Thursday, March 21, 2013

(posted by Greg)

I attached this picture to prove that Spring is indeed coming. I took this photo of the daffodils in front of our house with my camera yesterday. (I should also mention that this morning, when I took the garbage out, it was cold and there was a some unmelted snow on my back lawn.)

Monica had a Bev treatment on March 6th and had to go to the lab for blood and urine samples on the 19th and a follow-up visit with the nurse practitioner to make sure that her body was doing ok with the treatments.  So far so good and she had another Bev treatment yesterday.

Monica gets the treatments at the chemo unit at the Cancer Agency. There are often a couple of other patients receiving various forms of chemotherapy in the same room. Invariably, there is some bonding among these patients and a sharing of stories (both sad and hopeful). Chemotherapy patients often have nausea problems from the treatments and we often hear stories about this. I am always glad that Monica has no problems with these treatments.

Like us, the patients we meet are often researching their illness on the web and experimenting with diets or supplements etc. Stories about these efforts are also shared. Yesterday, the man who shared the treatment room with Monica told us about a tea which he has purchased from Malaysia. He genuinely believes (which, I guess, is a good first step) that it can help him and he is going to give us the information so that we can order some. I am sure that we will be ordering some because, like everyone else, we like to hope that we will stumble on something that will help with Monica's tumour.

Last week we attended a nutritional information session at the Cancer Agency for brain tumour patients. Much of the information was a repeat of things that we have learned in the last couple of years about healthy eating. Unfortunately, I was not able to get any information about the ketogenic diet or any suggestions about how we can monitor such a diet (to make sure there are no negative effects on the body). However, the nutritionist who spoke at the meeting suggested that I follow up with her and that she may be able to point us in the right direction.  Monica and I are both eating a very low carbohydrate diet at the moment and she continues to take the vitamins and supplements recommended by InspireHealth. I am continually trying to modify Monica's diet so that it complies with the ketogenic requirements. We are both getting more and more used to not eating carbohydrates and both feel pretty good. Thankfully, so far we have not noticed any new or further symptoms from Monica's tumour.

Daniel and Mollie are coming for a visit at Easter. We are all looking forward to that.