Maria "on display"

The 3rd International Brain Tumour Awareness Week will be held between Sunday 1 November and Saturday 7 November, 2009. There will be a number of activities held around the country to increase awareness about brain tumours.

While Canberra is not having any specific events, it will have a display running at the Canberra Hospital for the week in question. To help my friends at BTAA who wanted the display to have a local and personal touch, I contributed a piece on Maria and our family's journey. If you happen to be in the hospital next week (hopefully for nothing serious), keep a look out for it in the foyer area. For those of you who won't be passing through, I've attached a copy of it here).

Fri 30-Oct-09 (Maria's increased independence, bandanna day, blessings)

We got the kids to school early so we could all buy bandannas to support CANTEEN (The Australian Organisation for Young People Living With Cancer). As you can see from the photo below, Gabi's was pink, Maria's the Australian flag, and Ben's a cool design. Mine is a camouflage green.

I dropped Maria off at the hospital after returning some equipment. Praise God we never had to use any of it! Maria's day was to then take the following route:

• Blood test in preparation for next cycle of chemotherapy next week.
• Walk (40mins at her pace) to Woden Shopping Centre.
• A well-deserved iced chocolate at Gloria Jeans Cafe.
• Bus it home.
• Navigate the walk home from the bus stop (15mins by this time as she was completely exhausted).

It may not seem like much to many, but when you consider all things, for us it is another huge step towards greater independence. There is no doubting Maria's tenacity and courage!

I had a string of meetings at work. This was a full (5-day) week as next week I won't be in on Monday because of an appointment with Maria's Oncologist.

It was also a day of a couple of unexpected blessings. The first was an email at work from someone we churched with in the past. Every now and then I am amazed when people come out of the woodwork and say they follow this blog closely. Although they said following our journey had blessed them, their correspondence and encouragement blessed us.

This evening we received an email from a friend who we had sporadic contact with since we headed off overseas. Apparently he and his family have been monitoring our blog for some time, which he claims gave him (in addition to discovering some people close to him had cancer) the motivation to embark on a fundraiser involving a 1,400km bike ride (Sydney to Sunshine Coast). The fundraiser is called "Tour de Cure". Simon is aiming to raise $10,000. As you’ll see in his letter (I saved it at http://www.scribd.com/doc/21884165/Intro-Letter-Simon-McMenamie for viewing),“brain cancer” is one of the causes his fundraising will go towards. I wanted to share this with you as although he says he has felt inspired by us, he has in fact inspired us! If you have a few spare dollars over the coming months, please keep Simon in mind.

Sun 25-Oct-09 (8 month survivor!!!)

It is now just after midnight on the 25th. That means it is now 8 months since Maria's initial surgery!

There have been a few occasions during this journey when the indications were that Maria wouldn't be with us today. We have God to thank for bringing us this far down the track with things currently the best they've been since Maria's diagnosis. We are certainly not oblivious to the ongoing challenge we face and for this reason we count every day as a blessing and will continue to do so. Actually, shouldn't we all have this mindset anyway, regardless of our circumstances?

Fri 23-Oct-09 (Neurologist's appt)

This meeting went well. As previously mentioned, Maria was on a minimum four month waiting list. When we saw the Neurologist we said how amazing it was that Maria was seen so quickly. Unbeknown to us, Maria's neurosurgeon had "pushed hard" behind the scenes to have Maria seen.

She underwent some rigorous testing and her medications were discussed at length. The biggest downside to the meeting was that it was made clear Maria would not be allowed to drive for the foreseeable future. That said, she is appreciative of the risks involved and really just wanted confirmation of the above. I will continue to take on chauffeuring duties when not at work. With buses, taxis and friends available from time-to-time, there won't be any problems managing.

Thu 22-Oct-09 (first working week, Ben's dehydration)

My first work week (4 x 5hr days) after nearly 8 months is over and I survived! I'll work every day next week to make up for the following week when I'll only be able to work three days (i.e. Monday = oncologist appt with Maria; and Friday = Gabi's sports carnival, after which I'll head to Sydney for a weekend conference that commences that evening).

It took three days to get me online (still a few glitches that need to be ironed out). During this period I read hard copy documents to get across some of the work of the area I'm attached to. However, I really started to get into things today when I was "up and running" in the IT sense.

Albeit the building and many faces are familiar, I feel like a fish out of water. While chatting with Maria about it last night, it dawned one me that it is the first time in my 21 year work career that I've taken up a position I have not sought/applied for/or taken on my terms. I'm sure I'll feel better once I get a little more familiar with the work. Anyway, the section is a nice bunch so that makes the transition a lot easier.

On the topic of little quirky things I always wore a suit in Israel for work but no tie, following local dress code (which I favoured). I tried the same approach on Monday, but as everyone else was in ties I strangely felt under-dressed. That said, I forgot what a pain ties are after more than two years without one. At least I remembered how to tie it!

It was a warm day, peaking around 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit). Although it was warmer yesterday, it felt a lot hotter today. When I collected the kids Ben complained that he didn't feel quite right and looked a little flushed. I gave him a hydration ice block and water when we got home, helping to pick him up, but by bedtime was suffering from headaches. I treated that before bed and am prayerful that his night won't be a rough one.

Maria has been asking us to wake her in the morning so she can prepare our lunches. She has also prepared dinner the last couple of nights, giving me a break. It has been a real blessing as it lightens my load.

Maria still struggles with significant fatigue and "chemo brain" (i.e. significant memory loss and confusion at times, associated also with the fatigue). She also has suffered from swelling around her ankles over the last couple of weeks, which is being monitored and will be checked by the Neurologist tomorrow. There are still bouts of wakefulness most nights. We are hoping to start tapering her steroid dose down (probably tomorrow) to try and rid her from this necessary evil. As her current dose is quite small (2mg), we are not stressed if it doesn't work out, but anything less would be a bonus.

Mon 19-Oct-09 (first day @ work, Maria alone, Neurologist appt)

It was strange to be leaving Maria alone today. Fortunately her parents came through for a visit during the day, which gave her company for a couple of hours.

After dropping the kids, I got into work a little earlier than planned and settled in slowly. I should be online (email and phone) when I get into the office tomorrow morning.

I met my work colleague for the first time today. It appears like a busy work area with some challenges coming up that need to be progressed.

Overall the day went as smoothly as it could have for us all. Thanks for the prayer. Although there have been offers of assistance for Maria, she is determined to be a little more independent and to this extent will walk down to the bus tomorrow to get to her doctor's appointment.

Maria received a call from the office of the Neurologist at the hospital to arrange an appointment for Friday. It was a huge blessing as only last week we received a letter advising there was a minimum four (4) month wait to see him. To compound the issue, we contacted a private Neurologist who was also recommended by the Neurosurgeon, only to discover that for health reasons he was not seeing any new patients for the remainder of this year. The additional blessing is that the appointment is that it falls on the day I don't work (i.e. Friday).

I brought some "light reading" home, which I'll get into after finalising this entry. It hasn't taken me long, has it?! Anyway, I find sleep to be overrated!

Sun 18-Oct-09 (a day out)

Although it was a slow start to the morning, we headed out to the Australian Federal Police 30th anniversary Open Day. It was quite warm and the kids enjoyed all the exhibits. Ben especially enjoyed watching the Operational Response Team repel from a helicopter in a scenario. In fact, Ben enjoyed all the weaponry. They had fun at the mock crime scene as well as sitting on the police bikes and turning on the sirens.

Sat 17-Oct-09 (Gabi's party)

Gabi had a birthday party with a few school friends this afternoon. As it has rained all week we were preparing for the worst. However, we were blessed with great weather for a lot of outdoor games. I am feeling the fatigue as I type! It started to rain about an hour ago so we are grateful for an answer to prayer.

The kids were all lovely and so well mannered. They seemed to have a great time. I'm hoping I kept them active enough that they would have gone off to sleep early, giving their parents/carers a rest this evening.

Luckily the party started at 2:00pm. This gave us the morning to prepare. I spent quite a bit of that time cleaning the floors as best I could with all the work we've had done lately. The downside was that Gabi started complaining last night of a sore stomach and nerves. This followed into this morning. I had her as busy as possible to take her mind off things, which for the main worked.

As I left the camera in Maria's room, I'll wait until tomorrow to upload some photos and post it to this entry as an update.

It was a huge day for Maria. She spent most of her time preparing both of Gabi's cakes (one in a theme, the other a number - in this case '7') and then chatting with a couple of mums who stayed around while I entertained the kids. As Maria didn't get any sleep, she was struggling with headache when she went off to bed (about an hour ago).

Update...here are photos as promised.

Return to work next week

It's a real blessing that Maria is probably the best she's been since February and is able to self-manage a lot more. For this reason I will be returning to work on a part-time basis next Monday (the 19th). I'll work 20 hours per week (half-days from Mon-Thu).

Given that I have been caring for Maria since her diagnosis, I am a little hesitant returning to paid work after what will by then be a 8 month absence (actually, a week short of it).

I will be attached to the Staffing/Human Resources area of my organisation. There are a number of discreet projects that I can undertake. These will be discussed with me further when I start. I appreciate their ongoing flexibility and look forward to contributing what I can.

Sun 11-Oct-09 (visit, preparation for return to school)

In the morning we had a visit from friends who were travelling enroute to stay with Effie and her family. They were our first visitors to the new (but non-operational) kitchen. I still had my coffee machine and kettle operating in another room, so everyone was happy they could fuel up on coffee, tea and hot chocolates. The kids managed to spend a lot of time inside the skip bin outside the house. Ben also pulled out quite a bit of broken timber and started to construct a yet-to-be finalised project with some help from his new friends.

In the afternoon I went to our shed and pulled out a microwave oven that has been in its box for the last 8 years (we've had it for a lot longer, but couldn't recall when we purchased it). After cleaning it and giving it a dry run, it did the job in heating up our dinner.

Ben and I also got to mow our lawn (well, mostly weeds) for the first time since returning to Australia. Our mower started on its first go. It needed to be thinned out prior to Gabi's birthday party (next weekend) at which she'll have a handful of school friends. Gabi had been taking a lot of photos and video during the afternoon of the mowing and some (amusing) commentary, which filled the memory card. Unfortunately I thought I had transferred them over to the laptop and it wasn't until now that I discovered that I've deleted them. I am quite cross with myself.

After putting the kids to bed, I had the iron out for Ben's school shirt. The kids return to school in the morning in their new summer uniforms. It will be interesting to see how they cope given the weather hasn't really taken off and there is anticipated isolated rain throughout the week.

Sat 10-Oct-09 (return home to a new kitchen - nearly)

After bidding everyone farewell we headed off, but stopped when reaching town five minutes later to have lunch at a really lovely rustic cafe.

We arrived home with great anticipation of what we were to find. The kitchen is in place and looks great, but it is incomplete. We have no plumbing or power and there are some final building work to fit some skirtings, cornices and a new house front door. In other words, it is not functional yet.

Maria went off for a sleep, while Gabi and I spent two hours cleaning, with a contribution from Ben towards the end. We had jaffles (toasted sandwiches) for dinner before it got dark as we knew it would be very dark (the connecting playroom and dining room are both also without lighting at present).

We are looking forward to Monday afternoon, when hopefully everything will be finished. I will put together a brief "before and after" photo collage at some stage.

Fri 9-Oct-09 (Gabi turns 7!!!)

Gabi was up before 6:30am, naturally very excited that she is now officially a seven year-old. After I cooked her our mandatory family pancake breakfast for special occasions, she opened her presents then headed out with Ben to collect eggs and feed the animals. Ben made her a lovely card (neither Maria nor I had any input) that, for once, didn't include a drawing of a Star Wars character or a death scene.

Through the morning (and later in the day as well) she received phone calls from loved ones, including from Effie to let us know they were returning in the afternoon (a day early) because of poor weather.

Gabi enjoyed the return of her cousins as it meant she could hang out with her big cousin Maggie. Mags is very patient with Gabi and the two play well together. It also meant that Ben and Tom could get busy together, going out to combat ants nests and do some archery.

In the evening Gabi and Ben had McDonalds for their dinner (their choice), while the rest of us enjoyed a delicious Thai meal. We all struggled with cake by the end of the evening (a delicious Mille-feuilles baked by a local French patisserie Chef).

Wed 7-Oct-09 (Snow!)

You'd be forgiven if you thought we may have jumped on a plane and headed to the northern hemisphere to hang out with our dear friends there. As you read on it will make more sense.

This is Cooma on an unusual Spring day. It started around 7am when the kids woke me very excitedly to tell me it was snowing. Like Maria (who they's already shared their news with), I was surprised they would pull such a prank until I looked outside the window!

It was falling lightly, but over time was creating a light blanket of snow over the property and in the area. As we got dressed to go out and investigate a little further, the snow bucketed down as you can see from the photos. We all made snow angels and headed inside, very wet.

By late morning the snow stopped. We drove into town (no sign of snow, although only 5-10 mins away) to do some grocery shopping and we took the kids to McDonalds for a treat. The woman who served us said that she had started at 6am and she and it was snowing then. By the time we got home the snow was melting and within a couple of hours you wouldn't have believed that it had snowed at all.

In the late afternoon a neighbour of Effie's dropped in (who we know well) to see Maria. After Monique's visit a Kookaburra landed in a nearby tree while I was staring out a window. I was able to get a few shots of the "cutey".

I drove up to Canberra after dinner to meet my dear mate Paul, who is doing the electrical work for our renovations. As the heating has been off all day and it has also been very cold here, the house was a chilly 11 degrees! It's going to take a while yet before the house is warm throughout.

I'll be here to do a few things in the morning, hopefully returning to Cooma in the afternoon.

Tue 6-Oct-09 (Maria starts 4th cycle of chemo)

Maria's blood test from earlier in the day was fine. She commenced this—her 4th—cycle of chemo earlier this evening.

Mon 5-Sep-09 (public holiday, travel to Cooma)

We packed, had lunch and drove to Maria's sister's property in Cooma, which is exactly 110km (1hr 15mins) drive. Effie and her family are away this week, so the timing is perfect while the demolition takes place at our home.

We had torrential rain on the property (the most I can recall from any visit there). In fact Gabi and I got caught up in it while feeding the chicken, ducks, guinea foul and sheep with their cute new lambs.

I know there are predictions for rain throughout the week in Canberra, but am not sure about Cooma (glad the work being done at our place is indoors). I did hear briefly that a cold front from Tasmania may bring some snow to the ranges tomorrow, perhaps down to 800m or less. If this is the case, the kids may have a little fun.

I headed off after dinner through some very heavy rain to make the trip back home. Fortunately the rain dissipated on the other side of Cooma, so the trip was a good one.

Although I didn't want to leave Maria alone with the kids, I had to return to finalise the clearing and cover furniture and other items in a room that will be dust-ridden after they cut out half of the brick wall. It was also much easier to do this now as the builders arrive in a few hours (@ 7:30am). I'm hoping in my discussions with the builders tomorrow that I can minimise my trips to/from Cooma over the week (especially on Friday as it's Gabi's birthday).

In the morning a friend of Effie's will take Maria to town for an urgent blood test requested by her Oncologist so he can confirm the commencement of her next (4th) cycle of chemotherapy—at this stage to commence tomorrow evening.

The ICC Champions Trophy (cricket) 'Final' in South Africa between Australia and New Zealand got under way a little while ago. I'll be keeping an eye on it during the night in my wakeful times. Go Aussies!

Weekend 3 & 4-Oct-09 (kitchen preparations, a visit)

Most of the weekend was spent moving everything out of the kitchen. In some ways it was the perfect time to do it as the weather was miserable throughout. We were blessed by our ear friend Janelle visiting from the Blue Mountains. She came over on both days and helped out with the moving of things as well as spending quite a bit of time playing with Gabi, who just loved having her over. Thanks Janelle for the help, otherwise I would have really been struggling to get sorted!

The four of us watched the NRL Grand Final last night. Ben was barracking for the Melbourne Storm, while Maria, Gabi and I were going for the Parramatta Eels. Ben's team got up at the end of the day.

Our website

I've set up a website, which is really a link to this blog. The link is:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mariatroy

The website is provided free of charge by "CaringBridge". They kindly help people, like us, experiencing a life-changing event to keep loved ones informed. The site also enables family and friends to give support through guestbook messages.

I'm not establishing the site for the purpose of receiving guestbook messages (however, we won't reject any), but rather to put our journey out to a wider audience across the web.

Fri 2-Oct-09 (dinner out, sleepover)

We spent some time in one of our local shopping centres/malls, partly so the kids could watch the 'Kung Fu Panda' show, which was really interactive. Ben wasn't keen to watch it, but got into it. Gabi managed to lose her 8th tooth, only a few days after her previous one. Three teeth gone in a week may send the tooth fairy broke!

Maria had her long afternoon sleep while the kids played beautifully. While I was catching up on some emails a couple of parrots landed outside the window on one of our small trees and started helping themselves to a leafy afternoon tea. As I happened to have the camera on the desk I was able to take a couple of shots, which I've shared below.

This evening Maria and I went out to dinner with a group of neighbours. We dropped the kids off to our dear friends (who lived down the road from the restaurant). They are going to have a sleepover. We had a really nice time at the restaurant with plenty of food (could have probably done without that!).We got home around 9:45pm and although Maria was exhausted, she had enough energy to do a bible study together before she was ready to sleep. I thought I'd get a quick entry in and catch up on some further email corro before hitting the sack myself.

Thu 1-Oct-09 (Oncologist's appointment)

Where is the year going? It's hard to imagine that Christmas is less than three months away.

Today we headed off early with the kids to the hospital. Maria had a blood test prior to her appointment with the Oncologist. We then had quite a wait to see him—the kids were so patient.

When we finally saw the Oncologist, he was very happy to see how Maria appears. The blood test result was fine and she should be able to commence her fourth cycle of chemo next week, pending another blood test on Tuesday. Maria will have this done in Cooma as we'll be there for the week, with me commuting while our new kitchen is built. We went through the usual routine of collecting the chemo from the oncology pharmacy, which is conveniently just up the hall. We took the kids to the hospital cafe for a treat, while I booked in Maria's next MRI for the 11-Dec, a week before Maria's appointment with the Neurosurgeon.

We were out for three and a half hours in total. It was a quiet afternoon, allowing Maria to have her long afternoon sleep. This gave me a chance to fold loads of washing I hadn't got around to doing as well as preparing dinner.

Maria had some one-on-one play time with Gabi, who really thrives when having that special time with mummy. Ben and I both started to experience tummy problems in the afternoon. I feel so sorry for Ben as he has a rough trot over the last couple of weeks with the flu, sinus problems, a middle-ear infection and now this. It is a few minutes before midnight and fortunately he hasn't been out to the bathroom since going to bed at around 8pm.

Wed 30-Sep-09 (Floriade)

The weather had improved enough for us to go and enjoy Floriade, which for our overseas family and friends is the biggest flower festival in Australia, put on free of charge, to celebrate the season of Spring. Each year tulips and other flowers are planted to form pictures/designs according to the theme of the year. This year's was, "Mind, body and soul". While part of the theme is certainly not for us in the manner it is presented, we enjoyed seeing God's creation and beauty on display. I downloaded 85 photos at the end of the day, of which I had taken no more than 10 as Gabi was the prolific photographer. I've included a few shots below (mostly from Gabi) in a video presentation. The best way to appreciate the designs is up from high [for example, in the Ferris Wheel pictured in the background of some shots]. However, as none of us were up to it at the time, you'll just have to enjoy the colours from ground zero.

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.