Major Milestone

I just completed the sixth cycle of  chemo infusions, which means that from now on I will be on a one-drug maintenance regimen. This will be done on a three week schedule and takes only about 2 hours.  The hope and expectation is that it will be with fewer side effects. The first six rounds of the infusion took 7 to 8 hours. There will be an additional CT Scan in the coming three weeks to determine the progress followed by an oncologist visit before the next infusion.
So far everything is turning out much better than the medical profession had anticipated. All my vital signs are normal, I can walk normally, my weight is back to normal, and most of my pants don't slide down to my ankles immediately. Due to a partially collapsed lung, I do tire a little faster which unfortunately shows up on the scores for the second nine holes. Other than that I consider myself a medical wonder, and we are grateful for everyone's support that made healing through positive thinking possible.
Sara, whose office is close to the hospital, usually takes her lunch with us when we visit the infusion room, and this time she was accompanied by Alexandra's Chinchilla, who was sent on a field trip to her Mom's office. For the benefit of my granddaughter, here is the proof Chinchilla was really at the hospital.

Amy, the manager of the infusion room, cuddles
Chinchilla

Unwelcome Visitors

Living on Beaver Lake is gorgeous, but it also has it disadvantages. There are really beavers in the lake and right now is about the time they forage for winter. Unfortunately that involved two of our trees that are now missing. One disappeared in the lake and resides wherever the beavers have their lodge, and the other one turned out too big for them to handle and the gardener removed the remnants.

The first tree that went in the lake

This was a two night job

The job was finished the second night. The beavers
dropped the tree of course right on top of
the beaver trap.

Welcome Visitors

Pat and Harry at the Resort at the Mountain

Our good friends from Philadelphia, Pat and Harry, came to stay with us for a nice long weekend. It was a wonderful visit that brought back memories of golf games of old and PF Chang dinners on Sunday night (a tradition we continued on this visit). We caught up on lots of news, and played at the Stone Creek Golf Course nearby (advertised as the best value in the Pacific Northwest, and that may well be true). We, of course, had rain the minute Pat and Harry arrived but, as is common for Oregon, there was enough sunshine later on to relax while gazing at the lake with a beer in hand. The last day we had a golf and spa day at the Resort at the Mountain, about an hour away near Mount Hood.

Life on the lake and treatment update

Since the last post about the short but sweet visit with Nico and Wyp, Camp Beaver Lake has undergone some retooling.  Barend discovered a leak in the water main coming down the hill to the house which needed attention.  A very large hole was dug in the yard in attempts to find the bit of pipe that was leaking and in the meantime a pipe under the kitchen sink started leaking.  Fortunately, this was discovered before any real damage was done.  Not so the pipe in the toy garage which broke early enough to drench the carpets and toys.  Barend had two days of major cleaning and drying out to restore the space to it's original splendor (this too is an indication of his increased strength and stamina).  Since then, most repairs have taken place and we discovered that the pressure valve coming off the water main had broken and caused all of the above problems.

The weather continued to be warm and beautiful as we restocked and prepared for our next visitors, our good friends Anne and Martin Kybert from Pennsylvania.  They arrived late on the 30th after some flight delays and mechanical failure of the navigation system driving from the airport (thank heavens for cell phones with maps and navigation).

After a day of catching up on family news, relaxing and lunching at the Stonecliff Inn on the following  day, Thursday, we toured Portland downtown, visited the Rock Bottom Brew Pub and the Lan Su Chinese Garden.  

 

Friday Anne and Martin began their tour of Crater Lake, Bend and the Columbia Gorge returning on Monday afternoon to relax and visit before their early departure the following day.

That was yesterday and after they left for the airport we prepared to report to the hospital for chemo and the oncologist visit.  Again, the news was very positive.  The scans showed further decrease in size of the lung cancers and since Barend is doing so well with the chemo we will do one more round of the two drug therapy before we start on maintenance.  Dr. Sanborn is very pleased and, in reply to our question regarding revising the timeline, she was confident that we would be visiting her much longer than her original estimate and that new therapies would likely be available to us as we progress in time.

Today, Barend is preparing to play golf in preparation for the tournament this weekend.  I should say that that is an indication that his quality of life has greatly improved since the beginning of this journey.