Thursday, August 18, 2011

(posted by Greg)

Wednesday was a quiet day at the Greiner household. Marley was studying most of the day, I went to work and Monica spent the day at home. It might be my imagination but I think that she is showing that she has some more energy. The evidence: Monica did a good job of attacking the weeds in the garden and froze some more organic blueberries.

Today, we had an appointment with the Dr. at InspireHealth. I was glad that we went for a couple of reasons. While waiting for Monica's appointment, we connected with a lady who we met at the B.C. Cancer Brain
Tumour Support Group. She has been diagnosed with the same tumour that Monica has but had her operation last fall. We had a good conversation with her and exchanged phone numbers as well as a lot of information. She has been using (and enjoying) some of the other services  provided by InspireHealth. Today she was in for a Reiki (not sure of spelling) treatment. She told us that she finds the smaller support group at InspireHealth very useful. Once again it is surprising how quickly the bonding occurs with people sharing the same experience.

Our appointment with the Dr. was really useful. She carefully reviewed with us the supplements and vitamins which we were taking. As Monica lost her taste buds, she found taking the various pills etc to be very  hard and had cut some out. The Doctor emphasized to us which ones were important and why. She also made it clear that, based on their experience and in their opinion, the lifestyle/supplement/nutrition changes would/could make a significant difference. I think Marley,Monica and I came out re-committed to sticking with this plan.

The Doctor had other good advice for Monica (i.e. how to safely and best deal with the dry skin caused by the radiation - coconut oil and gentle washing- no scraping with fingernails as the skin could be susceptible to infection because of her blood situation) and reminded us that she was still feeling the effects of the radiation and that the effects are cumulative. As we spoke with the Dr, it seems clear that it might still be a while before Monica starts to get her mojo back and that we will have to be flexible on any travel plans etc which we make for the fall.

Monica likes the people at InspireHealth generally and her Dr in particular and seems to have confidence in her. The visit was reassuring to us all and reaffirmed to us that we are doing something about her tumour by adopting some of these lifestyle changes.

Tomorrow Monica has her blood tested again.