Strange Notations From a Laborious Life

It’s quite a gloomy Saturday morning here in Wanniassa. There was a rumble of thunder as I lay in bed, but we haven’t quite been hit with full force by the stormy weather. Rain often loops around Canberra. We seem to be in a bit of shadow at the base of the Brindabellas and we often thread the eye of the needle when storms come through. We have had a few drops but nothing serious yet though the sky to the northwest is very dark indeed and looking at the weather radar we may get a cell passing through this way.

A week as they say is a long time in politics and so it is as well for a person with terminal cancer. We had appointments three days this week and the only luck we have really had is finding a spot to park quickly on each of those three days.

Things were fairly upbeat this time last week after Linda’s treatment. We had another blood test on Monday morning, at the much more reasonable time of 8.30am and unfortunately things didn’t improve much from there. I reported last week that her cancer markers had been declining for the first time since February, a very positive sign indeed that the chemotherapy has been effective. Unfortunately, the opposite occurred this week. The blood tests showed a significant spike in her markers this time and although the medical teams won’t make critical decisions based on a single week of data, it is of course not the way we need this thing to be going.

But we battle on and we fronted up bright and cheerful on Tuesday morning for Linda’s chemotherapy treatment only to find the nurses somewhat concerned about her blood sugar levels which have spiked significantly, possibly due to the steroid tablets she takes to keep her upbeat for the rest of the week. It wasn’t a barrier to her receiving treatment, but it certainly flustered them enough to ask a few questions about how well she was going.

Wednesday saw us back at the hospital for Linda to receive another injection which will hopefully keep her white blood cell levels high enough that it will enable her to keep receiving her chemotherapy at its regular appointment. It turned into a much longer experience than the usual in and out we were expecting as they tried to get to the bottom of her spiking blood sugar levels, tried to get a hold of specialists and harvest their advice. I was waiting with Aidan outside the treatment rooms, and he managed to snaffle multiple sandwiches, chocolate biscuits and Kit Kats from the passing tea ladies such was the length of our wait.

Eventually we went home and returned to pick Linda up some time later but a day which was supposed to be relaxing had turned into another long and exhausting experience for everyone concerned. Linda is now armed with more drugs for diabetes, testing kits and an appointment with another specialist next Thursday to discuss the next step in dealing with her high blood sugar levels.

This all comes with a cost unfortunately. Linda is struggling with significant side effects from her treatment and for the first time I feel her morale sagging and there have even been a few tears which is unusual for her. We are peering through the gloom at the future.

She has a welcome break from chemotherapy next week although we have appointments Monday and Thursday with oncology, her GP and a diabetes expert. We are also trying to weave a quick trip to the coast into that scenario.

The show goes on. We go with the flow and hope for the best. She has just risen for breakfast, and her morale seems to be a little better than it has been for a few days. May it continue.

As I finish today it’s notable that the storm cell has missed us again, slipping around us to the south, no heavy rain, no problems. I hope it’s a metaphor for the coming week.

Until next time.