Progress at home - Wednesday 9th July 08

Peter finished his radiotherapy yesterday morning and we are pleased that there are no further sessions to attend at the moment.

So we are starting to get into the routine of care again and are working out the best patterns for feeding etc. The dietitian agreed yesterday that we could increase the feeds to approximately 2 litres of Ensure Plus which provides about 2,800-3000 calories a day. On this regime Peter should be not only able to maintain his weight but hopefully increase. He has remained stable at 66. 7 kilos now for a week and my aim is to try to add a minimum of 10 to 15 kilos to get him back to what he was in early May, if the disease will let me. So I now start the pump feeds between 1 and 2 pm and they run through to 6 or 7am the next morning to deliver the 2 litres at between 100 and 125 mls an hour. My thoughts are that if we can increase his nutrition then he may feel a little better and his cognitive cloudiness will clear. Well, that's my theory anyway.

As you would expect in this situation Peter remains very depressed and sleeps or rests most of the time. The palliative care nurse feels pretty certain that the loss of function in the right arm and hand is nerve related and also we have noticed his voice is fading again - also most likely due to the nerve. We will hopefully see Dr Pacl again early next week for a comprehensive overview and also have appointments booked with the GP on Friday and the specialists (oncologists) for later in the month.

I couldn't believe tiny flakes of snow were falling for 1/4 hour at our place this morning at about 9.15am and the grey, overcast day, with low clouds over the hills in Tuggeranong. It reminded me of some of the European mountain villages Peter and I have visited in the past. It hasn't happened before (although some northern Canberra suburbs have had occasional snow showers over the past decade) since we moved here in 1995. Re the travel, as Peter says, "Thank goodness I didn't put off travel until I retired. How short-changed I would have felt!" Moral of the story, to reprise that famous saying - "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can (or want to) do today" and especially where travel is concerned.

Au revoir - Leanne