Overdue Update

Sorry that I have not updated the blog in such a long time.  I am still fighting with complications from the surgery.  After returning home from Calgary in February, pain in my hip and groin progressively got worse.  I spent three weeks in the Port Alberni hospital in April/May fighting a severe infection and abscess in my lower abdominal / pelvic area. This is the same place as before in Calgary. They did more CT scans which showed something in my hip area.  A biopsy on my hip bone showed some cancer cells. The pain in my hip continued to get worse. Mum and Dad came over at a drop of a hat and continued to stay with us since.

When returning home, we were connected with a palliative care doctor and home care nurses who check in twice a week. The doctor is great, very easy to get in contact with. The focus with the palliative doctor is to get the pain under control, so that doing normal everyday things is manageable.

The pain continued to get worse even with working with the palliative doctor modifying medications. I checked into the palliative care unit in Nanaimo hospital on June 20^th and stayed about a week. The idea was to try some different options for pain control, especially nerve pain. The pal unit is well suited for this, however the doctors thought that there was a ways to go on the current medications. The pain was more manageable at the end of my stay.

We met with a radiation oncologist in Victoria via teleconference. She thought that a radiation treatment on my hip could alleviate some pain. She reviewed my scans and reports with a group of oncologists and surgeons in Victoria. I had the treatment on July 3^rd, the treatment is only about 10 minutes and non-invasive. However the trip down to Victoria and back took a lot out of me. I was in bed most of the following day. It will take a few weeks before we’ll know if the treatment helped or not. A second treatment maybe an option, but we will wait a few weeks to see how I feel.

We had a really nice but quick visit with Elaine and Wayne, the couple who generously gave us their condo to stay in while we were in Calgary. They happened to be on the Island and stopped in for lunch. They are such wonderful generous people who ask for nothing in return, it is great to know that these types of people exist in our world. We are very lucky to have met them.

Early on July 6^th morning, I woke up with a very high temperature and knew something wasn’t quite right. I went to the Port Alberni hospital, turned out the infection in my abdomen / pelvis had returned. They kept me for 5 days to treat the infection with IV antibiotics.  I’m back home now ad feeling ok.

We are trying to stay positive and we appreciate every day we have and all the good memories we get to create with James. Speaking of which, James is doing well. He is crawling all over the place and climbing up on everything.

Thank you all for your continued support. This has been a crazy year but we are surviving and finding moments to thrive.

Steven & Tracy