It was just over three months ago that Laurie underwent her operation. I think of Fridays as a reference point since that is the day of the week that her journey, at least physically, began. Last Friday was a time when I really reflected on what Laurie has had to deal with over the past three months. However, I spend more time now thinking of her future and when she will turn that corner on the road to recovery and become healthy once again.
She is very tired these days. She could give Rip Van Rinkle, Dwarf Sleepy and Princess Aurora a good stiff run for the "Who can sleep the longest" competition. Her energy level is minimal but sufficient to get her about the house independently and make a 300 meter walk down the road and back. Her spirit is still rather good. She would like to see her energy level higher and is following doctors' orders (all three of them) in obtaining her strength. Mentally, her memory is getting better. There are still some moments where a word is not placed correctly or she has problems in describing something. These episodes are typically brief and again may be due to her low energy level. I continue to take her temperature twice a day and occasionally her blood pressure. Only once since the last update has she had a bit of a fever and nothing that a Tylenol did not take care of.
Her final radiation session took place on October 17th as scheduled. There were many patients in the waiting rooms when the bell sounded about 13:00. Patients and staff acknowledged Laurie's accomplishment with clapping and smiles. We thanked those on her radiation team for their professionalism and compassion over the six weeks she was in their care. That evening was the last of her first round of chemotherapy. Since then, Laurie has been taking her other pills to help reduce any possible swelling that may still be in the brain as well as an anti-seizure pill. Taking these contributes to her being tired. Although the radiation sessions have stopped, the effects of this can continue for many weeks, months in fact. She will be seeing the chemotherapy oncologist in a couple of weeks. We should know when her MRI will be taken as it is not done immediately after the radiation sessions have stopped. By waiting longer, the MRI scans should produce a more accurate image of her brain where radiation was concentrated. She did bring home her radiation alignment mask and I can not honestly say where she has put it. It is something that I really do not wish to see anymore. She has lost much of her hair but continues not to openly fret very much about it. I am gauging the amount of hair loss by what is appearing in the dryer screen and in the shower.
By no long having to drive into Ottawa for her appointments I felt that we would have another three to four hours of quiet time here at the house. In fact, I am not sure how we actually found the time to make those thirty five plus trips and still have time to eat and keep the place here going. I am working more hours now at my job and for the most part this is from the house. We have had two home care visits of about five and one-half hours which permitted me to go into the office and meet my colleagues and pick up some things. Laurie's health and needs continue to be the number one priority and I am thankful that people at work fully understand this. However, I realize that I need to continue my work even if I do so late into the evening.
Time is also being spent on the transitional tasks that the autumn to winter change requires. There are more than I thought but this is likely because they are being condensed into a shorter real time period. Laurie usually has helped with these things but she is not able to do so this year. This frustrates her a little bit but knows that everything will get done. We did decide to empty our other storage locker before the snow and muck that November is notorious for arrives. This job has now been completed but the basement is looking rather like a warehouse with towers of boxes, chairs, furniture and bits and bobs. Is it too late to have a mammoth garage sale?
On October 27th we went into Ottawa for Laurie's postponed dental appointment. The dentist's office is very close to the Civic Hospital so the drive there was full of memories over the past few months. The dental staff knew that something had happened to Laurie as it was me who had called to cancel the original appointment in July. We spoke with her dentist who was very careful about Laurie's session and knew that planned X-rays should be postponed. On leaving the receptionist gave Laurie a big hug and wished her and I well. She booked Laurie's next appointment for February 14th and wished us both a very happy Christmas. They will indeed both be very special occasions for us even though Laurie may be a little sleepy.
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