Okay we now have Elaine home, they could not wait to get rid of her. That is not really true but they did inform her first thing this morning that she could go and she was packed up and ready to roll when I got there at about 11am. However we cannot use the port until June 30, probably something to do with this end of financial year that everybody is talking about?!?!?! Oh well, she will have 2 more treatments the old way and I wonder how hard it will be to find the vein for the canula.

Okay Elaine now has a port in her right shoulder, not the sort that one would sail a boat into or one that one would use for a computer peripheral but a port nonetheless . It will be used for her chemo infusions and will, hopefully, save all the drama that has been involved in getting a canula in place. During the last few treatments.

Madam doesn't like the hospital , not necessarily Hollyeood, although she has had some seriously cutting remarks about Hollywood. I think that she just doesn't like the idea of being in hospital, and I fo not blame her, and so she is not at all a happy camper. So with a bit of luck she will come home tomorrow and they will probably be just as happy as she will be if that happens.

Thus ends another week which has been OK for Elaine. Lots of little issues but that is to be expected and she is coping well being the strong person that she has proved to be.

Chemo this week was fairly usual in that we got there just a little before our 1.30pm appointment and were collected at about 2pm for the process to start. This is not bad and not unexpected as this day ward is very busy and sometimes patients take longer than was anticipated. We proved that when the nurses had a lot of trouble finding an appropriate vein in which to insert a canula and it was about 3pm before the actual infusion started. We finished at about 4.30pm and trotted over, or more accurately drove over to Simon Troon's rooms for our regular follow up visit. After some discussion based on the issue that the nurses have with Elaine's recalcitrant veins we decided to get a port installed. This basically is a permanent hole in Elaine's skin through which they can insert the tubes for her infusions. Sounds bad but isn't and will, we trust, make life a lot easier on chemo days. That happens on Monday when we were booked in to arrive at Hollywood at the unearthly hour of 6.30am. However I have just been advised of a reprieve changing the time to 8.30am.

Well we are back at home and Elaine is doing okay. The only issue is that she is feeling a bit under the weather which is probably a combination of the chemo and the reduction in her nasty, habit forming drugs. The biggest symptom is a complete lack of energy, but Elaine is Elaine is Elaine and she is getting up and spending as much time as possible out of bed. On the weekend we had visits from our youngest grandchildren and from our oldest which always seems to cheer madam up.

That's about it for now.

Here we are back at home after  a 4 day break. First day to Eneabba then south west to Milligans Island (half way between Leeman and Greenhead). Elaine struggled a bit so we came home yesterday and lucky that we did as there was a major holdup on that road today. Today Elaine was great, not perfect but not struggling like the last couple of days.

Thus week is back into the routine of blood tests, doctors and chemo. Hopefully it will all proceed without a hitch.

There we are sitting around at home getting ready for the next chemo treatment to be followed by a visit to our oncologist and one of us says "why don't we take a little trip starting after chemo?"  The other one says "maybe". So we have our little visit with Dr Troon after chemo and he says that, seeing that Elaine is tolerating the treatment so well, we will continue on and do 9 weeks treatment straight. We say okay, then decide on the way home to have a 6 day trip. Northwards of course and the target is set as Kalbarri.

So Thursday morning after I get stitches removed by my dermatologist we jump in the van and drive of into the sunset, actually it was a bit late for sunrise and a bit too early for sunset. We intended to spend the night at Eneabba where they allow visitors to park on what was once a football oval for the princely sum of $5 each. On the way we detoured to the Bindoon Bakehaus, as one does, for bread and lunch. They detour was only about 15 km extra but we arrived at Eneabba after travelling about 295 km and were both worn out. Thus Kalbarri was ruled out as too hard.

Today we have travelled about 60 kms, sort of southwards, to the Milligan Island Eco Camp provided by the Shire of Coorow and costing just $15 per night. This is a fairly new site and set up for about 36 units, all in well marked and well seperated bays. When we arrived early afternoon only a couple of people were here, but it is filling rapidly and will no doubt be packed by tomorrow night.

Madam is doing well, she drove a bit yesterday and all the way today. She is still short of energy and it still worries her, but we are assured that it is par for the course with this treatment. I trust that the break will be beneficial to her (and to me).