Merry go round or rollercoaster?

Another 2 weeks have gone by - where does the time go? Soon it will be spring - wont' it? 

We have had a busy couple of weeks. I am not sure if we are dizzy from being on a merry-go-round or from being on the mini rollercoaster.  Things are pretty much OK - not much to worry about.

Just over a week ago Callum hurt his back and had pain radiating down the back of his leg. We are thinking that it had something to do with the cook a thon he had preparing some food for our freezer. We spent some time at the hospital to make sure the pain wasn't from a blood clot. He had an ultrasound done on his leg which showed no clot - so we are very thankful! However, he continued to have a lot of pain and little sleep for the next few days - not a great combination for our visit to Medicine Hat.  Well, I managed to take a load of baby clothes there at least! Callum had a massage while we were in the Hat, and then had a couple of chiropractic adjustments and another massage which have helped so much. The chiropractor ordered an x-ray of the back (it appears to have been sciatica) to make sure there was no tumour causing the problem. The x-ray is clear so things seems to be OK. The oncologist ordered an MRI (March 4th) to make sure all is well. His back is starting to get tight again so he has another adjustment and massage on Wednesday. 

We had a visit with the oncologist last Tuesday. Things are pretty good. The liver enzymes have risen again which the Dr says could be either from the chemo or possibly the cancer has spread.  Callum will likely have a CT scan sometime this month to see if anything has changed in the chest, pelvis or abodomen since December. The 5FU chemo has been reduced again, per protocol, so is now 1/2 the original dose. 

We had a good call from Dr. Ahmad today. He has talked with Dr West, the gamma knife surgeon from Winnipeg. He says Dr West isn't concerned about the small change in one of the brain tumours - he feels they have responded to the gamma knife surgery.  We are quite happy to hear that!

We had a great visit with Callum's brother Alan and our niece Alex last week. We were busy with many appointments but did manage some good visits. I do think Callum enjoys having testosterone in the house whenever possible. 

Callum is handling the chemo quite well. Only a couple of days of fatique and a bit of nausea - quite different than before Christmas. 

With Callum doing better  - and being able to drive again - I am spending more time at work. It is coming up to our busy time so hopefully all works out for a while now.

These past few weeks have once again shown me how quickly things can change - for the worse - and for the better.  I have come up with a new response when looking into the future - "we can plan, but no commitments!".  

Overall we are doing quite fine. Bumps here and there but that happens to everyone! 

There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.  
W. Clement Stone

TTFN