20th July, 2018

Nick's had some time off of chemo, and we were hoping that the five cycles he'd had would do the trick, but no. The tumour markers never did make it down to zero, and are doubling weekly as is typical for this disease. Nick's most recent follow-up was this morning, and his oncologist assured him that, when he returns from Cuba on August 6th, she'll have a game plan in place. This time, conventional chemotherapy will not be the first line of attack. Instead, they'll be trying immunotherapy, a method only recently developed. If this doesn't work, they have a couple other tricks up their sleeves. The main thing is that these other therapies aren't nearly as debilitating, and if they can keep the disease at bay, then Nick will be able to get on with his life and go to school in the fall. If they fail, then it's back to chemotherapy, which still seems to beat the cancer back - but of course brings life to a standstill for months. 

We're back in Hawaii until the 28th. We had great week on the Big Island, and will try to have fun in Maui (got here last night). It's beautiful here. We just need to catch our breath and try to enjoy it. There's really no way we can do anything helpful in London at this point.

When we get home, we have to visit my mom's old friend Donja, who had her heart transplant a few weeks ago. She's had a rough go of recuperation, and is still in the ICU. She's gradually able to breathe on her own, using the ventillator less and less. It's a real slog though, and she feels utterly wasted. The plan was for her to be in the ICU for a week, then in the cardiac recovery unit for a few weeks before cominng to stay with us in August - but there's no way she'll be with us before September.