Facing the Music

Hi there - Jeanette here :)

Well....we met with the specialist today and got the news that the cancer is back (results of the PET scan). Not the news we were wanting but the up side is that it's early in it's development thanks to the various scans he has had. The decision has been taken to give Bruce 3 months of chemo taken daily in table form. Evidently this is as effective as the other he has had. At least he will be able to keep working and life will remain fairly normal. It seems that there will be very little hair loss with this one so that's good too - no bald photo's!.

We will keep you up to date with how it's all going. Thanks for caring!

PET scan today...

The obvious dilemma today was knowing which of the cats or dog I should take with me for the PET scan.

For the benefit of the curious who ask "What exactly is a PET scan...really". Here you have it:

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is an imaging procedure showing the chemical function of an organ or tissue rather than its structure. A radioactive glucose (or tracer) is injected via a vein and is then taken up by tissues in your body. The PET scanner detects the activity within your organs and tells whether it’s normal or not. CT imaging is a highly advanced form of X-ray which shows the anatomical detail inside the body and detects alterations of structure caused by disease.

A PET-CT scanner is a very specialised device. The scans from the PET camera show abnormal functioning disease within the body which is overlayed on the anatomical map provided by the CT scanner.

I had one at the end of 2008 in Sydney, as they weren't available in NZ at that time. The one I had today was at Mercy Hospital here in Auckland. Wow, what a great facility they have built around it and staffed by a superb friendly yet professional team. Very impressive. Apart from the scarcity of parking, all went very simply and easily. I learned a bit about the Wildebeest population in Africa while watching a documentary to keep me occupied while the Homer Simpson cocktail (radioactive isotope) worked its way around inside my body. I'm pleased to say that I don't seem to be spontaneously glowing in the dark at this stage. At least the volcanic ash cloud from Chile didn't muck up my scheduling, as they have to fly in the isotope from Sydney each day they use it as it only has a short half-life. They said tomorrow's patients have had to be deferred until Qantas resume flights again.

Anyway, enough of the medical stuff...

GENERATION Y
People born before 1946 were called The Silent generation..

- People born between 1946 and 1964 are called The Baby Boomers.

- People born between 1965 and 1979 are called Generation X, .

- And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called Generation Y ,

Why do we call the last group Generation Y?

Y should I get a job?
Y should I leave home and find my own place?
Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?
Y should I clean my room?
Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?
Y should I buy any food?
But a cartoonist explained it very eloquently below...

Overdue...again? Only by many weeks!

High time to give the Blog a tweak so you can see what we've been up to of late.

Jeanette's plaster and moon boot are now long gone and things are healing up, except that her back has suffered a bit from the uneven loading over the weeks in plaster and boot. We're hoping that sorts itself out as time goes by. One of Jeanette's current activities has been lecturing at Unitec on event management. Her 3rd year students have an event on this weekend which has been an interesting practical assignment for them all to have gotten their teeth into. Tomorrow night will be the acid test for them.

Life continues on at the usual frenetic pace. My crunched big toe is pretty right now, although the new nail still looks kind of ugly. Matches my face! The trip to Sydney was worthwhile and gave a very helpful induction into Hills SVL head office and the scale of the operation across the Tasman. Good to spend face time with some of the folk I'm in frequent email and/or phone contact with.

Had my 3-monthly (roughly) CT scan recently and subsequent appointment with the Haemotologist to discuss the results. They are still seeing some (non-cancerous) stuff in my spleen which is inconclusive but they seems to think warrants further attention. All the lymph nodes in the abdominal area they scanned are "pristine" which is nice to know. It is not easy or possible to do a biopsy on the spleen apparently. They seem to think the smartest move is simply to remove it. Sounds like although it has various functions, it is an organ which you can live perfectly well without. I will have a further talk with one of their surgeons to discuss pros and cons. Watch this space...

My sister Sue has very recently moved back to NZ after about 15 years living on the Gold Coast as an Aussie. She seems very glad to be back, and as the timing has played out has moved into Mum's investment property immediately across the road which, as it turns out, was due to come vacant a day after Sue arrived back. It means she is close to her daughter Zoe & son in law Will, along with their very special little 1 yr old son Noah. Also having her so handy to Mum (now 91) and us is great. She has brought her two little dogs - Molly & Spike with her. They have never seen a heater before! Sue accepted a lecturing position at Auckland University.

That will have to do for now...

Cheers
Bruce & Jeanette
bbremner@ihug.co.nz