I have wonderful news to share with everyone today.

The P.E.T. results have come back and Sue was informed that the cancer is remission!

Dr. Lam said the scan “shows nothing”. And I quote “the best possible result” and from her point of view she is very happy with that.

Celebrations!! We are of course very relieved as I’m sure you all will be as well.

White blood count was also improved, back up to 6.2 this time.

Chemo Round 5 was administered this morning and Sue will still have to complete Round 6 in 3 weeks because this is standard proceedure.

Another follow-up P.E.T. Scan is scheduled for June 15th to confirm all. This is also standard, always scans after #4 and #6.

As to her L3 spinal fracture that was caused by this, Lam said it appears to be healing, the bone has been building back up, but that she still needs to avoid certain exercise. Only walking & aqua/pool exercise are safe until further update.

An additional MRI Scan is going to be scheduled (we don’t have a date yet) in order to look more closely at the spine before they can give her a better assessment of fracture risk.

All in all, hugely positive progress so far and we are very happy and much relieved! 🙂

I am no longer allowed to enter any of the hospitals with Sue during her treatments or Dr visits. On Wed the 8th Sue had her meeting with Dr Lam in London Hospital.

Her white cell count was lower than all previous times down to 4.9, but still within acceptable levels. Dr Lam advised her to not go out at all, period. Avoid contact as much as possible. You know, the standard Coronavirus warning we all see on T.V. 20x a day.

Chemo was administered on Thursday morning. It took a long time for them to get the actual treatment ready, she arrived at 8:20am (for 8:30 appt) but they didn’t even begin treatment til around 10:30am.

Friday was a bad day, massive headache all day and blood pressure a little wacky. Not something that’s happened before, Saturday was an improvement and we are of course very happy she’s well over half way through, only 2 treatments left to go.

Sue has to attend St Josephs Hospital in London on April 27th for her mid-treatment P.E.T. Scan to see how far the tumor has shrunk. We haven’t yet received any information on if they expect any further treatment to be needed beyond the 6th (final) Chemo but presume that we might have some kind of information on that at the next Dr meeting after they have the scan results – which will only be a few days later – scan Monday, Dr appt Thurs Apr 30th.

Aside from that we’re doing everything we can to keep as safe & sane as possible.

Yesterday Sue had her Dr. appointment in London who approved her Chemo Round Three for today.

Sue’s White Blood Count was 6.1 (a healthy level) when tested Thursday.

Today she had Chemotherapy in Woodstock, future ones will all be in Woodstock now.

She has been doing reasonably well the past few weeks since last treatment.

We’re both a bit anxious about the whole pandemic situation of course since now we have to be super extra careful she doesn’t contract anything.

Nine more weeks to go til last Chemo. Her next one is already set for April 9th in Woodstock. Can’t wait to get this all over with.

Susan was in London by 7:45am this morning and had her 2nd round of Chemo which started at approx 9:30 and lasted a little past 11:30am.

Overall it went well, she was a bit nervous going in but after it was all done she said it wasn’t as bad as she thought. Only a single visitor was allowed in the Cancer Clinic.

Her white blood cell count was a reasonably healthy level however it fluctuates greatly during the course of this and she needs to be constantly alert and conscious of germs and avoiding others with illness.

Sue has been continuing to reduce her meds on her own and this is okay with the Cancer Doctor (Lam) who we met with the day before.

There was some discussion of the possibility of getting future Chemo treatments moved to Woodstock and if approved Sue will get a letter in the mail and I will update you all that next will be in Woodstock.

As for the future, currently our next Dr meeting is Thurs afternoon on March 19th and should be Chemo Round Three the following day, although this isn’t yet booked/confirmed until they figure out if it will be Woodstock or London.

We were also informed that her next MRI test to see how the progress has gone won’t be until after the 4th round of Chemo (which should be April 10th).

Good Day all, I know some people have been waiting for an update, sorry this one took so long.

On Thursday, Feb 27th in the afternoon we have an appointment with Cancer Doctor in London – just a talk & review kind of thing, should be home before dinner. And then Friday, Feb 28th at 8:00am Sue has Round Two of Chemo.

All in all, Sue has been doing quite well physically. She hasn’t been “hit hard” by the Chemo – her pain level hasn’t gone above a 3 (of 10) on a single day and most days it’s in the 1 – 2 range.

She’s able to walk around the house and do most things, showers entirely on her own and we’ve gotten outside a few times and gone for short (but increasingly longer) walks.

She’s been reducing pain her meds substantially, completely eliminated one of them, and the other two have been reduced by 30 – 40%.

The thing that’s really bothering her right now is a few days ago she’s begun to lose her hair and she’s very emotional about it. At the rate it’s coming out it will probably be all gone in a week. We’ve gotten her a few head wraps and looked at a few wigs but haven’t picked anything out yet.

Aside from that she’s also feeling sad that she can’t really go out much and will be stuck in the house for the next 3 – 4 months.

She’ll be getting some blood work done this week where they will let her know her white blood cell count so we have a better idea of how vulnerable her immune system is at this point.

Since her next Chemo is this Friday – no one will be able to use the main bathroom til Monday due to the chemicals.

Thanks again everyone for all of your amazing support.

Sorry it’s been a few days since update. These will probably slow down a little bit, once every few days – a week unless there’s anything urgent to be shared. We appreciate everyone checking in.

Sue’s been doing pretty good these past days since we got home. No major symptoms so far. Legs a little sore today but otherwise in a good mood and able to function reasonably well. Yesterday she ended her “burst” round of Prednisone (100mg for 10 days).

For those wondering (as some people have been asking), the Spinal Tap did not happen Monday morning. At the moment it’s just a back-n-forth thing with the hospital to try to figure out when the correct appointment date is as they told us the Monday was rescheduled, but not to what date.

We’re both still quite exhausted from all the chaos/stress of the past many weeks, but we are getting the house back to normal order, a little bit each day taking caution to not over do ourselves.

Sue’s more than happy to have visitors most days, but as some may already be aware, her immune system is compromised – both from the cancer itself and then in addition, from the Chemo. We were told that if Sue gets a fever (anything about 38C) it’s an immediate trip to the ER with a likely overnight stay while they stabilize it.

We ask if you happen to have a cold/flu or recently around someone who does, perhaps come another day. For those that want to be cautious while here we have gloves, masks, hand sanitizer, etc.

Thank you all once again, the support that Sue has been receiving throughout all of this has been amazing. It would be infinitely harder without each and every one of you awesome friends.

Truly feels great to be home once again.

Still a long journey but Sue is finally on the road to recovery and this feels good too.

She’s been holding up pretty good so far. Still getting our minds around what life’s going to be like for the next few months – continuing to get the house back in order and figure out our new daily routine.

We were told by the nurse who visited us yesterday evening that her white cell count will have already starting depleting so we’ve got to keep the house pretty sanitary and at this point Sue isn’t planning to go out too much.

Visitors are of course always welcome and while she hasn’t had too many symptoms so far there may be some days she’ll be a bit drained (so we’ve been told).

The journey is certainly far from over but thank goodness we’re past the anxious waiting and not knowing what the problem is or what happens next. Now we have a plan. A plan to be cured.

And now, back to the The Oscars 😉

Early this morning Whisper of Alternative Routes held an awesome kick cancers ass exercise event which had an amazing turn out and show of support for Sue’s recovery. Thank you all so very much for your massive show of support.

We’re both very glad to be home. Sue is doing fairly well this morning – mentally, physically & pain-wise.

5:00 – 6:15 we had an appointment with a home visit nurse whole will be sending regular nurses once or twice a week to check on Sue. Today she administered a very important after Chemo med, glad we got that done.

Aside from that we’re trying to relax a bit, both pretty tired from all the busy chaos of the past week.

Watching a bit of TV, making sure we have the daily drug order correct. Figuring out what appointments are on what days, etc.

Monday at 9:30am is Spinal Tap appointment back in London.