(Cal enjoying a meal at the Fraserburgh Leisure Centre. Thank you Auntie Beryl and Uncle John!)It has certainly been an interesting week. Callum's chemo had been postponed to Thursday. Up until now he has always had treatment on a Wednesday. It made the week seem a bit weird. His blood counts have come up enough to have his treatment. We were quite happy about that. Some counts are still below normal, but not too low for chemo. He has tolerated it quite well again, so far. Sunday, Monday and possibly Tuesday will be the worst days, but hopefully not too bad. His hair still continues to grow. It is quite a bit more sparse on the top yet, but we are hopeful he will have a head of hair again by spring (remember we are in Saskatoon and are about 2 months away from spring yet!). He had an ultrasound on his arm and the blood clot has dissipated in some areas, but is still there in others. He will continue with the blood thinners for a while yet. We have received the MRI report and it basically looks good. There was nothing new showing and one tumour appears stabilized. The other appears to be a wee bit larger (2mm) than in the last scan, but that could be related to the radiation and gamma knife surgery. Dr. Ahmad says he is not concerned and forwarded the results to Dr West in Winnipeg over a week ago. We have heard nothing since then so we are confident that there is nothing to worry about. A funny thing about the call - Dr Ahmad identified himself to Callum by his first name, Imran, not Dr Ahmad. I guess we have become quite familiar these past few months! It made me chuckle for quite a few days.
The best thing that happened this week is that he found out that SGI (our drivers license bureau) has decided to NOT take his license! He is free to drive now and will just need to submit a medical report in Jan 2010. We are ecstatic! Now he is looking at sports cars.....I wonder what he will choose. Maybe one like this black one. Who knows. I am sure he will have fun shopping!
I have started putting in a few more hours at work. Callum is feeling quite a bit better now so it isn't quite as hard to be away. He is back to cooking - made an excellent stir fry today - it is joy to me! I have to work now to help pay for the sports car and grandbaby clothes and things. We have so many exciting things to look forward to!
We had been looking forward to another holiday away, but our schedules just couldn't cooperate with our friends' schedules, so that trip to Jamaica will just have to wait. We haven't yet decided if we will still go away or not - we will see how things go over the next few weeks.
Last fall it seemed like Callum was getting more sick each week, and that we were not going to see many better days. Now, some days, it is once again hard to believe he is so sick. We have many good days. We have enjoyed a few evenings out in the past couple of weeks. And now that he will be able to drive again, I think he will be spending quite a few more days out of the house. I have had many days lately where I believe I am seeing a miracle in the making. He is amazing. We still have little discussions about things. Like how weird this is. When do things get worse? How long will the good days last? At what point does chemo stop? Not easy questions to consider. Determination is there. We have a grandbaby arriving in June and he plans on being there when it is born. He wouldn't miss it for the world! Goals are good. We have to keep having something to look forward to.
I would like to say that life almost feels normal. But please realize, that our normal is quite a bit different than it was a year ago. Normal now includes Dr visits, chemo, CT scans, ultrasounds, MRI's, nausea, fatigue, blood counts, supplements, and day time TV (ugh!). It is so wonderful that these things have once again become a small piece of our daily lives. We plan on having this last for quite a while!
Well, you have caught me on a very good day. I am feeling really positive about today, and the future. I am ready for the bumps. We are ready for the bumps. Life is good.
"Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness - happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes when you're lucky. Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love."
Adela Rogers St John, 1894 - 1988 (American Journalist)
