Home Again, Home Again

Once again, there's been a gap in our blog posting.  When last we left our intrepid hero, she was hospitalized, trying to find the root of constipation, urinary retention and related pain. She was adding to her team, supplementing the GynOnc docs with a pain management specialist and a cancer-specific psychiatrist.


I'm pleased to report that Leslie is home again, even if all the issues are far from resolved.  She's still juggling pain meds, relaxation tapes, and occasional artificial inducements to eliminate.  She's still subject to out-of-the-blue flashes of intense pain. That's probably what is most frustrating right now - her symptoms aren't really changing, but the triggers are, and in unpredictable ways.


At least at home, she can take warm baths, move from bed to couch to recliner, eat what she fancies when she wants it, and engage in kitteh therapy,


Dear readers, it's not hard to read between the lines of this post that our journey is moving in the wrong direction.  The problems that put Leslie in the hospital also resulted in her losing eligibility for the clinical trial.  On Tuesday we will meet with a radiation specialist to see if very targeted treatment might provide pain relief. Our various docs differ on whether this is wise or grasping.  Will the treatment actually relieve her discomfort?  Will the relief be enough to outweigh possible side effects?


Our immediate disappointment has been that the inability to get pain and constipation under consistent control meant Leslie could not accompany me to California for my Television Academy Board retreat this weekend.  We'd been looking forward to giving her a spa and beach weekend (though current forecasts show temps only in the 60s) and especially a Pitzer visit with Emily.  Leslie insisted that I go ahead with the trip, both for Academy purposes and to give Em at least one-parent face time.


Our next happy target is next week, when we'll have a houseful, with overlapping visits from Leslie's mother, Caroline, Leslie's brother and his wife, and the kids' "second Mom," Katie.  Fingers crossed, by then we'll have everything under control so she can enjoy the hubbub!