and she has also ordered xrays which I'll have on Monday - basically to check that there is no disease in the left ribs (where I feel the pain). Hopefully that will not be the case, and the cause of pain is much more likely to be nerve pain. I'll know more next week. 
The amazing thing is that just when I have had a more challenging week, I have had unexpected surprises - phone calls, visits, flowers, and even a trip with a friend to IGA for a slow browsy shop-up (quite a treat for me, when Brian is the usual shopper!).

Meanwhile, although we are not as actively involved in a lot of end-of-year activities, we have been busier that usual. That's good, and we try to take part and contribute where we can. 

Back in January, we had planned to renew our side house fence, but of course that didn't happen with our lives in turmoil after my cancer diagnosis. So it happened this past week, and despite Brian's aching body (from assisting in the removal of the old fence), we can now look out at a brand new fence. Now there's just a few jobs that need to finish it off (moving some dirt and sand etc) but Brian can just potter along and do it in dribs and drabs as none of it is urgent. I'm just glad the big job is done. 
 
Brian continues to take things a day at a time - some days being better than others.         Last week he had a skin lesion removed from his ear and that has proved to be cancerous, so we'll have to be vigilant from now on. When I think about it, in the 60's we didn't give too much thought to sun protection - no hats or sunscreen, lying out in the sun while listening to the tranny and sunbaking, sometimes with added baby oil to increase the tanning potential (goodness, that's like preparing a body for roasting!) and bemoaning when our skin would readily burn. Abusing our bodies certainly brings consequences,albeit so many years later. 
I sometimes wonder about the source of my own cancer - but I won't ever know that as I don't fall into the high risk categories for kidney cancer (being an overweight smoking male!)

The boys in action (while I watch from the lounge window)

 

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.

22 November 2015

There's not a lot to report this week, as things have continued to be stable for myself. I am delighted to be completely off the steroid drug, and already some of the withdrawal symptoms have lessened. My back wound is still being dressed regularly but seems to be healing better. I have a few routine appointments next week- including the oncologist who I haven't seen for 8 weeks - but don't anticipate changes. 

This weekend Brian and I rather sadly said farewell to our camper trailer that has taken us on some wonderful adventures to Queensland, to Western Australia and closer to home too. Our next travel adventures won't be camping, but we'll have to creatively explore other possibilities (such as the holiday home we stayed at in Dunkeld). 

Thank you, camper trailer, you've served us well with some great adventures!

 

15 November A busy fete and a birthday celebration

All in all it's been a pleasantly busy and ordinary week.
Health-wise, all continues to be going smoothly - my back seems to be healing up from a wound infection, with silver and a dressing doing the trick. (I must be worth quite a bit these days - gold in my teeth and silver to heal infection...)
I never thought I would get excited about being able to do such ordinary things as weed the garden, but the other day I went outside to water the garden, an easy task from a wheelchair (though I usually do manage to get myself wet in the process). Well, it was so pleasant outside that I located a hand-weeder and discovered that I could bend over the side of my red chair without falling out, and before long had filled a container of weeds! The novelty may well wear off, but for now I am enjoying the normality of such things.
Speaking of normality - I gave myself the challenge of contributing to the cake stall for our school fete, held last Saturday. I figure that I can reach into the oven with greater ease than before, so went for it!

It was also good to be able to help out at one of the fete stalls that only required me to be seated, take money and enjoy a chat with people I hadn't seen in a while - not such a hardship.
After church today, it was a privilege to enjoy a meal out with good friends to help celebrate the 65th birthday of a special friend who has had a lengthy cancer battle. Amazingly after having had some weeks of ill health following grueling treatment, the past week has brought him much better health, and he was able to participate and enjoy the day in a way that would not have been possible only a week or two ago. Great reason to celebrate. 

Yes, an ordinary week - and I am thankful for it. 

ps if you are wondering about our friendly local koala, we're not sure where he is currently located, but we do know that it is in the close vicinity as the noisy night-time grunting continues... 

8 November 2015 Healing backs and that darn koala

This week I had two reminders of the wonderful health services we can access in our country.
Firstly, we have been thankful for the home care which came about after my back surgery, one hour per week of housework - and my goodness what our worker doesn't get done in one hour is hardly worth mentioning! Well she informed us this week that she has pursued our 'case' further, and this care will continue for another 6 weeks. Hey that's truly a help and blessing for us - ensuite cleaned, house vacuumed, kitchen floors swept and washed.
And secondly, although my back scar has healed up well it has recently become a little tender where I lean back, so it requires District Nurses to check and dress it every second day, watching for possible infection. These special nurses have been unfailingly cheery and professional, so we are indeed thankful for their services too. 
The picture below (sorry - not the most attractive sight!) was taken about 3 weeks ago, showing my 35cm scar, but the reddish patch has not healed further, and when you press it, it 'wobbles' at the top of the scar. We're onto it though!

It's healing well except for the 'slower' bit, probably from where I lean back on a chair.

Enough about that.

We seem to have had a koala theme recently and this is no exception - yesterday evening Brian took this photo of a koala on our back garden fence. However I suspect Brian would have been a little more 'active' at moving it along had he known the koala's intent, because it climbed onto our flat house roof overnight, making one heck of a din before a loud thump and then things went quiet again. 
There were no visible signs of the activity today.

"Hope you've learnt your lesson - please stick to trees in future, preferably not too near our house..."

 

1 November 2015 The big ....

Yes - another new month has arrived - and I know this well because I can't easily turn the calendar over (without standing up out of the wheelchair) so it's generally a Brian task.

We've had another basically stable week with little change - except that on the whole Brian is experiencing some improvement in his general well-being, though we both experience a bit of fatigue - then again, perhaps we're just getting old!

Actually I like it when we look at things and appreciative the positives  - not only personally but also in our communities or towns. It's one of the things Brian and I have enjoyed discovering in our travels, and it has prompted me to do some homework into just what it is that inspires towns to celebrate and hold festivals for. 
For example, did you know that:
 *Augathella QLD is the 'home of the meat ant'?
 *the 'big wheelbarrow' is found in Port Hedland WA?
 *the 'big koala' is found at Dadswell's Bridge VIC?
 *and believe it or not, the 'big poo' was once built at Kiama NSW!

Well, did you also know that in recent years Portland has begun a celebration of the Bonney Upwelling? 
This is a 7-month-long natural ocean occurrence where krill form dense swarms which trigger a feeding frenzy attracting whales, tuna, seals, seabirds and the like. Hence the Upwelling Festival held in Portland annually in late October, consisting of a street parade, markets, and a variety of artistic, musical and water-based pursuits. 
Yesterday (31 Oct) was the day of the festival and so Brian and I went for a bit of a drive around, although we didn't tackle the considerable crowds during the street parade. Even later in the afternoon there was still plenty of activity, musical performances, whaleboat races, amazing sand sculptures and the like.
It would have to be better than 'the big poo' wouldn't it?

Each school participated in the street parade, after making huge seabird puppets.  

The end of one of the whaleboat races held during the afternoon. 

Our drive also took us to check on Adrian's cricket - we hoped he would see us in the car  and do a bit of showing off, but not a great deal happened while we watched, although Adrian did take 2 wickets for the match.