After three days of not blogging, I feel like I'm experiencing withdrawals. On a more serious note, the reason for this entry is because there is more news to share.
The kids returned to school today after two days off due to Purim. This also gave me an opportunity to go into work after dropping them off to get a few things done.
Maria and Effie walked to a framing shop in Kfar Shmaryahu (neighbouring suburb), after which they walked to Kathy’s home to meet the women’s bible study group. Just as they were making their way there, I received a call from the Neurosurgeon, advising the final pathology results were ready and he wanted us to meet the Neuro-Oncologist at 2pm. I called our doctor (and friend) Harvey, who was able to be present.
I won’t go into the initial issue we had in the hospital after arriving (the Cancer Centre is beautiful and appears to be state of the art), as it was one of those funny Israeli moments which I may record later in a book (only joking). Thanks to Harvey for stepping in with his language skills and proactivity to resolve what could otherwise have been a stressful situation.
We met with the Neuro-Oncologist, who was very professional (Russian/Israeli). She talked through Maria’s pathology, treatment options and then received a pleasant barrage of questions from us (we were in her office for well over an hour and a half). Without bogging you down too much, the key things we learnt included:
· Maria’s final diagnosis is that the tumour is a Grade 4 (highest level) Glioblastoma multiforme (mix of both astrocytoma and oligodendroglioma).
· Maria’s has been suffering from worsening headaches (recent event), which could be due to the reduction in the anti-inflammatory steroids. The dose has been increased again, which is probably not going to improve her sleep in a hurry.
· Maria’s Anticonvulsant medication was not effective, indicated in a recent blood test. The positive side to this is that she has not had a seizure to date (even before the operation). However, she has experienced some twitching in her right hand in recent days that caused the specialist to change to a higher dose of another medication.
· A prognosis was not clear, albeit Maria asked for this in no uncertain terms. The specialist explained most of the data is from old treatments (the new treatment data samples are smaller). She claimed new approaches and understanding has shown some increase in average life expectancy.
· Maria will actually be treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy simultaneously (not previously raised with us). Because of this, there are potential side effects that could impact on the timing of Maria’s return to Australia, such as bone marrow suppression (i.e. decrease in white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets, which in turn, result in anemia, bacterial infections, and spontaneous or excess bleeding).
· We will need to have Maria undergo a CT early next week to confirm Maria’s ability to travel, should there be a need to mobilise in a short timeframe.
Effie forwarded documentation to Brian and spoke with him a little while ago to see if he could contact those specialists in Australia he has been liaising with. The purpose of the contact is to gauge their views on what impact the side effects from the combined therapy will have on Maria's ability to travel back to Australia. We had aimed to leave in the next 10-12 weeks, but that could potentially be much sooner as Maria must commence the initial treatment cycle in the next two weeks.
My position was advertised today. It was a very strange feeling to see it “up in lights” and in many ways gave me a heavy heart. I hope to meet with staff early next week when we have made a firm decision on our departure time, which again will be contingent on a range of discussions we will be having over the weekend.
The three of us prayed for many things this evening, but mainly focused on wisdom when confronting the big decision as to where the initial treatment should take place and for all things to run smoothly, considering the potential stress involved. For those of you out there praying for us, I’d be grateful if you could focus on that point in your own prayer time.
