Tue 29-Sep-09 (first entry in over a week)

I haven't written for a week as I have honestly lacked the energy, as well as not having much to report. Below is a summary of the last seven days.

Gabi was exhausted earlier last week after school. We discovered that her class practiced in PE (sport) for their upcoming athletics carnival. Gabi humbly described how she beat all the girls in her class in the sprint (I think it's 70m, but not sure), followed by tying for first with the fastest boy when the quickest boys and girls had a run-off. She was already nervous about the carnival and in her usual style, not keen to win anything as others may miss out.

On Thursday, Ben lost his 9th tooth. We were to discover on Friday morning that he would miss the last day of term with a badly infected middle-ear. He had been fighting a sinus issue all week, which seemed to have progressed to this.

On Friday Gabi finished term with an afternoon tea that Maria and I attended. We left Ben at home with the house locked and explicit instructions on not answering the door and how to evacuate in the event of an emergency. We were a little on edge while away from him, albeit he was in bed and it was only for about an hour. That night we all watched the first NRL (rugby league) semi final. Ben got through it.

The weather had been horrific and continued to be the same on Saturday. We lazed around the house and I hired a number of DVDs. It is the most TV we have collectively watched "ever" in one day. In between movies we caught up with the AFL Grand Final and the kids went to bed at half-time in the NRL 2nd semi due to a combination of exhaustion and a less enthralling match. Gabi lost her 7th tooth. Fortunately it was naturally and not from any re-enactments of the footy!

On Sunday in the rain we ventured out to an "open day" for The Lodge (our Prime Minister's residence)...

...and Government House (Governor General's residence)...

As you can see some of the photos it was cold and wet. We are not complaining about the massive rainfall we've had as our city needs it desperately! The excursion exhausted Maria. She is requiring more sleep in the afternoons.

Yesterday (Monday) we had another day at home. While it didn't rain, we experienced winter-like temps. The kids have been building fortresses and tunnels in the play room. I got into the action with them during dress-ups. It was lovely to see "creationism" in action. What do I mean by that? Well, although Ben and Gabi play together all the time, Ben naturally always wants to "shoot down the enemy" and "save the day", while Gabi (although starting out as Ben's accomplice) ends up "helping the injured" and "seeking to be rescued". I stick by my view that God clearly made man and woman differently.

These photos are from the "ceremony" where I presented them bravery awards (actually some of my medals from a former vocation).

 

 

It's Tuesday evening and Ben is still not 100%. The antibiotics have worked well, but he still experiences some pain from time-to-time. Earlier today we took the kids to the National Library to watch some old cartoons in their Theatre (50-75 years old). Afterwards we had lunch and explored some of the exhibits before heading home mid-afternoon for Maria's mandatory nap.

We visit the Oncologist on Thursday (1st) with a view to Maria commencing her fourth cycle of chemo the following week.

We will be moving to daylight saving in the early hours of Sunday morning, which means an hour's less sleep and we gain an hour on all of you living in the northern hemisphere.

Tue 22-Sep-09 (dust storms, thunderstorms, earthquakes)

I should start with Maria. She is still struggling a little with her sinus issue. She is not vomiting anymore. On the other hand, Ben is struggling more with his problem. However, he has been well enough to go through the school say—just a lot of blowing up thick mucous. I'll stop there as it's probably too much information...

For our overseas readers it has been a strange day on the weather front. We woke to a dusty haze that sat over the city all day. The dust storm—reminiscent of the "khamsin" we experienced in Israel—has come as a result of a cold front from South Australia (flying distance just under 1000km) pushing strong winds across the east, picking up dirt and dust from badly affected drought areas on the way.

The fog of dust started to be washed away early this evening when thunderstorms rolled in. With what we've been watching tonight with the sky lighting up it's hard to imagine we reside in an inland city like Jerusalem (as we are at a similar altitude and share common weather patterns). I truly felt like we were in the tropics. The storms have increased in intensity, as has the rain.

While watching the news late this evening, we discovered that Sydney (300km away) has been affected with huge rainfall and in an area about 40km from Melbourne's CBD (660km from us) there were two small earthquakes (magnitude 3.0 and 2.6 respectively) just after 6:00pm, striking within 13 seconds of each other. I understand there were reports of injuries or serious damage to property.

After I got some house cleaning out of the way, we went to school to purchase summer uniform items for the kids. This is their last week of term—time to put the winter uniforms into mothballs. After their two-week break they'll return for the final term of the year in their newly acquired uniforms. I should mention that some of Gabi's items (dresses and sports skirt) were kindly loaned to us, which will get her through to the end of the year (thanks Cathy and Vivienne).

Mon 21-Sep-09 (visit to the doctor, emotions - or lack thereof )

Maria struggled on and off with headaches through the night. She vomitted at 4:00am and then had a better sleep.

We saw Maria's GP (doctor) this morning, which was a pre-planned visit as opposed to a response to last night's events. She is lovely, wise and very much up to speed on current issues. She was frustrated that the Neurosurgical Registrar recommended for Maria to withdraw completely from the steroids, and was even more bewildered given Maria's current sinus infection. Our long appointment was very fruitful as we were able to cover off on a number of issues, including the current state of play (i.e. tumour shrinkage), which she was very excited about.

Everything's been a little surreal for me for some time now. I remember walking out of the hospital with Maria praising God, but not feeling overwhelmed with emotion. As I said, this has been the case for some time now. I find myself feeling guilty because of my lack of emotion as well as having lost the ability to cry. At least Maria has an excuse for not being able to! I actually don't recall crying since the evening before Maria's last surgery. To me it is even more amazing when you think that there has been a lot to cry about since then with ups-and-downs, funerals, etc. but it just hasn't happened. In some ways it can be a blessing in disguise, but I am also conscious that perhaps the people I come into contact with may see me as a little bit "cold". Perhaps I'm just all cried out!?

Sun 20-Sep-09 (accident with kangaroo, broken arm, medication withdrawal issues)

Now I've caught your attention with the heading, I'll describe in more detail what has taken place over the past 24 hours.

It all started yesterday afternoon. Effie and the kids left our place late in the afternoon so they could get home before dark. They were on the road leading to their property when a kangaroo hopped in front of them and was hit. Nick (her eldest) saw something fly from the "roo". They turned around to check on it as she assumed it may have been a body part. They found the roo with a badly broken leg (it had dragged itself into a ditch on the side of the road) and a "joey" (baby) alive and well near to it. The joey was the object seen flying from the mother roo. They took the joey and were considering what to do with the mum when a neighbour passed by and said the most humane course of action was to run it over with Effie's large 4WD. As she could not do that (especially with her three kids present and probably a lot of emotions as you could imagine), she called another neighbour who went up and shot it after they had left. A member of a local organisation who cares for orphaned wildlife arrived in the evening and collected the joey. We learnt of the incident this afternoon when Effie called to inform us of another event, involving Maria's mum. Read on...

Maria's mum had a fall at a friend's home today and broke her arm. The doctor at the hospital treating their mum spoke with Effie (who is also a doctor) and said it was a spiral fracture of the humerus (upper arm), which should heal with a slab to hold it in place without the need for surgery.

We received a call from Maria's mum when she returned from hospital a little while later. She sounded a little out of it, but was able to relay the story. As her face seemed to cop the brunt of the fall, she said she was "very fortunate" (i.e. we say blessed) to have avoided even more severe injuries. Please keep Maria's mum in your prayers.

Later this afternoon Maria started to struggle with severe head pain and general unwellness. From experience it appeared that she was having withdrawals from the dexamethasone (steroids), which we stopped yesterday in line with medical advice. She took some stronger pain killers to see whether that would take the edge off. However, this was unsuccessful. Although it was around 7:00pm and Maria was reluctant to take the dose as it may disturb her sleep, we agreed it was the lesser of two evils and we'd address it with her GP (doctor) in a pre-planned appointment tomorrow.

Photos added to previous entry

I accidentally omitted some photos I promised Maria's parents I'd add to the blog. They have now been added. Sorry Mama & Baba.

Fri 18-Sep-09 (MRI result)

Maria's parents came over in the morning after they stayed at a friend's place the previous evening—having been to a funeral yesterday. The four of us went out for lunch to allow us all to relax a bit with the exception of Maria who was already in that zone.

The appointment was at 3:30pm, but we weren't seen until nearly an hour later. Time seemed to slow down as we waited. Eventually we saw one of the neurosurgical registrars who was involved in treating Maria during her hospitalisations. The computer didn't seem to be working—which was adding to my anxiety—so we passed the time covering off on questions while waiting for the PC to reboot.

Maria's Neurosurgeon came in just as the computer sorted itself. We chatted briefly, then he brought up last week's MRI. He then pulled up her previous two scans (i.e. before and after her surgery) for comparison, with the main focus on how it looked against the one taken two days after her surgery on 17 June.

Without going into all the technical discussion, the tumour has SHRUNK!!! Although there is still tumour present, overall it is smaller than post-surgery. The neurosurgeon was very happy with what he saw in that in his view (comparing size and aspects of the tumour) it is "under control" at present. The other great news is that we are going to cut Maria's dexamethasone (steroids) completely from tomorrow and her Oxycontin (pain relief) next week. We'll see how that goes. Maria has more pronounced shaking in her hands, which is more than likely a side effect of one of her many drugs. We will be seeing a Neurologist in the near future (recommended by the Neurosurgeon) to examine this issue in a bit more detail.

He wants Maria to continue her chemotherapy and ordered another MRI in three months (early December), after which we'll meet with him and go through this again. PRAISE GOD for this result!!! You can imagine the emotion of Maria's parents when we arrived home to share the news with them.

After dinner, Maria's parents headed back to their South Coast home (3 hours away). Maria went to bed early as it has been a huge day for her. The kids and I are kicking back, watching a football (Rugby League) semi-final.

I want to take this opportunity to first and foremost thank those who have uplifted Maria (and our family) in prayer to our Lord, Jesus Christ. We also thank those who have expressed their love and support by email.

Thu 17-Sep-09 (kids at school, rain)

Maria continues to fight her sinus problem. She is at least sleeping okay through the night.

The kids continue to make us proud with everything going on in our household. Today Ben received a Merit Award for poetry and there were very positive comments on his "neat handwriting" (this is really something, believe me). We also received a note from Gabi's teacher today, advising that Gabi has moved beyond her reading levels to now be considered an independent reader. She is very excited about having the option now to choose to read whatever she likes. She has already enjoyed recently reading a book from Ben's year.

After a beautiful day yesterday, today also started out okay. However, it became more overcast as time passed and the rain set in around late afternoon. It's pouring right now, so Maria's newly planted tree will get a good drink. We may have the same weather over the weekend, which would be a shame given some of our neighbours intend to catch up for a picnic at the Cotter Dam. That said, it's hard to complain when our city can really do with the rain.

We saw Maria's parents briefly today as they came to Canberra for a funeral. They are staying with some friends nearby and intend to have lunch with Maria and I before we go to the hospital for the meeting with the Neurosurgeon.

On the topic of the MRI result, I saw one of our friends in the school car park this afternoon and we quickly chatted about it. It was 3:28pm at the time when I commented that, "It's only 24 hours and 2 minutes to wait, but who's counting?" It's now 11:30pm, which means only 16 hours to go. Maria has just shuffled off to bed but before she left she said that she is not worried about it at all and hasn't really thought about it. She's just been amazing, especially the peace that continues to envelope her. I'm going to head off to bed myself.

MRI results this Friday - meeting delay (by hours only)

Maria's Neurosurgeon's PA called today to let us know that as he has surgery to perform on Friday morning, our meeting had been put back from 10:00am to 3:30pm local time.

I know there are people out there who, like us, are very keen to know the result don't want to be kept in suspense. The timing on when I "post" will very much depend on what we have to digest as well as other things happening at the time.

Wed 16-Sep-09 (better day, Assembly, tree planting)

As I'm sitting in my bed without access to our camera, we'll be going without any photos for this entry.

Maria had a better night. No nausea or vomiting to report. As we were leaving for school Gabi reminded Maria that she said she would go to this morning's school asssembly. Maria quickly got changed and we made it in time.

Our intention to go along was because the teacher of the Kindergarten class hosting the assembly is the daughter of friends we haven't seen since before Israel. As is God's timing, both John and Marilyn were there and we were able to catch up for a coffee afterwards. To add icing to the cake, Gabi received an award and was very excited that we were present to witness it. Like us, she knew nothing of it in advance. As I said, it was the timing...

As we were out all morning, Maria was exhausted by the time we got home. While she slept I dug a big hole to plant the weeping cherry blossom we bought her for her birthday. It was such a nice day to be out. Canberra clay can be a challenge to dig through at times. After collecting the kids we returned to finish off the job of planting, closely following the nursery's directions.

Ben had a mild stomach complaint that put him into bed a little earlier than usual. A praise point is that his thumb and hand appears to be healing at a rate quicker than I expected.

Tue 15-Sep-09 (day in hospital)

Maria woke around 5:00am with severe nausea. She tried to hold off from vomiting, but was unsuccessful. It wasn't until around 6:30am when she came to me to let me know what had happened and that she was desperate to eat because of the nausea. She was able to keep down the Vegemite toast.

I contacted our doctor just before 8:00am to discuss the situation. We agreed that the best place for Maria to be assessed was the hospital, so after dropping off the kids (giving Maria time to shower), we headed in. Just before the nurse took Maria to a bed out the back (about 2 hours later), she felt another wave of nausea come on, but no vomiting on this occasion.

We were greeted by a very nice and thorough doctor. She did a lengthy examination of Maria, took some blood and organised a chest x-ray. The only down-side was that she unsuccessfully attempted to put a drip into Maria's hand. Maria gave a guarantee that she would continue to drink from her water bottle. After the doctor left, Maria said it was "the most painful experience" she has had to date. That is saying a lot!

After waiting around all day we discovered that her blood test was clear as was the x-ray. The doctor made a number of attempts to contact the neurosurgery team without success. The doctor had a look at the MRI but as she had nothing to compare it with, she said it was best to wait until our appointment on Friday with the neurosurgeon. We left the hospital some time after 4:15pm. At least the nausea did not come back at any time

Given that no-one has been in contact with us since the MRI, you could view that in a positive light—should the system work that way. On the flip side you can look at today's event and question why none of Maria's Neurosurgeon's underlings (there are a few) could give a few minutes to speak with us about the MRI, or at least touch bases to examine her themselves. Again, I don't know the system intimately enough yet to make a proper call. I'll just have to be patient and wait until Friday for answers to these questions.

Mon 14-Sep-09 (illness, injury and Sloppy Joes)

Maria continues her fight against a nasty flu. Her temperature came up a degree (celsius), but is still sitting in the 'safe' range. She is experiencing a lot more congestion, fatigue, some coughing and hot flushes. I got her out for a walk, which was lovely in this ever-improving weather and early Spring period. We were able to have a close look at the local flora and the multitude of bees involved in the pollination process.

In terms of Maria's health, we'll see what tonight and the morning holds. We could well be on the doctor's door step again.

On Saturday afternoon while we were at the park Ben kicked a football into the air, which rebounded quickly off an overhanging branch and hit his thumb, badly jarring it. He said he got through school today by writing with his right (weak) hand without any complaints. As a toddler and young(er) boy he was always on the cusp of ambidexterity. This somewhat confirms this.

It flared up again this afternoon when he accidentally knocked it as we were leaving a play date. I have splinted and bandaged it. Should there be no improvement in the next 24 hours, then our family doctor could have another visitor from our household.

I christened our Slow Cooker today. I cooked 'Sloppy Joes'. I had better explain to our Aussie readers that we haven't hit rock bottom and thereby forced into ingesting loose-fitting pullovers. The 'Sloppy Joes' I'm referring to is an American meal made from mince and a number of other ingredients that has the consistency of a thick bolognese sauce that you place on hamburger buns. That is exactly what we did and the kids devoured them. The meal brought back vivid memories of our American brothers and sisters in Israel and our visits to "The Diner" in Herzliya. My next attempt to keep holding onto those memories will be "chilli", but I doubt it will be anything like what Mark used to cook-up at Lunch and Library in Israel.

Fri 11-Sep-09 (Maria's illness)

Maria woke this morning feeling sluggish, very congested and with a dry and irritated throat. I was able to arrange an appointment with her GP (family physician), who has been awesome in that she will always fit any of us in, albeit she is usually booked out.

Maria's doctor was able to establish it was NOT Swine Flu, but some type of other flu. Fortunately (well, God's timing actually), the change in antibiotic that she commenced today will better protect her from this developing into something worse.

Everyone went to bed quite late after a family night where each of us worked on a piece of graffiti/artwork. With Maria's general unwellness and the anticipation of the kids being very fatigued in the morning, I can see it being another quiet weekend.

Thu 10-Sep-09 (hospital appt, funeral)

I left in the morning for Mittagong (just under 200km) to attend Aunty Dawn's funeral. The service was moving, yet I was uplifted when hearing the Minister share about Aunty Dawn's faith in Jesus, combined with his message of the importance of true salvation which can only be achieved through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As an aside, it was strange to see relatives I had not seen in years, and quite surreal to have now seen some twice in less than two months (with Uncle Vic's funeral only 6 1/2 weeks ago).

Having left early, it was great to have help with getting the kids to and from school (thanks Viv). Also, Maria had an appointment at the hospital with the Infectious Diseases Professor regarding the ongoing management of her cerebral abscess (thanks Gill). This was the first appointment I had not been present for, which felt quite strange. Anyway, due to the ongoing issues Maria has been experiencing, including joint pain and insomnia (suspected side effects) her antibiotic has been changed from Ciprofloxacin to Bactrim. She will make the changeover in the morning, so we'll see in the coming days whether this will alleviate those problems.

Maria has decided to wait to learn of the MRI outcome at our appointment with the Neurosurgeon next Friday (18th). I respected her wish and did not contact the Oncologist today. As I mentioned in the previous entry, she is at such peace about it. I am thankful that I am slowly becoming more at ease over the wait. It will be interesting (that's one way to put it) to learn on that day how effective these cycles of chemo have actually been in controlling the tumour.

Tue 8-Sep-09 (delay in chemo, long MRI)

Yesterday I made the usual call to Maria's Oncologist to get the go-ahead for her chemo. He was very surprised to see that her platelet count had dropped significantly in a week since her last blood test (from 240+ down to 120). He asked that Maria go to the hospital today for another blood test in the event it was a false/positive result. Maria had the test at midday (she didn't even feel the needle) and the result was ready within an hour. The levels had come back up, although not to where it had been historically. Nevertheless, it was sufficient for Maria to have approval to commence chemo this evening.

Between the blood test and MRI, we had lunch with Maria's sister Effie. She and Brian came up from Cooma so Brian could undergo a minor procedure. It was nice to have that time with her.

I was in the MRI waiting room for over an hour. Maria said that she was in the machine itself for about 45mins, being the longest time we could recall. She even fell asleep for a while (I did the same in the waiting room). I told her that maybe it took so long because they had trouble finding anything! Although the Oncologist asked us to call on Thursday so he could have a look and chat about the result, Maria is keen to wait for when we meet with the Neurosurgeon on the 18th. I don't know if I can wait that long. The level of peace that Maria is experiencing at the moment is amazing! She knows it is all in God's hands.

We left the hospital and drove directly to a doctor's appointment (this time for me), as throughout last night I felt another bout of strep throat coming on. It looks like it is in its early stages. Our doctor gave me a high dose of penicillin that I'll take for a week. I'm not so worried about myself, but rather to minimise any risks to Maria.

Sun 6-Sep-09 (Father's Day)

Firstly, Happy Father's Day to all those Dads out there having the opportunity to read this.

Maria, Ben and Gabi allowed me to sleep in while they prepared a croissant breakfast. Gabi created the breakfast plate designs and Ben did the centrepiece (photos labelled accordingly). I also received some lovely handmade gifts and cards from the kids and a Toblerone bar specially designed for Father's Day.

Maria had her second consecutive reasonable night's sleep.

Apart from some more football...

...it has been a relaxing day. After lunch we took a slow walk to a park nearby on the top of a hill. The ascent was especially tough for Maria. The up-side (pardon the pun) was that it was a downhill run (well...walk actually) home.

The plan for this evening is to have party pies and sausage rolls for dinner in front of the TV.

Sat 5-Sep-09 (passing of another family member, dinner with friends)

This morning I received a call from Mum to say that my Aunty Dawn passed away a few hours earlier, after a long battle with cancer. Mum and Aunty Margaret (who lost her husband Vic only a few weeks ago - see earlier blog entry) had been staying with Aunty Dawn and Uncle Maurie (Mum's brother) after learning that all medical options had been exhausted. From my discussion with Mum, Aunty Dawn was admitted to hospital yesterday after becoming ill and weak. Her passing still came as a huge shock because around 1:00am Uncle Maurie was encouraged to go home as Aunty Dawn was resting, only to receive a call three hours later and told to return immediately. I understand she died a short time later.

I had the privilege of briefly speaking with Aunty Dawn after Uncle Vic's funeral service before she headed off for treatment. During that chat she indicated her situation was not a good one.

Please keep Uncle Maurie, and my cousins Greg and Sharon (and their respective families) in your prayers.

After delivering the above news it feels a little strange to briefly mention dinner tonight. However, as we had a lovely time with dear friends (and our kids with theirs) at their home, I couldn't omit it. Thanks Paul and Mel.

Ben was struggling through the afternoon with what may be a cold or sinus problem. He fell asleep during the short drive home. I think part of this goes back to 5:10 this morning, when enroute to the bathroom, I heard the loud rustling of toys and found Ben in his room sifting through a Playmobil container without any realisation of the time. I was also concerned as one of his bedroom walls is shared with Maria's, and another with Gabi's. He didn't quite seem himself then, but having only been asleep a short time, I was a bit fuzzy and could not put my finger on what it was. As the day has progressed his ailment has become more obvious. We'll be keeping an eye on his condition—praying it will pass quickly. Grateful your prayers.

Maria's sleep continues to be quite random in terms of good/bad nights. Last night was a good one. Let's see what tonight holds.

Fri 4-Sep-09 (Family night, evening conference call)

As per our usual practice, we had our family night. I cooked hamburgers on the BBQ, which were prepared by Maria. After watching a video with the kids they went off to bed, quite exhausted from a big week.

This gave me an opportunity to be involved in a teleconference with the the International Brain Tumour Alliance's (IBTA) core group (situated in Oz, UK, and NZ) at the invitation of Denis who chairs the Alliance. It was an interesting hour-and-a-quarter discussion and I was grateful for the opportunity as a carer to get some more insight into IBTA's operations.

Thu 3-Sep-09 (Colin concert)

A large part of our day involved a meeting with those building our kitchen and project managing the works.

We found out that one of Ben's school friends has come down with the chicken pox. Fortunately Ben has been immunised. Maria's about to start another cycle of chemo on Monday, so we'll be keeping an eye on him.

We went to a church that was constructed just before we had left for Israel, which is only down the road from home to see Colin Buchanan perform. Ben and Gabi (and us grown-ups) love his CDs and videos/DVDs. He is a real godly person who has an amazing heart for Jesus and can put out "the message" in a fun and clear way, with brilliant songs that include Bible memory verses. He is just as funny in a 'live' setting. Ben and Gabi had a few friends there, so they sat at the front near the stage while we could hang out on chairs up the back. They both really got into it (as did we), which was a blessing. I have included some photos (there are video clips as well, but I'll save you from them).

Afterwards we lined up with the masses so the kids could meet Colin and have him sign their posters. He was so happy to spend time with everyone. He has a knack of engaging in a genuine way that makes you feel like you've known him forever. While chatting he became aware of Maria's situation and he showed a "real" compassion. He shared some of a message he had listened to on the way from Sydney today, which I felt was relevant for us. I had the chance to have first met him a few years ago at a Men's Conference, which was not long after I had become a believer. I remember chatting with him on that occasion, and like today, you felt completely at ease with him.

We were all exhausted and had a take-away McDonalds dinner. Ben was almost falling asleep in his dinner. Looks like he's going to be finishing homework off early tomorrow morning.

By this time (9pm) Maria is in bed struggling with fatigue (tonight is no exception). She's had some head pain again in recent days, but nothing like what we've traditionally been accustomed to.

Wed 2-Sep-09 (Maria on the town tonight)

Not much to write about today. It was nice to have a day without appointments. As I am a quick shopper, in less than an hour I was able to buy some pairs of jeans, sort out an issue at Medicare, and get home. Then it was time to tackle the leaking kitchen taps ("fawcets" for our US friends). We were hoping to leave it as we'll have a new kitchen in the coming weeks, but the leaking increased over the last couple of days and became unbearable. Unfortunately I have little in the way of tools, so it was up to my trusty monkey grips (on their last legs). The grips were able to open one of the taps, but gave up on the other. Thanks to our neighbour Alan, I got the tool I needed and had it fixed in no time. Time to bury the monkey grips.

A relaxing afternoon—even had an hour's nap. Gabi came home with me from school while Ben stayed on with his mate Matt for a playdate.

This evening Maria went off with Vivienne for a girls pamper night with some women from Viv's bible study group. I'm sure she'll have a good time.

I had the kids in bed early as they both look exhausted. As we are going to the "Colin Buchanan" concert tomorrow afternoon, they're going to need their energy.

I'm going to leave it there so I can get the kids' lunches ready and catch up on some news on the net.

Next week's MRI

As you know from the multiple references to date, Maria will have an MRI next Tuesday (8th). This will be the first since her post-operative MRI, which was conducted to see how successful the surgery was. The feedback from that discussion (now over two months ago) was that approximately 80 per cent of the mass was successsfully removed. From the residual (20%) mass remaining, it was not possible to determine the percentage of tumour -v- infection.

As alluded to in a recent blog entry, we won't have instant feedback as to the MRI outcome until the 10th, when I'm scheduled to call Maria's Oncologist before he heads overseas. We meet with the Neurosurgeon on the 18th to discuss it in more detail.

We continue to be—perhaps selfishly—prayerful that His Will aligns with ours.

Tue 1-Sep-09 (First day of Spring)

We were greeted by a beautiful Spring Day to start this season. I'm looking to many more.

After dropping the kids off at school, I headed home to be there before the arrival of a Cancer Social Worker, so we could discuss some matters with her. While out the front with Maria collecting the mail, we saw our dear neighbour Alan. He and Maria were able to share with each other their recent experiences with cancer. Please keep Alan in your prayers.

We spent some time with the Social Worker, who is a lovely lady. She is also a believer (which I guessed before we met). It was nice to relate on serious issues at both a professional and spiritual level (that comment may not make sense to everyone).

Just after the Social Worker left, we had someone come over to: (a) look at how we can maximise the efficiency of our heating system; (b) quote for the gas hook-up to our new kitchen (which will hopefully take place at the end of this month or early October); and (c) investigate issues with our evaporative cooling system, which cropped up at the end of our tenants' stay. It hasn't been warm enough to worry about it until now.

The cleaner came this afternoon. We spent some time over afternoon tea after she finished her work. It is nice to be able to develop a rapport with people we meet. Next Monday will be the last time (as Maria has her MRI on Tuesday) we will have this assistance, which has been a huge blessing to us.

I knocked off as many loads of washing as possible while getting a simple dinner ready, giving Maria and the kids a chance to kick-back. Ben and Gabi played beautifully together. I found the recycling bin raided a number of times. I discovered they had created an amazing array of paper aeroplanes and miniature cardboard soldiers they had designed, cut out and coloured.

For some strange reason I still continue to struggle with overwhelming nausea at times (like now). That said, it feels different to the gastro and I certainly don't any more of those symptoms. Hopefully it'll disappear in due course.

Mon 31-Aug-09 (Oncologist; catch-up after illness; last day of winter?)

There has been a delay in my writing as I've had an ongoing fight with illness. By the time Maria's birthday came around, I was feeling better and started to slide by the time I wrote the previous entry that evening. Just on Maria's birthday, I forgot to add photos of she and Ben playing Pokemon cards together. So, here you go! Maria won both games, albeit she can't work out how as she relied on Ben to lead her through it. He played fair and square.

By Saturday I was again fighting nausea, headaches and fatigue. I drove Ben to a birthday party on the other side of town, held at "Zone 3", which I could best describe as an indoor laser version of paintball. I came home to have a rest to shake off the nausea before heading back. When I came home I found Maria and Gabi had been into the make-up in a big way. They took a heap of photos of themselves and asked me to finish off their "photo shoot" for them. It was very sweet and will be an awesome memory for Gabi. Here are a few examples of their exploits.

Sunday was generally an easy day. Maria's parents popped through in the morning to wish us a happy birthday whilst enroute to a function at the Hellenic Club (near to us).

The kids got me to play cricket and football with them in the afternoon. I wasn't feeling well at all by the end of it, but it was worth the effort. I have attached a "video highlights package" from our cricket match, which I hope works.

Today Maria and I visited her Oncologist. He was really happy with how she looked. Her blood test from last week showed perfect scores again, indicating as has always been the case she copes perfectly well with the chemo. We collected her next dose. This next cycle (her third) will start next Monday. As Maria is having her MRI next Tuesday and he is off to Germany for a conference a week or so later, he has asked that we contact him a couple of days later to discuss the MRI outcome. Praying for something very special.

This is the last day of winter in the southern hemisphere. I have to say that it doesn't quite feel like it to me—the icy winds may have something to do with it. That said, the flowers are budding and blooming.

Fri 28-Aug-09 (Maria's birthday)

We had a wonderful evening last night seeing the kids' school performing the "Super Saviour Spectacular" (i.e. about Jesus), we all crashed out late after a celebratory McDonalds dinner.

This morning we were up and busy, preparing the kitchen for breakfast. I had prepared the pancakes the night before so it was only a matter of cooking them while trying to get everything ready for Maria.

In the meantime we made Maria a cup of tea and toast to have in bed to pass the time. We came in to find her excited by her birthday and continued hair growth (which was up like a mohawk this morning). She decided to celebrate her day in style with a pose of a rendition of...well...I'm not sure who really!! Anyway, it's great to see she hasn't lost her sense of humour. In fact, in many ways she's gained more of it over the last six months.


After breakfast, a number of phone calls and allowing our tummies to rest, we headed into the city to "Koko Black" (Canberra's version of Max Brenner) where Maria put a gift voucher to good use (thanks Janelle). As it was a sunny day, around 18 degrees celsius (64 fahrenheit) we headed across to the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets where we bought a seafood lunch, which we took to a park we frequented some years ago. After lunch we played with Ben (football) and Gabi's (netball) new purchases.


When we got home Maria had some time with Ben (as he'll be at a birthday party tomorrow) while Gabi and I went birthday cake shopping. We weren't convinced with what was on offer, so I bought a cake mix and went home and made one myself. I decided to do an icing from scratch, which came out okay. I laid it on thin as it was quite sweet. The kids helped me to decorate it.

After watching a DVD and reading a Bible story, everyone collapsed into their respective beds (I even had to carry Ben to his). I've now done the same, but with the laptop—madly trying to punch this entry out so I can have an early-ish night. We'll probably get around to today's emails (and preparing responses) some time tomorrow.