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Sunday, January 20, 2013

January 20 2013

Hi folks.... Well we made it back from Mexico all in one piece.  Unfortunately my health continued to fail while we were there, but I believe the rest of the family had a great time.  Most importantly the kids enjoyed themselves and created some lasting memories.  I could not have done this without my family's support as well as my brother in law, Morris.  Thanks guys you did an awesome job !!

Now that I am home I will be requiring PSW support on a daily basis in the home during the daytime hours and the family will help out during the evenings for now.  We will trial this for a couple of weeks and see how things go and tweak from there.  I need assistance dressing, bathing, shaving, dressing, food preparation.... so yah pretty much everything.  My left side is totally gone now and I am very weak.  My sleeping pattern still sucks because of the steroid that I take at night now.  Unfortunately/fortunately I do sleep more throughout the day.

Tomorrow I have a Cancer Clinic follow up appointment undoubtedly to determine whether or not I continue on the current chemotherapy drug.  At time of writing my MRI is scheduled for March 18 2013.  I am going to inquire about different options for pain management as well.  Would like to find something longer lasting so it may allow me to sleep through the night without waking to take meds.

Thank you everyone for your Birthday wishes.... I will update more later this week when I am more rested.

Thanks, Ed

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

January 8, 2013

Good morning all:

I wish I had a ton of good news to tell you all regarding my health and overall well being as of late but unfortunately it just seems that things are going downhill. I think the Tumour is still growing quite aggressively even with the chemo therapy that I'm on now. To be honest I didn't think this would work anyway but I had to give it a try. My walking is now reduced to a very slow shuffle in only for a few steps and my left arm is still totally useless. My oncologist put me up to 12 mg of dex now from the previous 8 mg to hopefully help reduce brain swelling. I have had some killer headache lately but they seem to be under control now for the most part as long as I stay on top of them with my pain medication. There were days or I could not move when I woke up for over an hour due to the excruciating pain.

We leave for Mexico this Thursday morning at 6:00 AM out of Toronto. I'm hoping a week away will do me some good. Just to be able to relax and hopefully not thinking about cancer the whole time I am there. My brain needs a rest.  Can't think of too much more to update you on other than the fact that I will probably remember something as soon as I post this. lol 

Take care

Ed

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

January 1 2013

Good morning and welcome to 2013. I would like to wish everyone peace, health, love and happiness in this coming new year. I ended my 2012 with a bang of sorts last night. Was just on our way out to visit my best friend and his lovely wife in Tillsonburg when my leg decided to give away on the last front step leaving the house. Needless to say I scraped my head up pretty good as well as my hand and sadly we did not venture any further. Had to call my Sister Shirley and her husband to get me off the ground. Oh how I love this life of mine. I'm a little sore this morning but I've had worse I guess.

Probably my own fault because I have not posted much in a while but I just wanted to clarify a couple of things regarding the Avastin. After completing three rounds of the Avastin it was shown on my Tumour that it was increasing in size with the Avastin having little to no affect on it. Therefore in the interest of my own best health, it was decided to stop treatment immediately because as we all know, these treatments are very hard on your body as well and why put your body through more needless torture if it's not required. Over the next while I will be forwarding all my documentation including MRIs and reports to some hospitals around the country to see if they will review my case for a more available options other than what the London regional cancer clinic will provide at this point. The chemotherapy I'm currently on only has a success rate of 20 to 30% with brain cancer. So we will try this for 30 days and review at that point. Personally I do not feel it is working judging by the massive headaches I still encounter on a daily basis.

My left side is deteriorating quite badly lately to the point where my walk consists of a shuffle and my left arm is still totally useless. It kills me having to accept help from family and friends now but I know it needs to be done. I cannot thank my family and friends enough for what you have done lately to help me over this hurdle. And to my daughter Faith, you are a rock for me. Your actions last night helping me out proved it yet again that I've helped to raise an amazing daughter. I love you to the Moon.

Please don't be offended by my extremely slow replies to everyone lately.  Trust me, I read each and every post and comment on Facebook and emails. You all are part of my inspiration to keep his fight going. My spoons have just been in short supply lately.

In closing, please say a couple of prayers to what ever you believe in that my health at least remains the same for our upcoming family trip. Much love to you all and again, thank you for all you have done to support me through this journey. I'm not done fighting.

Ed