Health news; assorted family visits

Health: Meg continues to be in excellent health, with occasional chemotherapy-related fatigue her main symptom. This month's checkup at the hospital included a functional MRI, which showed that the part of her brain that controls speech is not in the area where the tumor was - Dr. Jost will be able to operate again, if the tumor ever regrows. Next checkup, with a regular MRI, in 3 weeks.

Andrew met with Dr. Foltz, head of the Ivy Center for Advanced Brain Tumor Treatment, and one of his associates, to learn about their molecular characterisation of Meg's tumor. They sent him away with several scientific papers to read  and with the good news that, from what they can tell,  Meg's prognosis is very good and she should continue to respond well to treatment.

Family:  June and July were very busy for us:

• Elspeth stayed with us and did fish research at the Hutch, and worked at Trader Joe's.
• Nick & boyfriend came out for a wedding and stayed for a couple of extra days.
• Meg's sister and her 2 daughters visited for a few days - Meg's brother came up for dinner one day.
• Elspeth's girlfriend visited over the July 4th weekend.
• We went camping and hiking with a friend of Andrew's from graduate school and his wife. 
• Meg's parents visited us for several days, and we were joined by Meg's brother and sister (again) so we had the whole family together. Everybody had a great time.
• We bought a (new to us) car from a departing colleague, and donated our most ancient car to a colleague.
• They've now all left - we're enjoying the peace and getting ready to go backpacking.

Photos of the assorted family comings and goings await you.