End of January Update

Meg continues with her daily radiation and chemotherapy. Treatment is clearly doing something: hair falling out in great hanks, mostly on the right (tumor) side that receives the radiation. She's also noticeably swollen on that side of her face, which is perceptibly warmer than the other side. She's also pretty tired in the evenings and goes off to bed early, but finds it difficult to sleep through the night (due in part to discomfort in her head).

Radiation is weekdays only: presumably for the convenience of the staff, but it also gives Meg a chance to recover at the weekends . This weekend (for the first time) Meg was really tired on Saturday and snoozed most of the morning, but perked up in time for an afternoon stroll and errands around Capitol Hill. It suited me, as I'm still fighting the cold that laid me low for most of the week. By Sunday we were a bit more lively, and actively (rather than passively) sat around in the morning, before a shopping and strolling trip to Ballard in the afternoon.

On Wednesday she had the first of her mystery IV infusions, as part of the clinical trial of the early use of Avastin that she is part of (it's standard treatment for recurrent glioblastoma). She noted no side effects of the infusion, just that it took just about all afternoon!

Meg was eager to report, on Thursday, that she was half way through her 33 day cycle of radiation treatments, but the radiation people announced that day that she was really only due to have 30 treatments (and so had missed the celebratory half-way mark).

We're persevering, but would have to admit that the combination of my cold and Meg's fatigue has hardly made this the most fun-filled of weeks! On the bright side, Meg did enjoy a lunch with an orchestra colleague, and a walk (back from the radiation treatment) and a lunch with a science colleague last week, and has scheduled a stroll with a colleague and her toddlers this coming week.