Back from Vacation

Adrienne and I got back from our visit to Montreal and Quebec last night. We had a great time sightseeing and eating at fabulous restaurants. It poured our first full day there but was sunny (and really hot) after that. Adrienne couldn't get over all the French-speaking Canadians and how nice they were. In Montreal, we spent a lot of time in Old Montreal and at the Olympic Park at the Biodome and Botanical Gardens. In Quebec, we mostly walked the streets and took in the sights. Adrienne isn't big on history or scenery but she humored me by visiting many churches, gazing at beautiful historical buildings, and taking in the sights. I think she really preferred the shopping and eating parts. The exchange rate wasn't great and the prices high so we didn't buy too many things. Today, we're just catching up on sleep after the long trip, putting the house back in order, and going grocery shopping.

It helped both of us to take our minds off the previous week's test results. Neither of us like the "watch and wait" approach, but Adrienne is really looking forward to some time off chemo. One option, if her cancer is growing again, is to put her on a maintenance dose of vinblastine every two weeks...indefinitely. There are people who have done this for many years without progression of their Hodgkin's Disease. Adrienne hates this option, of course, but it's there if we need it.

Daniel had two hospital visits this week. On Tuesday, he got his physical and blood tests required to donate lymphocytes to Adrienne. One of the test results came back "equivocal," not positive or negative, so he had to go in again on Friday to get more tests. We should have final results on Monday. Assuming the tests are okay, he'll donate on Tuesday while Adrienne gets her chemo. It should be a "fun" day running back and forth between the cancer center where Daniel will donate and the children's day hospital where Adrienne will get her chemo. She also has an MRI on her joints to assess the extent of her avascular necrosis.

Curt returns from Vietnam on Sunday. He spent two days in the hospital with food poisoning from some bad crab. I don't know all the details yet but it sure doesn't sound like fun.