Gary and I hope that you are all keeping well and have already noticed the early signs of Xmas. In the U.S. it almost seems like the Thanksgiving weekend and it’s Black Friday sales end up “morph-ing” into Xmas which seems so early here especially as their temperatures are still so warm.

We spent a lovely day last Saturday at the beach watching all the surfers get their last bits of surfing in. Very warm and pleasant in the sun; a bit cooler in the shade but jut great to be breathing the sea air.

I had my 5th chemo session – 2nd of the 2nd cycle yesterday. Going to Dr. Bill’s office feels almost like visiting family as everyone is so friendly. I met up with Francesca who had just finished her treatments. Francesca was one of the ladies who allowed us to ‘interview’ her on our meeting with Dr. Bill. She was the only one out of the three patients who had suffered severely with mouth sores. Some of her hair had grown back which suited her elf-like features. She said her hair seems to come back and then at times starts falling out again.

Unfortunately, Sony was not there to greet us as she was having a Spa day. We told Dr Bill that we happened to watch a Dog competition one night which was fascinating to see all the breeds and how experienced the judges must be to decide which of the dogs would take the prizes. We were told that Sony’s mum was an award winning Shih-Tsu although the one in the competition had such long hair, it just seemed totally impractical for the poor dog to function when not competing.

Dr. Bill went through all my side effects from my 4th treatment. I had hardly any nausea to speak off with half the amount of fatigue. It turns out that Dr. Bill had put in an additional anti-nausea drug in my pre-meds and this seemed to help ward of the nausea for the entire week… totally worthwhile as I would have had to take a prescription pill if the nausea had surfaced anyway. No explanation on the fatigue side other than it might have been that I’d come off my 2 week break and was physically stronger. I had one day when I seem to have quite a bit of hiccups – Gary told me how to get rid of them efficiently. I also noticed that my vocal chords get a bit raspy…. could be the start of a new singing career? My weight was up by a pound and he asked all sorts of questions regarding the amount of food I am now eating vs the how much I was able to eat before we started. How I feel now vs how I felt when we first started etc.

Then Dr. Bill just blew Gary and I away!!! He told us that my CA-19 marker results from my 4th treatment had come in and the results showed a dramatic reduction again. In total, the number has reduced by almost 70% since I started, which is phenomenal. We were so ecstatic and all I could hear in my head was : *Halleluiah……. Halleluiah…..Halleluiah! in orchestral refrain blasting away. We were riding high for the rest of the evening. (*my British contingent may wish to drop the “H” at both ends)

We went through to the chemo suite where all the comfy recliners are located and this time Marie from Vegas decided to join us. She usually stays in one of the private rooms for her treatment. Her husband Rick joined us later so we were able to pick up many tips as they have been driving in from Vegas for her treatments for the past year. We will do so from Phoenix starting in the new year. We were missing Nancy who is also on a Tuesday schedule but we were told that she showed up but that her platelet count was too low. I recalled last week that they gave her an injection to boost the white blood cell count and Nancy’s treatment has had a lot of breaks due to her counts being too low for them to treat her.

Dr. Bill then asked me to join him in his office again. I was going to be paying it forward by sitting down with a new patient who was with her sister. Marion’s sister and family all live in NY State and she is on her own in California. I don’t know the history but was told that it took more than a year for her pancreatic cancer to be diagnosed and she had been placed on Folfirinox, which is the most toxic of the regimens and also used in Canada. Her system just could not tolerate it and she physically looked in pretty poor shape. She also suffers from a lot of pain as her tumour has wrapped itself around a bunch of nerves. Dr Bill suggested that she try and sleep on her stomach to provide a bit of relief from removing the pressure in that area. It seems that the various US Medical Plans dictate which hospitals/doctors you are allowed to use. She had just switched Plans and was now able to use UCLA but wanted to know more about Dr.Bill and his treatment etc. I gave them as much assistance as possible at the same time comforting her sister who was in tears most of the time. Unfortunately for Marion, her family are out east and she was going through a divorce at the same time. Fortunately, her children are older so a bit less of a worry there.

We finished our treatment at the same time as Marie and Rick and we all went out for dinner. Marie’s tastebuds have all gone and the only flavour she can taste is anything with tamarind in it. She told us how she had a glass of cold water one day and it tasted and felt like she was drinking water with broken glass in it. She is a Reuters Fellow from the University of Oxford and not terribly enamoured with the average American. The four of us will actually be in LA on Xmas Day so will be having our Xmas dinner together.

With our flights back to Toronto scheduled for December 7th, I have brought forward my next treatment to Monday to allow enough time to deal with the side effects beforehand. I am already preparing myself for the temperature change as we don’t realize how spoilt we have been with the lovely temperatures here and in Phoenix.

Take care everyone. Thank you for all your emails, prayers and support. This all seems to be working based on the results. We are thankful to you all.

Maureen and Gary