Day Nine - Tuesday



The Doldrums at sunset, Indian Ocean- aboard Sun Princess

 Today was a great day all round. Ken's long lost wallet and bag were return intact, Deb is feeling pretty well and the cards and letters keep on coming. Actually, correspondence is a wonderful lift for Deb and indeed, the rest of us. She has a special box for all her cards and rustles through it with great regularity.
Our meeting with the radiology specialist went well too. He and his intern followed a lengthy chat with the assigned intake person at the clinic. All these appointments and treatments may sound like a lot, and they are, but thankfully all are taking place in Cancer Care Manitoba, the same building and only 10 minutes or so from home.
The doctors have changed Deb's regime slightly adding on a few more external radiation "spot treatments" to address the results of the PET Scan that she had. Apparently there are a couple of lymph nodes that the disease has progressed to; the good news being that it is only a couple. Without the PET scan (the one with the radioactive sugars and MRI) the doctor said that he would most likely have treated many more lymph nodes higher up on Deb's torso and that of course would cause more damage to healthy tissues and more discomfort for sure.
The intern was very direct and that was appreciated of course, but he assured us that the worst is yet to come with regard to side affects as radiation is a cumulative approach and the chemo is not. So more to look forward to!
I have been really impressed with how well Deb is doing with all that is going on. She and I went to the mall to pick up a few provisions and actually did some walking about. 

Heliconia or lobster claw. Relative of banana that we grow in Toucan Ridge at work.

Thanks again for all the calls, cards and just keeping in touch. Reading the blog is good for the reader, but hearing back from you really helps Deb too. As the doctors said, "the worst is yet to come" so we are looking forward to your notes of support and cheering us on through this battle.