Update Blog

First off, Happy Birthday Dad (85!) Nick's most recent follow-up appointment was today, and it was a decent one. The five rounds of chemo have undubitably worked - Nick's hCG tumour marker has gone from 90,000 + in February to just 9 now. This number could continue to drop over time. Nick was offered more chemo at this point, but it was not a firm recommendation, because Nick's case is unlike anyone in London has ever seen. Generally no one will relapse as many times as Nick has without developing chemo-resistant disease (which is pretty much game over). But, Nick keeps bouncing back. He's been cleared to travel this summer, and has also been given a standing order for weekly blood work. Presumably, they'll be right on him if his hCG starts to spike again, and things will not get out of hand as they did in February.  Looking to the future, Nick recently had genetic sequencing done on his extracted tumour material, in hopes that a mutant "driver" gene c

Nick's all done with round 5 of chemo. This could be it for his treatment. In any case, he's getting his PICC line removed tonight in the off chance that he won't need it anymore - if they decide upon subsequent rounds, then they'll have to give him a new one - no big deal.  We've seen a spectrum of helpfulness and friendliness in Nick's nurses this week. The ones he had at the beginning of the week were quite young and uptight, most likely insecure in their roles, worried about getting reprimanded for making the wrong call - and made it seem like a huge imposition to be asked if Nick could get out the hospital at night (which is what he started doing last round, and what the doctors had agreed to.) This resulted in Nick being let out at 4:00 am on Monday night, 2:00 am the next night, etc. Makes for an exhausting week! Fortunately, his most recent nurses were wonderful. Nick has a follow-up in three weeks, with Dr. Potvin. We're keeping our fingers cros