Hello from London,

We thought we would do a short post and update you re the results of our doctor visit yesterday. We received the good news that the tumor that had spread to Myron's liver has now also shrunk (in addition to the tumor on the pancreas shrinking earlier). While the chemo has not eliminated the tumors, there is a marked improvement, which is very good news for us.  Myron (and his doctor) have decided to suspend his chemotherapy for the summer to give his body a break, and he will resume treatment toward the end of August. Already, only a week after he would normally have received treatment he is regaining his sense of taste and enjoying his meals so much more! As a consequence, we are definitely planning to visit Newfoundland this summer, and Myron's sister Vern and her husband Dale (from Wisconsin) are going to drive down with us since Myron cannot drive for such a long distance. Accordingly, we have made our ferry reservations and will arrive in Newfoundland on July 10th.

The disappointing news is that he is going to keep his PICC line in place because while it is easy to remove it, the scheduling and backlog to get it reinserted is just too great, (and we don't want to take the chance of his not being able to get it again so he can resume his chemo upon our return home). The downside is that since the PICC line must be cleaned, flushed and re-bandaged weekly, we are going to have to arrange for those treatments to be done while we are in Newfoundland. We have CCAC working on those arrangements right now. For those of you who do not know exactly what a PICC line is, PICC stands for Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter and it is a tube that is inserted into the vein of his arm which travels through the vein and ends just above his heart. It is through this tube that the chemotherapy is given, and it is not so hard on the patient's veins as it is to have the chemotherapy administered through an IV. I have included a photo of Myron's arm with the PICC line in in (although it is bandaged), so you have some idea of what we speak.

Otherwise, things continue to be good. Myron is feeling well and much less tired without the chemotherapy. He still tires easily, but not like he does during the chemo cycle. He haven't heard yet any results from the echocardiogram that he had last week.

We continue to be busy and Myron went out on his former bus run today to visit with all "his kids" and wish them a good summer. We are heading up to the trailer tomorrow for a couple of days of R&R. We'll post again sometime in the next week or so. Take care and love to all.

Myron & Wendy