Hello Everyone:
We hope that this, our first update for 2014, finds you all well and managing the extremes of what Mother Nature has doled out so far this winter – whether it be an ice storm in Toronto, which left so many without electricity over Xmas, heavy rain and flooding in parts of England, extreme heat and bushfires in Australia, and the official declaration on Friday that California is now in a state of drought. Temperatures have been very warm in L.A. due to the Santa Ana winds – something of a two-edged sword as these winds also bring forth ravaging fires in the dry canyons surrounding LA.
What a great Holiday Season for us – sharing time with good friends from Canada under sunny, blue Arizona skies to catching up with Liane and Megan (Gary’s two younger daughters) whose lists included trips to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. We found ourselves with just one day without any visitors and alas, this was the day we had to houseclean and reorganize before heading out the next morning to Las Vegas for three days. Our trip to Vegas was two-fold: attending Marie’s memorial service which proved to be a touching and beautiful celebration of her life. We also met up with Sean and Irina, who had timed their trip to spend time with us and also to check out the facilities for their spring wedding in Vegas. They will, in fact, be having their main wedding in June in Constanta, on the Black Sea in Romania where Irina’s father and grandmother and many close relatives still live. The Vegas spring event will be a smaller gathering for family and friends who will not be able to make the June wedding in Romania.
We arrived back in L.A. with the weekend to settle in before having my first round of chemo last Monday. Our mail which had been held by the P.O. while we were away contained so many Xmas cards – it was a delight to go through them all and a nice way to extend the festive spirit. Thank you to all who managed to find time to connect with us this way. Our reverie was unfortunately dampened after a few phone calls from the new owner of our apartment building. We had had a number of discussions with her and quickly realized that we were dealing with a somewhat unpredictable and volatile personality. Our lease had been extended to the end of January and she had indicated early on that she needed to increase our rent which was not an issue. Things became a little more stressful when she would agree to everything in one phone call only to call back 5 minutes later and tell us that she needed the apartment for her brother and would like us to vacate at the end of this month. After using every guideline available on how to deal with difficult people (for Gary it was having to bite his tongue most of the time), we decided to solicit the help of cousin Pat’s commercial real estate broker who happens to know the new owner quite well. After a rocky start (somewhat reassuring for us to know that it was not just us having this problem), we seem to now have resolved everything.
In the midst of all of this came the news that Gary’s employer for the past 32 years, State Farm Insurance had decided to sell its Canadian operations to the Montreal-based Desjardins Group. This development and all its ramifications both positive and negative have not yet been totally digested. Like all mergers and acquisitions, it will take a number of years before the full impact will be known. At least with Gary’s retirement being effective before the takeover date, he should be minimally impacted if at all.
Dr. I was not in the clinic on Monday when I went in for my first round. Instead, he had another oncologist, Dr. Soares stand in for him. We knew that there was a very large pancreatic cancer fundraising event that evening hosted by The Lustgarten Foundation of which Dr. I is a co-chair. Their goal was to raise $5 million from the event and succeeded in raising $10 million. What an achievement!
In the chemo suite, we met up with Gretchen and Dan from Palm Springs. Gretchen was doing well except that she had lost 20 lbs and I barely recognized her. After chatting with Gretchen on her weight loss, I discovered that whilst she has managed to deal with her worst side effect (diarrhea), she has not deviated from the diet she went on to stop her runny tummy. She also realized that this was too restricting and not sufficiently balanced and realized that she needed to start expanding her diet. I also suggested that she use a good enzyme to help with digestion at the beginning. As we chatted about which foods would be best to add to increase her weight, it made me realize that we had to mentally “unyoke” ourselves from the mindset of having spent all our lives avoiding fattening foods in order to control our calories and our weight. How ironic.
We also met a new patient, Vinnie, who was an absolute delight to chat to. Vinnie has a young family and lives in Las Vegas. He told us that last July, due to a blockage in his bile duct, his bilirubin levels were so high that the Vegas hospital he was in undertook one round of unsuccessful surgery after which he was told to go home and “get his affairs in order”. Fortunately, his wife would not give up and somehow, she came across Dr. I. Vinnie met with Dr. I who referred him to the specialists at UCLA to see if they could reduce the toxicity level of his bilirubin before his organs began shutting down. Through surgery and drainage, his bilirubin levels were brought under control. Vinnie has recovered sufficiently now to be receiving chemo for the pancreatic tumour that caused the original blockage. He looks the picture of health and his positive attitude is simply infectious.
For those of you who may have tuned in to 60 Minutes to watch cousin Pat, unfortunately, the airing of this program was postponed. We will advise as soon as we are provided with a new date.
My side effects from this week’s chemo seemed to produce more fatigue than normal. I have been taking it slowly and simply doing what my body tells me. Today is the first day that I am feeling a resurgence of my energy levels and will remain mindful that I need to take things easy. I am aware that the very active and busy festive season no doubt left me with little in reserve and the additional stress of the apartment probably generated a temporary deficit. We just started our walks to get some exercise and are appreciating the magnolias that are in full bloom. All the beautiful colours are back with azaleas and birds of paradise in full bloom and a renewal of bougainvillea vibrantly cascading down many of the hedges and walls.
Soon after our return, we were advised of a recent and incredible breakthrough at Cambridge University in England (see link below). A friend living in England sent a subsequent article indicating that clinical trials are likely to be conducted in 6 months – a short timeframe which is indicative of the importance of the breakthrough. Cousin Pat and his team are reviewing a number of approaches, including this recent breakthrough, to determine which would be the best to pursue. Some have already undertaken the first round of trials with a few headed into the third round. However, some also are randomized trials which would not be the best since some patients would receive a placebo instead of the actual drug. Read more about it here
As we continue to hope that a cure for pancreatic cancer will not be too far away, we send you our warmest wishes for a healthy, happy and fulfilling year ahead. Thank you – one and all – for your unconditional support and friendship as we continue to have you at our side during this unrelenting journey. We leave you with the following quote from Dr. Dale Turner:
“Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.”
With love and appreciation.
Maureen and Gary