It is starting to be a bit boring, not really but we are continuing much the same as we have been continuing for the last several weeks.

The only difference last week was that, due to some mouth sores, chemo was cancelled. This was after we had gone through the preliminaries prior to starting the premeds. Elaine still has a fair bit of pain and we are doing whatever we can to deal with that. Not much we can do though, but we keep trying. However she still tries and does do as much as she can in all areas which is great and shows Elaine for the trooper she is.

That's about it until next week.

Life is becoming a bit routine. We start the week with a blood test Monday morning then we go to chemo on Wednesday. Last week we had a bit of variation with a visit the oncologist on Monday afternoon. Then we went to the shops on Tuesday and Elaine did very well looking for a present for a 3 yo with a birthday was on Wednesday and a party on the weekend. Wednesday as above and on Thursday I did a bit if work in the morning and some friends that we have not seen for ages dropped info a chat. Friday more of the same followed by our Friday night dinner hostess coming to us for dinner.

So all that mad a liar of the routine bit, but it was a most unusual week. I should add that we baby sat, using our van, on Saturday night and had Lyla for lunch followed by the birthday party on Sunday.

The effect on Elaine was that she was tired and her aches and pains were a little more obvious. There are still lots of bits of aches, pains and just not feeling well to put up with almost non-stop. But she does that and still does little bits and pieces. Last week she made choke soup, today verge soup and a chicken dish for dinner. She is paying for all that right now, tucked up in bed and feeling buggered. All in all though she is doing well in herself.

Well I should have done this last night, but better late than never.

We have had a reasonable week with the usual chemo on Wednesday and as usual Elaine is handling it all very well. The port made chemo easier as they didn't have to go looking for a vein. Pain is still the ever present issue and she had nerve blocks on Saturday for the pain in her chest. However they do not appear to have worked. Overall the pain level is up a bit at the moment and for the first time in 2 months we need a daily dose of break through medication.

Our visit to the oncologist on Monday was good as we appear at the stage, based on the scan results, to be holding our own against the cancer. The current treatment will therefore continue for the time being, on a weekly basis.

So we are still positive although Elaine is putting up with a lot of pain, severe loss of energy and hair loss. But as I said she is handling it well.

The time has come the walrus said !!!! I am not sure that the walrus actually knew what he was on about, but it is time to update Elaine's progress.

This has been a reasonable week with chemo going smoothly with the first treatment using her brand new port. The port sits just under the skin and is accessed by a special needle saving all the fiddling around that goes with finding the correct vein and inserting a new canula each time. so that was a saving in time and discomfort for Elaine. It is hard to tell whether we are winning but a CT scan to be performed tomorrow will bring us up to date when we get the results next week. With this disease winning is a rarity, holding ones own is about as good as it gets. My opinion would be that we are sort of holding our own as Elaine's pain level appears to be constant, varying locations but overall the level stays about the same. Elaine is losing hair at rapid rate and we have had a very useful chat with the cancer council's Wig Library on this score.

Elaine herself is still dealing with it all remarkably well, remains fairly cheerful, entertaining our grandchildren and tonight cooking most of the dinner. In fact she manages to do a few jobs every day.

I did not do a blog earlier this week, naughty boy. You know the routine, he is not  a saint just a naughty boy.

Anyway the week has been ok with Elaine doing reasonably well. At this stage of her treatment that statement is always relative. Actually she still has pain in her left lower chest and after a visit with Dr Chan, our pain specialist, arrangements have been made for a nerve block to control this pain, but not until mid July. As usual wear a blood test on Monday followed by chemo on Wednesday.  Unfortunately we were not able to use Elaine's new 'port' until 2 days after this weeks treatment, however it all went well. After chemo we went to see Dr Chan at his clinic at Charlies and parking there is now rather difficult. I have to drop Elaine at the appropriate door then drive around the block and into the multi story car park, which takes about 10 minutes. Anyway we did see him and arranged the nerve block as above.

The pain is not Elaine's only issue, she is still seriously lacking in energy and spends most of the day in bed. However Elaine being Elaine she does her best to do things and spend a fair bit of time out of bed.

So we move on to next week.