2 July 2010

Louis returned this morning bearing gifts - accumulated mail and packages from Queensland - not to mention 28kg of paperwork to start on Helen's last 2 years of tax!

Delightful arrivals included a beautiful gourd card from Helen P and a wonderful indigo and burnt orange wrap with hand dyed fabric embellished with pieces of kimono. Also cards from Barbara and Sally plus a Darwin arrival from Peter and Joyce.

Helen is in great form this morning - reading a book of short stories Doug provided while we al sit around her doing crosswords (Doug), computering (me), cheeping (the chicks), collapsing (Jed) and snacking (Louis). Last night Kaye came over and hung out with Helen while D and I went down to Mindil markets. It was Territory Day and the fireworks went on into the early morning so Kaye had to bring her dog Lily over to be looked after as well. Luckily Jed's not so sensitive to loud noises and he and Lily got on fine. From my point of view the charm of the sparkly lights was pretty quickly outweighed by the annoyingness of the banging and crackling and having to keep the house closed up - it was 30 degrees in Helen's bedroom at midnight! Still - a true NT cultural experience and the Dry Season breeze came in at a refreshing 25 degrees this morning and cooled everything down.

Tonight I fly down to Melbourne for a work thing and will be back on Sunday midday and Louis and Doug will hold the fort. As far as I know there are no plans to go out at this stage but if she stays as good as she is right now maybe that will be an option. Otherwise visitors are welcome as ever.

Tuesday 29th June 2010

Helen and I are enjoying a surprise visit from Douglas and Jed - Doug is reading her some PG Wodehouse at this very moment. Jed is being very polite with the baby chickens.

Yesterday we went to the oncologist again and had a much better interaction - still not clear whether to take up the treatment offered or not - further thought and discussion required. Last night Kaye brought us a fabulous rich beef stew/soup with peas , potatoes, turnip and more. We had a lovely time eating together on the back verandah and Kaye and I drank champagne from Helen's pink Czech flutes while Douglas and Helen stuck to less stimulating beverages. We had to send the nighttime carer away without her doing anything for us as it would have interrupted our socialising.

Today H had another visit from Rory the physio who's been helping stretch her ankles and practice standing and weightbearing. He confirms she's doing better than when he met her and will be back next Thursday.

In less good news her weight today is only 44.2kg which is 6kg less that when last weighed in Brisbane (on the same scales which have just arrived with my boxes). She was about 55kg at the end of last year so it's a fair drop overall. Ah well... more nutrison etc

Helen reading Sandra's poetry

Baby chickens

Sunday June 27

Helen and I have had a fairly routine week. She has had some lovely visits with Shirley, Bilha, Sandra and Bronwyn. I have On Wednesday we had a fairly draining and unsatisfying day attending the oncologist. The appointment was planned to discuss recommencing/continuing chemotherapy. In and of itself the result is not terrible - they think Helen should cease having IV chemo and consider an oral treatment - a "tyrosine kinase inhibitor" instead, but the process of the appointment was not so good. We waited for an hour and a half to be seen, then saw the registrar who had not much idea about Helen's situation, then saw the oncologist himself Dr K who seemed to me to have made up his mind without seeing her and wasn't particularly interested in finding out anything about how she had been going and what if any symptoms had developed during her 4 weeks off chemo. Anyway I found it upsetting and after he left the room leaving us with the registrar I burst into tears which he was somewhat uncomfortable with - going for the old doctor standby of "let me get you a tissue" but then offering me a selection of those hard dry cheap paper hand towels instead. As I obediently dabbed my eyes on their scratchiness he said "I'll just print you out some information on that treatment - it can cause an acne like rash...". Ah...doctors...

Anyway I still don't know where we are with that but I was informed the other day that we have another appointment with oncology tomorrow so I guess we'll discuss it further.

The news of the day is I impulsively bought Helen 3 week old chickens at the markets this morning so we sill have them as mobile decorations/entertainment for a bit. Photo to come.

Also over the last week we have not used the hoist at all as she is doing much better with independent mobility and is able to do her own transfers with support. I have turned the hoist into a clothesrack for the time being - the visiting doctors and nurses comment that it is the most expensive clothesrack they have ever seen.

Bilha visits with Helen and they both model handknitted beanies courtesy of B

Monday 21st June 2010