Update Blog

Just back from the Cancer Centre. No four hour wait this time, thank goodness. Exhausted by the process anyway. We got good news, bad news and some options.  The good news : 1. The head MRI revealed that the lesions in Nick's brain are most likely calcified (i.e. dead) tumours, and are most likely nothing to worry about. 2. The beta-HCg tumour marker has come down to a 30 now; one more round of chemo should normalize it. Recall that it was at 90,000+ at the start of this, so the cancer has reponded quite well. 3. Most of the small tumours in the lungs have vanished. The bad news :  1. Most of the larger lung tumours are still there, though they have shrunk. This would explain Nick's persistent cough and shortness of breath. 2. The non-disappearance of these tumours (which are considered inoperable due to their location), as well as Nick's past history of relapse, makes it unlikely that any remission bought through the current regime of chemotherapy will be permanen

Nick continues to recover slowly at home. He's got this incredible will to get on with his life, which is naturally being hampered by the reality of having gone through four cycles of chemo. He'd spiked a minor fever a couple nights ago, and we thought we'd have to run him back to the hospital, but the fever fortunately reversed itself.  Nick's next follow up is this coming Friday. Given the timing - not on regular TC surveillance day, it will not surprise us if they recommend another cycle of chemo. None of us will be that overjoyed by this, but given the extensive spread of the disease at the outset of treatment, if there's some chance they can crush the cancer once and for all, then it's worth the hell. 

My, how time does drag on the chemo ward. Nick's nearly done this round, and fortunately has been allowed to sleep in his own bed for the night recently, due to the specifics of his medication schedule. This time, Nick's not getting out until Saturday, but at least will be home for his birthday on Sunday. A recent CT scan has revealed a blood clot in Nick's lung - so several weeks of Fragmin will be part of the plan. The CT scan has shown that the lung tumours have shrunk, and assuming that Nick's in remission, they'll gradually shrink to nothing over a several-month period. The head CT scan showed that, although the two small lesions in the brain have shrunk, there are two more small ones as well. An MRI is being booked to give them a closer look. The on-call oncologist seemed to feel that they'd most likely be dead at this point. Reports from University Hospital inform us that Tanja's dad, Richard, is doing much better. The blood infection is all cl