I apologise for the delay in sending out this post since the news we received from the doctor last week was not good, but we believe that any news either good or bad must be shared with our children and their families before we talk to anyone else. What with work shifts and all, it took until today until we could talk with them all, and they deserve to hear the news first-hand. We couldn't take a chance that they would hear something passed on inadvertently before they heard it from us.
We were informed last week that Myron's chemotherapy is not working and that his tumors are growing/spreading. Apparently, once a chemotherapy stops working, it becomes useless and will not work again. In the beginning they started with the big guns, giving him the most potent of chemos for pancreatic cancer. It worked for a while and his tumors shrunk somewhat, and then it held its ground for a while maintaining the status quo, but eventually it reached the point where it was no longer helping him. When we returned from Newfoundland Myron was put on the chemo of second choice. After two cycles of treatment with this, it has been determined that unfortunately it was of no benefit to him and his tumors are still growing. The doctor then gave us a choice as to whether or not we want to try the third possible chemotherapy drug. We have decided that we will give it a try, any hope is better than no hope. Myron will commence treatments with this drug within the next couple of weeks. While the picture is nowhere near as rosy as we would like it to be, we're not throwing in the towel. We will continue to battle this dreadful disease as long as we possibly can. Considering the diagnosis we received last January, we have a lot to be thankful for.
Myron continues to suffer a lot of pain, and the doctors are still working to determine the correct dosages and types of drugs to make him feel better and relieve his pain. He has good days and bad days, but unfortunately, lately the bad days seem to outnumber the good ones. But we keep on fighting, praying and hoping for the best. Myron is one incredible man! That is all I can say. We are still trying to live as positively as possible, and to live our lives as normal as we possibly can under the circumstances.
Myron at University Hospital, drinking the vile fluid preparatory to his CTscan
At the Cancer Clinic, waiting to be called in to see the doctor
On the home front, our day to day life goes on with as much as Myron can handle on any given day.
Between doctor's appointment and medical tests, we still keep busy whenever Myron is able. Myron spent a couple of good days last week puttering in his beloved garage, and one day we took a load of metal out to the scrapyard. Our granddaughters Rachael and Maggie came over on Saturday of last week and spent the morning decorating Christmas cookies for us.
On Thursday, our granddaughter Sadie came over and cooked dinner for us.
And on Friday we went out with some friends to a fish fry at Sacred Heart Church in Delaware (ON).
On Saturday, my sister Pat and her daughter (and our niece) Vicki came down for a visit.
We continue to bowl in our Monday night League, and Myron is greatly anticipating our night in Toronto at the Maple Leaf/Red Wings game this coming Saturday. We are taking the train to Toronto on Saturday morning, going out to dinner with my sister Barbie and her husband Keith, and then to the game. We will overnight at the Royal York, and take the train back to London on Sunday. Our friend Karen has kindly offered to take us to and from the London train station. Please keep Myron's health in your prayers, that he feels well enough that we can participate in our weekend away. As I have mentioned so many times, we are so blessed to have such giving friends as we do. Just this evening, Lise, another neighbour dropped by with a lovely fruit salad and some fresh, hot from the oven, muffins for us. The kindness and spirit of giving amongst our family, friends and neighbours is nothing less than overwhelming. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you one and all!
I guess that's about it for now. I so much wish we had better news to share with you, but we're hanging in there, doing all we can. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and remember, Myron still loves to hear from and see you all.
love, Myron & Wendy
No comments:
Post a Comment