Melbourne visit draws to an end

Helen has now completed her Grand Tour. Two weeks in Mont Albert, two weeks in Northcote and finally a whole month in rehab in Camberwell.
She has done really well with the rehabilitation work - much more physically able than when she went in although of course she still fatigues easily and her capacity varies from day to day. A wonderful array of family and old friends have visited throughout the time including Robin and Mary-Lou, David and Carol, Sally and Lindsay, Jamie and Tiffany and family, Kathy and Tim and family, Julie and Cynthia, Barbara, Margaret, Ramon and Mary, Dorothy, Peta, Laurie, Bryan and Millie, Bill, Carl and Hayley and baby, Margaret H, Nada, Helen and Owen, Alison, several friends of Louis'and mine including Susan and Emma and Gill (and baby) and Siobhan (and baby).
As you can see - quite a social whirl - although less so during the rehab time.
Rehab mainly involved twice a day physiotherapy - sitting and standing, walking and balancing exercises.
Now Helen and I are back in Darwin. Just us here at the moment - Louis is in Brisbane for a while.
We went for review appointments with both oncology and palliative care and both doctors were delighted with her improvements - especially the weight gain (now up to 61kg!). Helen doesn't like this much - particularly as it is centrally focused doe to her steroids and also as this is quite a bit heavier than she ever was as a healthy independent person but the good things about it are: better skin health, more comfortable sitting, reserves for if she is sicker or can't eat and best of all, it is another marker that the cancer is quiescent as it is no longer burning up all the calories she eats plus more (which is what cancers do when they are growing).
Her oncologist says she has "stable disease" as in the chest/lung lesion and pleural effusion are still there but no bigger and there are no new cancer deposits apparent. Next review is booked for mid April with a CT scan and after her birthday on the 2nd of April. Seems quite amazing to think we are expecting to have another birthday - particularly when I reflect on last year's party preparations which included being discharged from hospital with a "top-up" transfusion of 4 units of blood!
In Melbourne we were able to access a number of allied health inputs that weren't possible in Darwin including Vision Australia, ABI Mobility services, neuropsych assessment and inpatient OT and physio.
I might publish a summary of some of their reports in a future blog as some of the information (especially the neuropsych) may be useful for people visiting/interacting with Helen.