Thank goodness for breadsticks
Oakley went to my parents' for the day yesterday . I went to collect him and the conversation went like this.
O: "Mummy, I have two 'portant things to tell you."
H: "Oh, two important things. What are they?"
O: "Well, the bad news is - Daddy's poorly."
H: (Pause). "Yes." (My heart lurching to think of what is going through his little brain.)
O: "And the good news is - I had two breadsticks in the car"
Life according to a 3 year old, eh? This is the first confirmation we have had that he is aware of Quent's illness. He has mentioned Quent being poorly before, once, but only while playing on a toy phone, so we couldn't be sure it wasn't just a coincidence. Nothing had been mentioned while he was at my parents', so he must have been dwelling on it while he was away.
I can't stop thinking about it - and everything ahead of this gorgeous, innocent little boy. Please keep the prayers coming for Quent. We need all the spontaneous regression we can muster. (Oh, and, in times of trouble, always remember the healing power of breadsticks).
O: "Mummy, I have two 'portant things to tell you."
H: "Oh, two important things. What are they?"
O: "Well, the bad news is - Daddy's poorly."
H: (Pause). "Yes." (My heart lurching to think of what is going through his little brain.)
O: "And the good news is - I had two breadsticks in the car"
Life according to a 3 year old, eh? This is the first confirmation we have had that he is aware of Quent's illness. He has mentioned Quent being poorly before, once, but only while playing on a toy phone, so we couldn't be sure it wasn't just a coincidence. Nothing had been mentioned while he was at my parents', so he must have been dwelling on it while he was away.
I can't stop thinking about it - and everything ahead of this gorgeous, innocent little boy. Please keep the prayers coming for Quent. We need all the spontaneous regression we can muster. (Oh, and, in times of trouble, always remember the healing power of breadsticks).
posted by Helen at 3/27/2007 11:48:00 pm
7 Comments:
I know your blog is for friends and family but I thought you might benefit from some infomation about IL-2 treatment. My wife had her first round of IL-2 last week in New York where we live. The staff told us that 12-14 doses is the maximum number of doses they would administer, the average patient typically receives 10 doses and that is exactly what my wife was able to handle. Doses 1-3 went fine with little if any side effects. Her blood pressure dropped somewhat after dose 4 and they administered hepsin get it back up. That took about two 2 hours. Doses 5-8 brought on some nausea, fatigue, and flu-like symptoms but where fairly tolerable. Doses 9-10 where pretty tough with some itching, more fatique, and pretty severe flu-like symptoms.
She has now been home since Saturday and felt well enough today to take a short drive into town.
Having been at her side most of last week, I can state with certainty that the most important thing is to have the treatment administered in a hospital that specializes in IL-2. The nursing staff must be very adept at monitoring and making treatment adjustments dependent on the patient's reaction to the IL-2.
Just for reference, my wife just turned 60, and is in very good physical condition. She will begin her second round of treatments this coming Monday. I hope you find this infomation helpful and apologize in advance if it is not welcome.
Prayers, candles, masses and the occasional raised glass of fine wine to wish and hope that the regression continues on apace.
I watched Quent on Sunday and the wonderful way he handles people and life itself, dressed as Coco the clown,it was terrific to walk down to the river in the lovely sunshine in aid of "pushy mums" alongside him, made me feel humble and wonderful all at the same time.
We'll do dinner soon.
Lots of love
Les,Sarah and Ellie(O's girlfriend)
xx xx xx
Response for the man whose wife has renal cancer. Thank you very much for posting - most welcome and we all hope that your wife makes a speedy recovery from treatment.
Did she have IL 2 on its own, or as a triple therapy? (They don't give it on its own over here). Was it intravenous? Anything else we should know?
We are very interested to hear of other patients' experience of treatment.
Thanks for taking the time to contact us and please keep in touch. We will be thinking of her.
Helen.
ps. I don't usually reply to individual blog comments as i'd be on all day and night if i did, but as this is the only way of contacting you, and you'd been so kind as to give your thoughts, I had to reply as soon as I saw it.
Another message from NY that I hope you will accept as my attempt to shed some first-hand light on IL-2 treatment.
My wife had the second round last week and got through another 7 doses. Side afects were a little worse than week 1 - flue symptoms, a lot of fatigue, diarrhea, nausea. They told us before we started that all patients get some of the side-affects, but she got just about all of them. All in all, not a great way to spend a couple of weeks but she got through a total of 17 doses and is now recovering at home. Recovery means getting rid of nausea, itching, diarrhea, and fatigue. I would guess that about three weeks after the last treatment, she should be feeling almost normal. Complete normality? Probably 2-3 months. As Dr. Dutcher said as we left the hospital, "IL-2 beats you up."
Hope this information is useful. The best toyou and your husband.
Hello to my New York friend. I do hope that your wife's treatment is going well. Thank you so much for keeping us updated. It's very welcome information.
I have so many questions for you. I can't help feeling it's no coincidence that you have appeared on our blog and it's renewed my interest in a treatment which is not available in Europe, currently.
1. was it intraveneous, high dose IL-2?
2. Is that it now - two bouts of treatment.
3. Which hospital did you go to? As you say, this seems vital.
If you would be happy to email me, try quentscancer@hotmail.com. Otherwise, please do keep us up to speed with your wife's progress - and answers to our questions would be most most welcome
Thanks again,
Helen
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sorry, make that email address quentscancer@hotmail.co.uk.
Finally, I got it right!
Post a Comment
<< Home