Update 15/04/09

From Andi:

Hope everyone had a great Easter break!! We all did!!!

Last week Tim had an update from Dr. Duggan, the head of Oncology at
the Austin. He is very pleased with Tim's progress as he is
responding very well to the treatment as he had hoped. His latest
bone marrow biopsy has come back 'all good' again which is fabulous.
The doctors have decided to delay Tim's radiation to the cranium for
another 4 weeks or so, as he was admitted today for his intensive
chemotherapy as an in patient. This entails chemotherapy every twelve
hours for 5 days, each infusion 3 hours in length. He is then
discharged until his neutropenic state hits, then he is hospitalised
again, given a strong course of antibiotics and nursed back to better
health. This is usually one week. He has been told that he will
become very ill, he will have fevers and temperatures etc...It is
unpleasant, but a necessary component of his treatment protocol.

Tim has been dreading this phase, as he now knows how it feels to have
chemo daily. This is more than double the dosage...so as you can
imagine he is anxious to see how his body will hold up. I have been
anxious but strangely excited for this phase. I have been thinking of
this as the rebirth of Tim. It will knock him for 6, but I know that
he will come through and hopefully that will be without any
microscopic nasty cells anywhere. Luckily for Tim, a friend he made
in Day Onc who is suffering Leukemia has been admitted in the bed
across from him. Rob has been through all this before and ironically
is a nurse at the Austin. He is a wealth of knowledge and one of the
few male patients in ward 6A under the age of 65. Between Rob, the
nurses ( who Tim is practically best friends with now !!!) his laptop
and newly found, very basic computer skills ( he can now google!!!)
the stay shouldn't be as monotonous as previously thought.

Love to you all,

Andi

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From the Admin:

Finally got our act together and have added a "Donate" button to the top left of the blog. This is linked to the bank account mentioned last post, and should hopefully make contributing to the Hamilton fund easier for those of us who spend way too much time online. If there are any problems encountered, email thehamiltonfamilyblog@gmail.com.

Cheers!