Thank you to all who  commented on the last post, made phone calls, sent emails and generally fulfilled the Biblical mandate to "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn" (Romans 12:15).

After the slightly confronting 'medical images' if the last post, a more peaceful and restful picture seems appropriate. Enjoy! 

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We continue to cherish the 'sweet spot' Sue is presently in - especially as we count down to son Mitchell's wedding to Lauren on 28 June. There are residual reminders that Sue's body is still 'under attack' (continued, and slightly increasing, numbness in hands and feet; good days and 'not quite so good days' etc) but overall Sue is freer to participate and enjoy life than anytime since July last year. 

When in Adelaide recently we bought Sue a 'Stressless' chair in anticipation of a future increasing incapacity and need for comfort. It is beneficial when in good health too it appears!

OK, I admit it, we bought one for me too!

We saw the oncologist again last week. We got a little bit of a surprise. In hindsight we realize that were expecting him to confirm the partial remission (which he did) and then advise that it is a process of 'wait and watch' (which he did not!).  As we were aware, there is still visible lesions in the liver. New information for us was some inconclusive suggestion (shadows on the latest CT scan) of possible activity in the bowel wall and perineum(the space around the organs). Given Sue's good response to the chemotherapy the oncologist was very keen to continue immediately with a 'maintenance regime' of further chemo. Sue and I were less keen! While we had no dispute with his medical opinion that the 'maintenance chemo' was advisable, the thought of returning to the world of blood-tests, infusions (maybe), tablets and further side-effects in the period before the wedding was unpalatable to Sue (and me).

When pressed, the oncologist admitted that while a delay in recommencing chemotherapy immediately statistically indicted a lessening of effectiveness in the range of 4-6 weeks less life-expectancy, the reality is that no-one will never really know. Sue and I agreed that the 'trade off' between a period of well-being and capacity now ahead of the wedding and a theoretical minor reduction in life span later was a complete 'no-brainer'. Outcome - Sue will have a further blood tests, CT scan and oncologist appointment a few days after the wedding and restart chemotherapy early in July.

As you can imagine, there was yet another necessary adjustment to our thinking as a result of all that!

The oncologist also advised us that the cancer has been classified as 'wildtype' which apparently signifies that it has no mutations. This is a bit of a head-spin as I thought cancer itself was a mutation.... Hmmm. Either way, Sue's cancer is of the 'non-mutant' variety - and this is apparently good news as it opens up more potential chemotherapy options in the future. 

The other clarification we got was around 'cancer markers' in the blood. Sue is somewhat unusual (in a lovely way of course) in that despite having Stage IV cancer, all her cancer markers have remained firmly in the 'normal' range. One marker has a threshold of 31 and Sue is a 3. In another the threshold is 2.5 and Sue is a 0.5. In her case, there are no 'numbers' to watch. She is a strange on all right - and I love her to bits!

Grace and peace to you all.