Chemo 2: Day 1 Pike wipeout - well... 4/5 wipeout!

A quick update for you all on our day so far.

Alison is doing OK. Her head is still fuzzy and she is tired but not feeling too nauseous at all. She's had some breakfast, a cup of tea, some biscuits and fruit already so the signs are good. She's even talking about having some of the delicious home made meat pie that was left over from last night for her lunch.

Ali took the next step with hair this morning and let me have a go with the clippers set at 0. All up she does have a pretty even and round head.

Harrison is home yet again. He was looking pretty poor last night and went off to bed early without arguing, a sure sign he's not feeling well. This morning he had a bit of a fever and just didn't look himself so it was better to give him the whole weekend to recover.


Annelise is also home today. She's picked up a dose of conjunctivitis and had trouble opening her eyes. Again, something that you don't want to be sharing around.



Abbey had a bee sting in one of her front legs. She too is now recovering quietly.






Just in case you're wondering, I'm fine and looking after the lot.

"Kill the f#@%ing possum"

That's what Ali said to me when I asked her why she was wandering around our backyard at 2:45 am this morning!

This also explains why I am up at 3:00am writing on the blog. It's because we just had a little excitement at our house with some native friends.

I was nudged out of a sound sleep by what sounded like one of the sliding doors opening and closing. This only slightly woke me up and I thought I may have been dreaming. A bit later, there was more noise and it was the type that didn't fit with the normal night sounds.

When I opened my eyes to see what was going on, the lights outside were on, so I got up to investigate.

Ali was outside hosing the trees! I told her to come inside and asked what she thought she was doing. This is when she burst out with the deadly threat that makes up the title of this post.

It seems that she 'heard' a noise which she described as a mix between a whipper-snipper that won't start properly and a chainsaw, coming from the backyard. Not only that, but it seemed to be moving among the branches of the trees.

Now, what she actually thought she was going to achieve with a hose I haven't yet worked out. Whether it was to freeze the poor little possums or knock them out of the tree I will try to work out later.

The scary thing is, after I had convinced her to leave the possums and come inside (which wasn't as easy as it should have been in the middle of a cold, Canberra winter's night) she was mumbling and asking me to find Harrison's super-soaker water pistol so she could have a second go at them. When I told her she should not be out there and I wouldn't get the water pistol for her to shoot the possums, she then wanted it on standby in case they came back!

All is better now and seems to have settled down. Ali has been tucked into bed and a sleeping tablet should help her relax enough to sleep through until morning. It appears that one of the side-effects of the chemo is she has trouble sleeping.

As for the possums? Well, I haven't seen or heard anything yet. Maybe they were there, just maybe...

Chemo 2: Day 0

Chemo treatment went ahead today as planned.

Alison is now home and snoozing away. We're expecting things to be quiet for the next few days at least.

They gave her a new mix today and have tried to make it so that she doesn't feel as sick afterwards this time. I think she knows now to take the anti-nausea, anti-coldsore and other stuff to help sooner rather than wait to see if the sick feeling passes.

I'll be making sure she lies low for a while and doesn't get up and around until she's feeling much better.

Next post is likely to be Sunday night unless we have some excitement before then (fingers crossed that we don't, there's been too much excitement lately).

PS - As you already know, Ali is a fighter. Here's an old photo of when Ali went to the 'dark' side and picked a light sabre fight with a six-year old Harrison...

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Well...gone today really. Ali got the no. 3 buzz cut today.

I actually think she looks good and that she should have tried it long ago. She's not so sure.

First it was a doctor that told her she was perfectly proportioned, now it's a hairdresser saying that she has a perfectly shaped head (of course) and one that is very suited to short hair. Much like some of those models that just have such defining facial features, they still look beautiful without hair.

There is a wig that she has chosen (only cost the same as three visits to the hairdresser) and that looks good too. Ali did really well choosing the style and colour as it looks totally natural.

Anyway, no photos yet but I'll see what I can do.

Chemo 2: Day -3 (Change in plans!)

False alarm with the chemotherapy today.
We were all set and waiting at the hospital, Ali had the canula in her arm and book by her side. Then we found out her blood had not come back to normal levels yet, specifically the neutrophils were down (neutropenia for the latin fans out there). The whole thing has been postponed until Thursday, when Ali will have another blood test early in the morning and then, hoping that her levels are normal again, the doctors will go ahead with the treatment.

(What are neutrophils? They are a type of white blood cell and make up about 50% - 70% of our white blood cells. They are the first set of immune cells that arrive at a site of infection.)

It was pretty frustrating for Ali as she had got her head around being ready for the next dose, the house was all clean and she was prepared for the reaction to the drugs. Now she will have to build herself up again for this Thursday. We hope it all goes to plan this time.

Hair, hair everywhere
It has started, Ali's hair is slowing coming out. It began about Thursday when she noticed more than usual hair getting caught on her brush.

At the moment it's getting a bit messy and as each day goes, more seems to come out. There's an appointment with the hairdresser/wig-fitter tomorrow. Will let you know how this goes.

Spinal metastasis
In our meeting with the oncologist today, we discussed a scan that Ali had just done last week. The results showed that it is likely that the cancer has spread to the vertebrae in her spine (T6 and possibly T7). While not good, the view at the moment is that there is nothing we need to do on this at the moment as the chemo should be affecting the cells located in her spine. There are options and certainly, if it starts causing trouble then we'll be looking to do something. But for now, it's carry on and we'll keep an eye on it.


That's it for now. I'll try to post again tomorrow night and if not, then at the very least I'll be back to let you know how the chemo goes on Thursday.

Escape to Sydney

Alison & I managed to pack our bags & head to Sydney for a night this weekend. I had a dinner to attend with work so we had flights and accommodation sorted and, with a little bit of help from a friend of a friend (thank you to both of you), we were treated to a very relaxing and enjoyable time.

We arrived around lunchtime and Ali went straight to the Westin where we were staying, while I dropped into the office to finish off some work. After Ali had a bite to eat and a snooze, we caught up later in the afternoon for high tea. Alison being Alison, this meant starting off with some Moet of course. More food, more champagne and some delicious tea (apple & amaretto for me and a white tea for Ali) and we had to retire to our room overlooking Martin Pl.

When we got to the room, we found a bottle of fantastic French champagne, the name of which I have unfortunately forgotten, and a basket of exotic chocolates (even the basket was made of chocolate). With a full glass and handful of chocky delights, Ali soaked herself in the bath for the next half hour or so until it was time to get ready for dinner.

Dinner went well and we had our fair share of chatting away and good food & wine. However, the big day wore us both out. Ali was in bed by 10:30 and I was snoozing about an hour later.

After a buffet breakfast that was challenging even for someone with an appetite as healthy as mine (three vegetable shooters managed to kick me along) Saturday morning was spent wandering around the shops and sipping coffee down by the harbour.

All up, it was a great breakaway and a much needed chance for us to get ready for the second cycle of chemo which starts tomorrow (Monday).

NEXT POST - After we've had a chance to talk to the oncologist and Ali's had her second dose of chemotherapy, I'll put up another post tomorrow night. Stay tuned.

PS - for those of you who are responsible and wondering what happened to the kids, did we bring them and tie them up in the cupboard or leave them alone at home? Well my parents looked after them so they were safe and in good hands