what a week!

It has been quite an interesting week. It appears that Callum has picked up a virus of some kind. He wasn't feeling great on Sunday afternoon and thought he just needed a nap. The back of his head was quite sore. It occurred to me on Tuesday that he really had enlarged lymph nodes - which meant his body was trying to fight something. He had no fever or other symptoms, other than he was quite tired. He did call his nurse who asked him to wait a day and see how it was. He was no better on Wed so he called back and they gave him a prescription for Tylenol 3's. He was so disappointed and frustrated as he was supposed to go to Toronto to meet with the other CanWest advertising guys. He was so looking forward to the trip and then wasn't feeling well enough to go. And on top of it - this was nothing to do with the cancer! (at least as far as we know right now.). The oncologist thinks this isn't related to cancer but did order a CT scan that Callum had on Friday. We should get the results early next week. He was starting to feel better this weekend and did put in some hours at work on Friday. There was at least one other person at the StarPhoenix with the same thing so it just looks like a virus. I think we will have to put some Purell in his office and get everyone to wash their hands before going to see him - he doesn't like the idea but I don't know if he is truly grasping how important it may be. He is still shedding hair a bit - it has slowed down, though. We expect it will start to again come up in little clumps after chemo starts again this week. He started getting a few mouth sores so is looking for soft and mushy foods. We hope the mouthwash keeps working! He isn't talking much - sometimes that is good!All of this made it a busy week for me. The novelty of making supper has worn off already. We had some late meals as I tried to keep up with work and then coming home to cook. And we didn't have many of the easy meals around as I wasn't expecting Callum home for most of the week. Oh well, it all worked out. My mom and Earl came up on Friday and left this morning. They were stopping in at Earl's brother Harry's place today and hoped to stay there the night and head home Monday morning. We had a good visit and took in some of the Saskatoon Jazz festival, craft/art show and then when out to dinner to celebrate Earl's birthday. Mom is doing great and loving to get out to do things. Her rhubarb crisp was wonderful, too!! There was some great news in the world of colorectal cancer treatment research - May 31 - June 2 there were 5 abstracts reported at the American Society of Clinical Ongologists meeting that showed some great benefits for using Avastin in the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. This is in stark contrast to provinces like Alberta who still insist there is no benefit, as some of you may have read in an article in the May 31 edition of the Medicine Hat News. I have had some discussions with the News re: the article and will write a letter to the editor to provide some additional information and education. The drug does work and was also recently approved by the FDA in the U.S. to use for treatment of advanced breast cancer. If you ever want to look up information one great site is the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada site http://www.colorectal-cancer.ca/ . Well, we are gearing up for cycle 3 of chemo. At best Callum will have 2 good days this time round - quite disappointing for us both. Vanessa and Stuart are coming up on the 27th and we are going to Cirque de Soleil. It will be nice to have a visit with them. Jamie now has to work the weekend after that so the golfing with his Dad is put off for now - he will come up around the middle of July so we are looking forward to spending the time with him - and hopefully some golf! We have my nephew and his family, Chris, Raegan, Karly, Danielle and Brandon coming to visit on the August long weekend. It will be so nice to have them here so we can return the hospitality they have so often shown us. It will be a fun weekend! Well, I think that is it for now! Keep checking back for updates!