Monday, August 28, 2017

Long Overdue Update



I just received a very nice comment from Susan from a post I wrote last November regarding my husband's illness. Thank you, everyone, for your kind words.

It has been a difficult year. My husband had a regrowth of his tumor in December and had a second surgery in January, followed by more radiation and chemotherapy. He has just not been able to recover much and is now on Hospice care, which we started last week as new tumor growth was detected behind his right eye. Inoperable.

Glioblastoma is unrelenting for some people, and others seem to do well with the standard of care, or keto diet, cannabis oil, etc. For my husband, nothing has worked and he is now well into the 12-15 months they give you at the start of this horror show. Any time from now on is a gift.

We've bought a beautiful property out in the country for a family compound and our younger daughter and her husband will live there permanently, with my older daughter and I visiting on weekends, summer, etc. For now, we have set up a first-floor room where he can look out the window at a beautiful scene and still be able to navigate to a downstairs bathroom. Our three story townhouse in the city is not navigable.

My life has taken a turn and I am now facing a future without the rock I have always depended on in hard times. I'm lucky to have wonderful family and some really great friends, but the one person, MY person, is slipping away.

I can only hope that the terrible diagnoses of GBM that Senator John McCain was just given will bring new energy to fighting this disease, because they have been using the same stuff to fight it for 40 years! But we continue to wage war, rebuild whole countries on our tax dollars, while we are still using the same standard of care for a quite-common brain cancer that is 100% fatal, sooner or later.

I will try to write and keep you updated, those of you still out there, and I send blessings to each and every one of you to give your significant other a big hug today. Tomorrow is promised to no one.