Welcome!

Laurie had a serious brain lesion that was surgically removed on July 24, 2011. It was uncertain exactly what the disease was and to me, these days were really the fight for her life. After the surgery, Laurie spent two weeks in an Ottawa, Ontario hospital. This period was full of events relating directly to her and to other patients and aspects going on in the hospital during her stay. Laurie came home on Friday, August 5th, 2011. Since being at home, events have settled into a routine but not without the ups and downs of recuperating with a rare brain tumour. Her story is one of hope, struggle, patience and above all, courage. The current update is presented at the top of the page with her day-by-day story presented from the bottom upwards.
This story also has pictures of Laurie. She is a woman of many interests and dimensions. She and I love to travel and September has been our favourite time of year to do so. The trips taken over the past six or seven years have seen us in places like western and central Scotland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Cape Breton, Charlevoix, Ireland and to Newfoundland a couple of times. The first things that Laurie always packs are her plant press, silica gel bags, binoculars, loupe, botany reference books, bird books, hiking books, note books and always a good raincoat. If there is any room left she packs some clothes. You can usually recognize her at the airport because she is one with three or four layers of clothing on.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

a detour....

Since the last update ten days ago, Laurie's health has deteriorated. To some degree we thought she would have a hard time with her second round of chemotherapy. Her dosage was higher than round one and her anti-nausea pill was of a stronger variety. She was, fortunately, not physically sick from her chemotherapy. Her temperature variation is the main concern. Normally, our temperature varies daily but the range is usually in the order of about 0.5 degrees Centigrade. Laurie's temperature is all over the map and the road to recovery has taken a detour.
 
We had eight appointments last week which made our week very tiring. Included in these was an MRI. The MRI was taken to see what impact the radiation and the chemotherapy might have had. Her radiation ended on October 17th so the MRI should show something in terms of the success of her treatments. The oncologist said that the MRI is showing that the perimeter of the tumour is in fact a little larger than the first MRI showed - before her treatments. The size of the area is about that of a Kinder Surprise. The surprise is that there appears to be nothing inside - the inside area is basically devoid of the cancer cells. Hard to explain and fathom. Another MRI will be scheduled for within the next two months.
 
It is 12:15 and I am stopping the planned update for a while. We are going to the local hospital again. Laurie's temperature is about 38C (100.4F) so under the instructions given by the oncologist we are heading out. The hospital is about a ten minute drive and we have no idea who to expect to be there on an early Sunday afternoon.
 
Well, the ER waiting room was empty, as was the staff counter and triage. After a few minutes the nurse came and checked Laurie in and did some preliminary tests and asked questions. Her temperature was 38.3C. And so, off to the ER consultation room. Fortunately for us, and the local residents I guess, the ER consultation rooms were empty. The doctor promptly arrived and after a series of questions, not so long ago asked by the nurse, Laurie needed to have a blood sample. How many nurses does it take to get a blood sample? One? Two? Three? Well, you would be right if you guessed three. Her arms look like she was in the middle of Labrador during the height of the black fly season with the various pricking and swelling on both arms and hands. The third nurse I felt had an air of confidence and demeanour that I welcomed. So, the blood began to flow into a number of vials.  It takes about 30 to 40 minutes for the results to come back. During this time Laurie simply rested on the bed and nearly fell asleep. I worried.
 
The doctor came in and said the blood test results looked alright. She had also called the oncologist at the General Hospital about Laurie's condition. He had in fact observed Laurie a while ago. One solution he said was to give her antibiotics. So the doctor was going to give us a prescription. "But wait" I said "Laurie already is on antibiotics". Well, this was news to the doctor and asked why it was not on Laurie's list of medications. I told her that we had not been asked for these. You would have thought that the on-call oncologist would have looked at Laurie's file and seen she was given antibiotics last week. Good grief.
 
So, without further ado, the doctor said that we can go. But, I had taken Laurie's temperature a few minutes before the doctor had arrived and it was about 39C. I can't understand why Laurie's temperature would not have been taken before leaving seeing that she entered the hospital with one. So, the nurse #1 came back in and yes, the temperature was 38.9C. They left two Tylenols with her to take and said we could leave. Seeing that the place was empty, I don't understand why they would not have said something like "Well, Laurie should stay here for a while and we'll see if her temperature falls. This way, you will likely feel better, especially if you get home and feel that you need to come here again". Thus, we left. Laurie was a little shaky walking out but glad that we went to the hospital. Apparently, the chemotherapy oncologist himself will call us tomorrow for a follow-up chat or perhaps visit.
 
Back to the week that was. Laurie also had an X-ray. This was done to see if she was developing any pneumonia that might account for her wild swings in temperature. After this was done we met with her chemo oncologist who described the MRI results and prescribed the antibiotics (but did he record this on the file?). Under normal circumstances, these events would not be so bad. However, Laurie is totally fatigued and usually running some level of fever. I am very frustrated of course and concerned. Our sleep has been very poor this last week and she is once again having difficulty in find words. This is quite sad since her speech was significantly better six weeks ago. I asked the oncologist about Laurie getting a flu shot. He felt this was a good idea but it should be done while she is on her chemotherapy cycle. Her immune system will be weakened between the cycles and it would be good to have the vaccine right away. So, we booked an appointment for the following day and she had her needle (I think she did but I can't actually watch).
 
We did go to the local hospital early last week due to the high fever issue. They did blood work and handed us a report indicating that for the most part there was nothing to be alarmed about. They released her without taking her temperature but I knew it was below the threshold because I carry a thermometer with me now and took it while she was waiting for the blood analysis report.  We also saw her GP who spent a good fifteen minutes with us. We had a list of questions which she was able to provide some answers.
 
The general picture of Laurie's past ten days has been painted. Not many bright colours I am afraid to say. She been going down a detour on her road to recovery I think. Both she and I are concerned about her well-being at the moment. Her hair continues to fall out rather than grow. Her eyes are very seldom more than half open. Her sentences trail off without her conveying her thoughts. All in all, a real tough week. I think that it is one of, if not the most, difficult week we had experienced since being back at home in early August.
 
The week ahead is currently open. This may change tomorrow if we are to see the oncologist again about the fever situation. Apparently, Laurie can take two of the Tylenols every six hours if required. I am hoping that these will not be necessary but needless to say we have a large bottle of them on hand. We have in fact accumulated a size number of empty pill bottles of various sizes and colours and trick lids. She is taking only a few medications now that she is between chemotherapy cycles. I keep wondering about the effects of all these different drugs and the interactions that probably have not been thoroughly studied.
 
Again - thank you to those who have forwarded cards to Laurie and for the emails that continue to arrive. I am happy that there are others who continue to think of her at a time when things were to be improving and her life returning to normal.  I hope that I will be able to report more positive news in the next update. Just think of this as your normal CBC evening news report....

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