Friday 12th November 2010

Where is the time going to? I can't believe Xmas is just around the corner.
Luke is going well on this cycle of chemo although we did hit a speed bump early on.
He started chemo on the 28th Oct and by the 29th he had what we thought were a few mosquito bites on his arms and legs.(this was quite feasible as we've had the doors open in the house non stop while we've been renovating). On the Sunday 31st he went in for his next injection of Asparaginase and he seemed to have more spots all over him but they disappeared after an hour of so of getting up in the morning. They gave him a cortisone injection to ease the spots. By Tuesday/Wednesday the spots were turning more into a full blown rash or hives. It was a definite allergic reaction. When we went in on Wednesday 3rd for his next injection of Asparaginase they decided that he was having a reaction to Asparaginase. We couldn't understand why he would suddenly develop a resistance to this drug as he has probably had 50 of these injections over the past 9 months. Apparently this can happen. The interesting thing is that there has been another young male (21 years old) who has just been diagnosed with the same ALL leukaemia as Luke. He has just started having Asparaginase and reacted straight away with a more severe allergic reaction. You would have to think it would have something to do with the batch??
They are going to try and get PEG Asparaginase (1 injection vs the 5 equivalent Luke currently has) however this comes from Germany and needs approval through the Therapeutic Goods Association in Australia so this will take time to be approved.
In the meantime they are treating the reaction with steroids and antihistamines. It seems to stop the hives however the steroids are making him eat more!!

Luke is sick of me nagging about his school work. He only has a few weeks left before the teachers will basically close off the results for the year. He needs to finish his Maths and English to obtain prorata marks and finish year 12. I'm sure he'll get it done in time but it still makes me worry and nag!

The kitchen is all finished. I painted the ceiling and walls in the kitchen area. the only problem we have is the lack of a cooktop! We bought a new Electrolux induction cooktop that was basically dead on arrival. We've had lots of going backward and forward between Electrolux who say as it was installed it falls under warranty and needed repairing by Maynor and Cochrane (the agents in Canberra). We have been arguing that it is a new product that we paid a lot for and it hasn't been used so we wanted a new one not a repaired one. In the end Liz, the manager from the Good Guys at Tuggeranong where we bought it from (we know Liz and Julian Barrington from Luke's cricket days) stepped in and spoke to the Electrolux sales rep who approved a new cooktop for us.
It's been 2 weeks since this was approved and I chased Electrolux yesterday to see where the cooktop was. I was advised they were on back order from Germany and would arrive on 20th December!!! As you can imagine I was not impressed. Customer care spoke to sales who said they have escalated our issue and that it would still be at least 2 to 3 weeks before we could get one. I said surely there must be a retailer that has one in stock and they said to contact Good Guys to see and if so they could do some sort of deal. I contacted Liz and she called while I was out yesterday and told Luke she might have a solution for us. I've tried to call her this morning and I'm just waiting for her to call back. As I'm typing this, I've just taken a phone call from Maynor and Cochrane who have said they have a cooktop for us to install on Monday... so Liz must have worked some magic for us. It just goes to show you need someone with pull to make things happen otherwise as a little individual you have no say what so ever. I would therefore recommend Good Guys Tuggeranong to everyone.
I've posted a photo of our semi-finished kitchen as a few people have been asking what it looks like.

Amy was very excited on Wednesday - she had her braces taken off. She had a day of freedom with a beautiful smile until she had the retainers fit yesterday. She has day ones (clear plastic) to wear for 1 year and night ones (like clip on plates) to wear for 2 years. Unfortunately the happiness disappeared for a while as she had a lisp and her teeth were hurting last night. Apparently it takes a few days for your tongue to reposition itself with the plates in and this affects your speech. Other than that problem which I'm sure will improve her teeth look fabulous.

A quick update on Mum's situation with the catheter. She still has it in place but seems to be getting used to the bag. She went to see the specialist on Monday (ended up getting a private appointment to get in sooner than the Sep 2011 appointment she originally got given). He looked at all of her test results and scans and the only thing he can see is a slight thickening on one side of the bladder. He said in the next few weeks he would book her into hospital and have an exploratory look around. Hopefully he can find the problem and be able to fix it. In the meantime he has placed her on some tablets males take for prostrate problems, in the hope it will relax the muscles and spasms.
That's all our news for now. I'll post a blog again in a few weeks.