Of Moles and Voles and Donut Holes

A lot has happened since the last post on November 4th.  That was two days before our oncologist visit and infusion chemo.  As it turned out, there was no chemo because the scans taken on November 5th revealed that the maintenance drug was not working to hold the line on regrowth of the lung tumor and a new lymph node tumor in the abdomen was spotted as well.

We went off with a game plan for starting a pill therapy to later be followed by another round of infusion when that failed to prevent a cancerous first down.

Barend, of course, researched the financial aspects of this since it fell under the prescription drug plan rather than hospital costs.  Ouch, double "DONUT HOLE" time, since we would have reached the limit before the end of this year and within a month in 2014.

Avenues of subsidy were investigated but bore no fruit in our case, so on to the next plan.  Luckily the doctors involved agreed that it would be better to spend the $10,000 on a vacation than line the pockets of Genetech and their partners in Tarceva so we moved to infusion again today.  

Whole new set of side effects with this one; hair loss which you might think is not problematic since he has so little but it will involve his mustache and chest hair so.....

This is the last chance to see "Hairy Barry" 

We are heading eastwards to Pennsylvania tomorrow for a long weekend to visit our good friends and former neighbors.  The weather forcast for Glen Mills is about the same as it is for Beaver Creek so we will not be reminded of the extreme cold and snow that Pennsylvania winters can bring.  A good time willl be had by all.

A Sunny October in Oregon

Bonnie and Hans

The first week of October brought us more overcast days and showers. Fortunately our lives were brightened by a visit from Hans who came all the way from Singapore.  Hans and I go way back: We both grew up in Wassenaar, went to the same grade school, high school, college and both lived in the infamous Ferry Street house in Eugene. Hans used to live in Portland and still has a ton of friends in the area whom he visited while staying at our house. In between visits we had fun catching up on our lives and reminiscing about good old times. Hans could not profit from the nice sunny weather which we had the rest of the month, though people living in Singapore and Sydney may actually enjoy cooler temperatures.

Sunny Fall weather in Oregon

On the medical front there is not a lot to report. The maintenance chemo is easier to take and it is certainly easier than Bonnie’s failed tooth implant, for which she needs at least three procedures to correct the situation. Ouch!  While the health may be stable, the golf game is deteriorating and getting to the point of being embarrassing.  Actually, it is embarrassing:  on a bright sunny day I managed to get my worst score in the Oregon City Golf Club daily tournament.  I don’t quite know what to do about this, other than putting the blame on the oncologist.

Jacqueline, Bonnie and Grand Kids at the
Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate park

Family visit to the Science museum in San Francisco

With two free weeks between hospital or doctor visits, we now have the opportunity to do some traveling, so we flew to the Bay Area to visit Jacqueline, Adam and the California Grand Kids. The girls had a school free day on Friday and we visited the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We visited the Japanese Tea garden and the Science Academy museum, which are both located in the park. On Saturday the girls worked on their Halloween costumes with some help from Oma while Adam and I watched the Oregon Ducks game in the local pub. (yep, won again: Go Ducks). It was a fun weekend, and if Bonnie had not discovered that our flight home was booked on Monday, rather than Tuesday as I thought, we may still be there.

Emmett and Oma at the pre-school Halloween Party

We were invited to our grandson’s preschool Halloween party on Wednesday morning (very nice!) After the party he took us to his favorite restaurant for lunch.

On Halloween itself, Bonnie had the first of her implant surgeries and had to rest the remainder of the day. I went to Josh and Sara that afternoon and enjoyed all the kids’excitement of calling on the neighbors and collecting tons of candy. Even Kellan, just one and half years old, quickly got the hang of this event and grabbed hands full of candy to fill his Halloween bucket. (way to go, Kellan!)