Cancer Survivor at Three Months - 04/27/06

 
Tuesday, Robin saw her oncologist, Dr. McClure, for her first quarterly test results. Robin had blood-work done, and Dr. McClure was pleased to say that there was no evidence of cancer, according to the blood tests. Her next visit will be in July with Dr. Hatch in Galveston, then in October, Robin will have CT Scans done.

Robin's burn wounds are almost completely healed. She still has one spot, about the size of a dime, that was not healing. However, she switched salves and it seems to have started getting smaller. She is generally feeling very well. However, she seems to have no endurance; walking a short distance gets her winded, and she needs to rest. Another issue is her arms. She thinks she may be seeing signs of lymphedema, swelling caused by problems with lymphatic fluid flow. This is not uncommon after her treatments, but we are still hopeful.

Robin's right eye is improving since she received a good dose of laser in it a couple of months ago. However, her left eye bled again around Easter, and she is still having trouble seeing with that eye. She can read with her right eye, although it takes time because she still has floaters that get in the way. She seems to see well enough to play piano, anyway. In fact, she played the entire Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday (two services), Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. Every now and then, when she's playing, a blob floats through her field of vision and obscures the notes. You can usually tell, because that's when she hits a bad note. But when the blob goes by, she proceeds on as if nothing is wrong. She is considering surgery on her left eye because she's been without sight for over six months. The surgery is fairly high risk, but it is looking like there may be few other options. Another cause for prayer!!!

Robin has a head full of curly salt & pepper hair now. She stopped wearing her wig on March first (Ash Wednesday), saying that she was giving it up for Lent. Last week, I took her to get it trimmed to even it out a bit. It really looks pretty good on her. I'll take some pictures and post them after our cruise.

Oh yeah!!! I almost forgot. We are leaving on a cruise this weekend. St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, the other church where Robin plays piano, sponsored this cruise to raise money for their new sanctuary. We have been planning this for quite a while. Robin's parents and a couple with whom she grew up are going with us. We viewed it as a way to celebrate the end of her treatment and our 30th wedding anniversary (on May 16th). The cruise will be stopping at Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico. We are really looking forward to this vacation. I'll write again after we get back.

By the way, I am still working. I find the work very interesting, in an odd way. After graduate school, I started working on the Space Shuttle program on the shuttle mission simulators. One of my areas of responsibility was the On-Board Computer Support Software, which loaded the simulator flight computers with the Shuttle Flight Software. Now I am doing QA on Shuttle Flight Software. It's déjà vu, all over again. The atmosphere is similar to what I remember it being like many years ago, too; almost like a big family. The tools are EXACTLY like I remember them (big iron - IBM Mainframes, in all their MVS glory, JCL and all). Of course, instead of a dumb terminal and card decks, we have powerful desktop PCs with the ability to emulate a dumb terminal. Like I said, it is very interesting and nostalgic.

Please continue to pray for us. We will continue to pray for all of you, and to pray for all afflicted with cancer.

Love from us all,
Larry, Robin, and John