Kate has been home from the hospital for a bit over two weeks now, working with in-home physical, occupational, and speech therapists once or twice a week each. She is still weak and wobbly — using a walker even in the house — and the aphasia is still pretty bad, but I believe both are improving. It’s slow and not consistent, but on average I think she’s getting a little better every day. In fact, she’s doing so well that the physical therapist thinks she ought to switch from in-home to outpatient therapy soon… maybe next week.
We’ve also signed up with an in-home health care firm. We have two different caregivers coming over on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. This will let me get out of the house or focus on tasks without having to worry about Kate. We are still figuring out how best to make use of their help while they are here, but it is helpful just to be able to take my mind off of Kate’s care for a couple of afternoons a week.
We met with the oncologist on Monday. He’s satisfied with her progress since the surgery and we are planning to start Avastin infusions in two weeks. The genetic testing isn’t back yet, but he says it’s unlikely to result in a big change in treatment. I’m not really happy about Kate getting an infusion every two weeks for the foreseeable future, but if it keeps the cancer from coming back I suppose it’s worth it. We are also ramping down the steroids (currently 6mg per day, down from 8mg) and pain meds. Next MRI is scheduled for this Saturday; this one is mostly to set a baseline for future scans.
We had an unplanned trip to Seattle last weekend, to visit a dear friend in the hospital there. She’s been hospitalized for more than a week and doesn’t have a diagnosis yet, which is worrisome. Many of you know who I’m talking about, and if you do I hope you’ll spare some good thoughts for her. The trip was stressful for a variety of reasons but Kate came through it like a champ.
As you may know, I had to cancel my planned readings in San Francisco this coming weekend. However, Kate’s sister is coming down from Seattle next week to stay with Kate while I attend the Worldcon in Kansas City. I hope to see some of you there.
So, all in all, things are not going too badly. I hope that we will continue to see slow but steady progress in the coming weeks.
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