September 2018

I can't believe I have let my blog go so long without writing!  I'm not sure how many people follow us anymore but just in case you check every so often, I thought I would write an update.  I haven't been feeling well myself, and now that I don't work much anymore, I am rarely on my computer, mainly using my I-Pad and I-phone for everything else I do, and I can't update my blog on those devices as I need a proper keyboard!  

I had a severe bout with vertigo in May and even to this day, I am still not 100%, but certainly am a lot better than I was in May.  It took a good 2 months just trying to get over the BPPV (which was what I was diagnosed with).  BPPV is a condition of the inner ear where the crystals are which keep us balanced and stable.  I had to have some head repositioning treatments by a physio (Epley maneuver) where they reposition your head to make the crystals fall back into the inner ear canals where they should be.  It took a couple of those procedures to stop my vertigo but then I was left with residual dizziness and was not able to do much of anything but sit around and now I am still left with cervical spine/neck and eye issues which I'm still trying to get through 5 months later.  I certainly am way better than I was and am able to get back to my normal life, but in the meantime I am getting massages, acupuncture, physio to see if I can get the remaining issues dealt with.  Not liking this thing call "aging"!!   

Brian had been feeling very well (and taking care of me for a change when I had vertigo!), but with ongoing follow-up for his multiple myeloma and ongoing tests with MRI, skeletal surveys, and bone marrow biopsies, it was determined that his MM is back and now he has to go back on chemo maintenance treatment for the rest of his life.  We had a summer family vacation booked in Florida, so the doctor said treatment would start in August after we came back so that we could enjoy that holiday without worry of taking the maintenance drugs.  It was so very disappointing to get this news as Brian was feeling so well.  He now has completed one month of his therapy (Revlimid and dexamethasone), taking the meds 3 weeks on and 1 week off.  He didn't have too many side effects other than some insomnia, fatigue and nausea.  Nevertheless, these symptoms are debilitating enough especially when he was feeling so well before taking them.  He is now on his one week off  and is feeling well again until the cycle repeats itself this Thursday.   We are hoping that it just will take his body some time to get used to these medications and hopefully those side effects won't be so debilitating.  Otherwise, though, Brian is doing well and we are able to enjoy our daily life and we hope to maybe go away over the winter on his "off" weeks, but we shall see how he gets along with it all.  

We had a good summer taking the grandkids for a 3 day trip to Blue Mountain and had a fabulous time with them.  We were able to get their early summer deal where you get a wristband for their attractions and can go on them as many times as you want.  Since I couldn't do the mountain ridge rider due to my head issues, Brian had to take turns taking the girls on the ridge rider and they must have done it at least 14 times each!  My head ached just watching them come down the mountain as fast as they could.  Here are a couple of pictures: 

A week after that, we headed for Florida for a week's stay there.  We rented a 4 bedroom house in a resort style area and the kids had a fabulous time in the pools there and we also had a small pool at the house, so they were in the water 80% of the time and a good thing too considering how hot it was.  Breanne and I, Annika and Selena, and Mavie and Timmie drove down, taking 3 days to get there and it was actually quite an enjoyable ride down.  The girls were really good in the car with their books and I-pads and other toys and other than Selena asking every 15 minutes how much longer we had to get to the next hotel, it was a good ride down.  We changed things up on the way home though, Breanne needed to get home as she had a busy work week, so Brian canceled his flight home so that Breanne could fly home with James and Selena.  Annika drove home with us with the two dogs and we hardly knew any of them were in the car, they were so good on the way home.  Annika and Brian would go swimming at the hotels we stayed at on the way home so she had something to look forward to once we stopped.  

So that is my catch-up for now.  We are doing well, the kids are all back to school now - Levi starts FT kindergarten next week, and everyone is happy and healthy!  

Here are some pictures we took over the last few months.  Hopefully I won't take as long to write again!  

In February, Brian and I spent a month in Hilton Head: 

We ran into an old friend, Sandy Wagter, while there and we had a great time reminiscing about the old days!  Sandy's husband (Fred) was one of Brian's ushers at our wedding and the baker of our "famous" wedding cake that got washed out in a car wash hours before the wedding for which Fred raided a local bakery in Woodstock to make a new cake with little time to spare!  Sadly Fred is no longer with us but we have some great memories!  It was so good to see Sandy though! 

These are a few pictures from Annika's dance competitions! 

Watching the Royal Wedding!  

I finally got to see my Teen Idols - The Monkees!! Great show they put on too! 

Well that is about it for now.  I actually didn't have pictures of our Florida trip on my computer, so wasn't able to post them.  

Breanne's blog address

Breanne has changed her blog address to a more secure address.  For those of you who follow Breanne's blog, here is her new address:  

https://bjamsblog.blogspot.ca/?zx=f0cb1f8d5e05360b

Merry Christmas from the Sharratt's

Well, I have been a little remiss in keeping up my blog in the last six months!  I hope I haven't lost too many followers!  Since June, life has been so much easier for us and we are just enjoying every day with normal every day activities.  Brian has been feeling very good and almost back to normal.  He still has a bit of an ache and tingling in his feet and legs at times if he does too much, but overall feels very good.  He has weaned himself off of all medication including the Lyrica for his legs but he is going to assess whether he may need to still take that to mask the pain/tingling from the peripheral neuropathy.  He still goes for his monthly pamidronate injections (bone strengthener) and our oncologist is now stretching out Brian's visits with her to every three months.  So these are all great signs and we hope for a very very long remission now.  

In other news, I finally decided to retire in July and resigned from the transcription company I was working for.  I still do a bit of work for Breanne, just about 5 to 6 hours over a week, more if she gets behind on her work or has other commitments and I just fill in.  It works out well for both of us and I enjoy still being able to dabble a bit with transcription.  It was a career I totally enjoyed and worked hard at over 40 years, and it is nice just to do a bit without the stress!  Since Brian is better, I have been able to pursue some things that I enjoy, one being finally able to go to exercise classes on a regular basis.  I now attend a Jazzercise class about 3 to 5 times a week and am totally enjoying it.  I used to go to Jazzercise 30 years ago when the kids were young, and it was Breanne who found out that the same instructor I had 30 years ago was still teaching the classes for adults at Annika's dance school.  I totally enjoy the classes, the ladies in the class range from 40 up to 79, and we have a lot of fun and I am starting to feel a little more fit as time goes on!  I love the energy that I have now and hope to stick with this for a long time.  Some of the ladies in the group have been going for many many years, so I'm happy to feel motivated to do so as well.   

I must admit that I love not having my work dictate on what I can and can't do.  My work always came first and everything else I worked around it, now I can just do what I want, when I want, even sleep in some mornings without guilt!  Brian and I are trying to declutter the house somewhat, still have lots of things we don't need, so now spending the time trying to get rid of it all.  I have created a new work space for my "crafts/sewing" and I have purged all my work "junk".  It has been a great feeling starting to feel more organized.  I am hoping in the new year that I might learn how to quilt, so now with my workspace organized, I feel I can now spend some time trying to make new things.  I also have got into doing puzzles (thanks to my dad doing the same thing!).  Dad will only do 500 piece puzzles, but I have been borrowing some 1000 piece puzzles from dad's place and doing them at home.  I find them very relaxing and I multitask by listening to audio-books at the same time.  The local library has a great selection of audiobooks that I just download onto one of my devices.  The time passes quickly though, I sometimes can sit for hours at a puzzle and totally forgetting about the time.  Love to know that that is okay though, with no other commitments I have to worry about.  Isn't that what retirement is all about?!?!

We also had a great visit from my cousin Lizzie and her partner, Christine, from Australia.  They came in September and we spent a whirlwind 2 weeks showing them around our little part of the world, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ottawa area and of course a bit of Guelph.  Christine even participated in the Pace for the Donkeys fund raiser where we walked/jogged 5K.  The weather for the entire two weeks was absolutely beautiful, no rain whatsoever.  It was so much fun catching up with Lizzie as it had been at least 30 years since we had seen each other.  Now, we have to try to get to Australia one day! 

We also took the grandkids (Annika and Selena) for a 3 day getaway to Blue Mountain and had a great time with them as well.  There are a lot of things to do there and the girls were just great, they even made their beds every morning!  I told them when they are with Nana, beds have to be made and teeth brushed morning and night and I didn't even have to remind them.  They were very well behaved and we totally enjoyed doing things with them.  They climbed rock climbing walls and ropes, swam in the pools and they absolutely loved the Ridge Runner going down the mountain.  It was great fun for the four of us.  

Little Levi is doing great.  He just turned 3 years old (where has the time gone!).  He had a bout with pneumonia a month or so ago which seems to be par for the course because of day care, but after a couple of rounds of antibiotics, he finally got over it.  Hopefully, he stays well now for the rest of the winter, fingers crossed, and just gets mild colds and runny noses!  David and Jenn are doing well as are James and Breanne.  

My dad too is still going strong with no major issues.  He is one amazing man for being 95 years of age, going on 96 in February!  

I will include a few pictures below of things we have been up to, and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2018!  I will try not to leave my blog so long next time!  We are heading to Hilton Head for the month of February, and we are both looking forward to getting away and out of the snow!   Love to all!  Janet and Brian 

PICTURES OF OUR GRANDKIDS

LIZ AND JANET (NOW AND 30 YEARS AGO!)

GIRL'S NIGHT - WE HAD A BLAST!

WITH OUR DAD ON REMEMBRANCE DAY!

BEFORE AND AFTER OF MY NEW WORK SPACE FOR CRAFTING AND SEWING

ANNIKA ON LOW ROPES IN BLUE MOUNTAIN

I COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW SELENA COULD ROCK CLIMB BOTH THE EASY AND MEDIUM SIDES. SHE WAS UP WITHIN MINUTES TO THE TOP 

ANNIKA WAS NOT AS CONFIDENT ROCK CLIMBING BUT SHE MADE IT UP HALF-WAY!

EVERY MORNING THEIR BEDS WERE MADE!

MOVIE NIGHT UNDER THE STARS! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

June 1, 2017

I finally had some time tonight to update how Brian is doing.  I always know when I have been remiss in keeping up on my blog when I start hearing from people hoping that Brian is doing well.    So, believe it or not, that question is very hard to answer.  Yes, Brian is better now that chemo has stopped, and we are grateful for that, but he is still far from being his "usual normal" self.   The disease and the chemo has definitely taken a toll on his body, the chemo-related peripheral neuropathy in his legs is very troublesome.  We had hoped that by this time, he would have started to feel better, and that the peripheral neuropathy would be easing, but that is definitely not the case.  There are some days I think the neuropathy is worse.  We saw a pain specialist at the Cancer Clinic last week, who has now taken over the management of Brian's "pain" medications, as the gabapentin that was given for his neuropathy certainly doesn't seem to be doing anything.  The doctor told us that gabapentin is always started at a low dose as it does have significant side effects and you have to slowly introduce so that your body gets used to it.   She has given us a regimen on titrating it up to a higher dose, and then we revisit with her at the end of July to see if there has been a difference in his neuropathy.  Brian started the new dosing last week, and still we are not really seeing any difference, and one of the major side effects is drowsiness, and that certainly is the case now.  Brian fatigues very easily now, he finds that he has to rest a lot, and he has to keep his legs up in order to try to stop the aching.  There are nights he sleeps on the couch as he just can't get comfortable in bed, even despite medication.   He is trying to keep up some form of exercise with walking, and he has even tried to go out on his bike to ride around the neighbourhood, and even with doing that it seems to completely drain him.  He often will feel nauseated in the late afternoons, and he will still need to occasionally take his antinausea pills as well as his morphine pills, although I have to give him credit that he has really cut back on the morphine.  He basically only takes a short-acting one in the afternoon and one at night before bed, and he is thinking that he may try to eliminate that one now that the gabapentin has been increased since the higher dose of gabapentin seems to help him sleep.  

So, we are not sure what to think, will he get better with time, is this the new norm, no-one seems to be able to answer that question.  All patients react differently, so hard to tell.  So, we will just have to shoulder on, and hope that things will get better with time.  Of course, Brian is very frustrated as all he wants to do is go back to being able to do things again.  

We are taking a 3-day trip to Niagara on the Lake in a couple of weeks.  I felt that we both needed a change of scenery, and just enjoy some time away from home, and we will just do what Brian can manage.  I have booked a nice B&B, and we are going to take our bikes and do a bit of biking, as biking is easier on Brian's legs than walking.  We can go out for some nice dinners, and we are going to go a see Me and My Girl at the Shaw Theater.  

Then at the end of June, we leave for Florida for a couple of weeks.  We are driving down with the dogs, and hopefully the long drive in the car won't be too troublesome for Brian, but we will take his pain medication and take it if necessary!  The kids will all fly down for a week, and again we don't plan on being too active, just sitting around the pools, and enjoying some meals out.  Of course, the kids will probably go and do some things on their own, but Brian and I will just enjoy some relaxation and take care of the dogs on the days they do other things.   

We also had some very exciting news in that my cousin, Liz, and her partner, Chris, will be coming from Australia to see us for a couple of weeks at the end of September.  I am so excited for them to come as we haven't seen Liz in  28 years!  We are planning on taking them to a few places in Ontario, of course, Niagara area, St. Jacob's, maybe Toronto, and plan on taking a few days to visit Ottawa.  So we are both very excited for this visit, and to meet Chris as well.  

Anyway, that is about it for now; I probably won't blog again until after our return from Florida.  I certainly hope that soon we will get consistent warm weather!  

April 10, 2017 - Brian's update

Feeling a little apprehensive this morning we headed off to see our oncologist this morning and we got the best news ever - Brian is still cancer-free!  His MRI has shown no malignancies or bone lesions (although still shows degenerative disc disease in his spine) and his bone marrow was clear!!  What a relief for us both, I think we were bouncing when leaving the hospital and then decided to celebrate and went to Red Lobster for lunch!  

Having said that though, Brian is still far from feeling normal.  His peripheral neuropathy is really not any better than it was a month ago when chemo stopped, he still gets nausea for which he needs to take anti-nausea medications and his appetite and energy are certainly not what he wants it to be.  The chemo has done its job by ridding him of the cancer but has been very hard on his body as well.   Dr. McCarron has prescribed gabapentin which she hopes will help with the peripheral neuropathy, and otherwise we just need to have patience to get Brian back to a place where he feels "normal."  It may take a few months, maybe even up to a year, but he should hopefully start to feel better as time goes by.  She said our short-term goal is to try to get off the narcotics which I really want to happen as well.  I think the nausea he has is caused by the hydromorph Contin, but we also have to do that slowly, so she gave us a plan today which we will work towards.   I am hoping that once the gabapentin takes effect, that will then help Brian with his leg issues, and he may not need the narcotic medication anymore.  So patience is the key, but knowing that he is cancer-free, is a big plus as it definitely puts you in a better frame of mind!  

She is going to monitor Brian on a monthly basis for now to see how he manages with his peripheral neuropathy, and if he starts to do well, those visits to her will get further apart.  In the meantime, for the next two years, he will get his monthly injections of the pamidronate to keep his bones strong and he has to take acyclovir (antiviral) for a full two years as well, but that is okay, hopefully it keeps any pesky viruses at bay. 

So today was definitely a good day!  Now that the weather is better, and we can get outside more, I'm sure things will slowly improve for Brian.  I will continue to update how things go over the next little while!  Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers....we are truly blessed!  

March 27, 2016 - update

Just a quick update as it has almost been a month since I last wrote.  Brian is definitely feeling better although the peripheral neuropathy in his legs is still an issue.  Our oncologist told us that we have to give it some time as it won't go away overnight.  It is frustrating for Brian though, as you know him, he wants things to get better immediately!  At least he is able to go for walks albeit "slow" walks, but I'm just grateful he can get out and actually go for walks now. They are just short walks but we plan to build on that as the warmer weather gets here and he has had more time to recover.   

Brian had his MRI over a week ago and last Tuesday he had his bone marrow biopsy and we go for all the results on April 10th.  Our oncologist told us, when we went for the bone biopsy, that she did have the preliminary report on the MRI and all was looking good, no lesions on his bones and no malignancies were seen, so that was very encouraging.  The big test will be the results of the bone marrow though, so we feel a little anxious about that but hopefully it is still showing a remission.  She told us that she wants to keep Brian off any chemo-type drugs for as long as she can so that his body has time to recover, but when it does relapse, then he will go on Revlimid which I understand to be a stabilizing drug which supposedly keeps his disease stabilized.  It will be an oral medication that he takes 3 weeks on, one week off.  

One exciting thing for all of us is that we now have something to look forward to, as we have planned a "family vacation" to Florida (Orlando area) in July.  We have booked a 5-bedroom house at a place called Windsor by Westside which is a new resort with a lazy river, a small water-park like area for the young children, plus a huge resort pool and the house we rented also has a small pool.  So the grandkids have lots to keep them busy and for us to enjoy being with the whole family.  Brian and I are going to drive down (with the dogs) and the rest of the family will be flying down.  We have always wanted to do a family vacation so we made it happen and not procrastinate about it.   Everything is booked now and we can now look forward to getting away.  

So that is my update for now, I will update again after our visit on April 10th.  

March 1, 2017 - Chemo is done!

Brian has had quite a struggle with severe side effects from chemo since my last posting. I had spoken about the referrals we had to see a pain specialist and an orthopedic surgeon for Brian's back issues.  The pain specialist was quite helpful in explaining to us the problem with Brian's back and how important it was to manage the pain, although he said he would not be able to do any epidural injections as Brian's vertebra had no space in order to do so. He was in agreement with the pain medication that Dr. McCarron had put him on, but said that Brian needed to be taking it on a more regular schedule in that even though he was on long-acting hydromorph contin (which is suppose to last 12 hours), he needed to be taking a pill every 8 hours to keep the pain under control.  Brian was taking the long-acting every 12 hours and then taking a short-acting Dilaudid for break-through pain. So after Dr. Cramb explained how he should be taking the medication, that has made quite a difference in that Brian's back is definitely better, it is just more of an ache right now.  The other pressing problem is that Brian has now developed numbness, tingling and weakness in his legs which we thought was part of the pain in the back, possibly the sciatic nerve.  The weird thing about that was that it was both legs, which is unusual for sciatic nerve issues.  The following week, we saw the orthopedic surgeon and he was very thorough, he even brought up Brian's CT scan on the monitor to show us Brian's degenerative disc disease.  He also pointed out that as far as he could see, the openings where the nerves go through didn't really portray to him that there was a sciatic nerve problem.  He felt that Brian's numbness, tingling in the legs was peripheral neuropathy, which is a side effect of the Velcade chemotherapy.   He also felt that Brian's back pain was more chemo-related than anything else.  He wanted Brian to have an MRI and EMG studies of his legs to check his nerves and then make further assessments.  He didn't feel that he could do anything for Brian surgically as he felt all of this was related to the chemo.    

Then on August 14 (Valentine's Day), Brian had another round of chemo although only the Velcade and dexamethasone, Dr. McCarron had already stopped the cyclophosphamide. Brian was okay until the Friday of that week.  He was fine Friday morning, in fact, had taken me to the train station to take the train to London to visit with my friends, Barb and Kim, and then I returned that same night.  When I text him to say I was on my way home, he said that Breanne was going to pick me up at the train station as he was not feeling well.  After that, he went right down hill, he was not only nauseated, but was having episodes of heaving and vomiting, he was not eating or drinking.  By Saturday, I was sufficiently worried that I took him to emergency which ended up being a total waste of time as they didn't feel he was dehydrated and sent us home.  But the whole weekend, he was very ill, right through until Monday.  Of course Monday was Family Day so a statutory holiday for the doctor's office, so I couldn't call them to tell them what Brian was going through.  On Tuesday though Brian started to feel a little better but it was chemo day again.  So off we go to the hospital for chemo.  After his blood work, his white count showed his white cells were too low for chemo and his sodium was low, so they cancelled chemo and gave him a litre of IV fluid and sent us home.  Brian though was finally feeling well again so we had a really good week last week.  It was my dad's 95th birthday and he wanted to treat us all to lunch at the Mandarin, and Brian was well enough to go.  It was so nice to get Brian out and enjoy visiting with the family and being able to enjoy some good food for a change! 

So, today, February 28, we prepare to go for Brian's normal chemo day, dreading it completely.  Breanne and I had been trying to encourage Brian to just say he wanted to stop chemo, but he wanted to give it one more try and if he ended up sick again this week, he would tell Dr. McCarron that enough is enough; he can't take the side effects anymore.  So we go for blood work and I am secretly hoping that the counts would be low, but no all his counts were good this week and the chemo nurse said chemo was a go.  Brian got the chemo and then we come home.  Around 4:30, Dr. McCarron calls to say that she had just received the report from the orthopedic surgeon and was very concerned that Brian had peripheral neuropathy as this was fairly new (which it was) and that chemo had to stop immediately.  I thought to myself, why couldn't she have got that report yesterday, so that Brian didn't end up getting the chemo today!! It is so frustrating especially if he ends up having a bad week again.  

The best news ever though is that chemo is now stopping without us having to say we wanted it stopped.  It is so much easier when the doctor recommends it!  So she now wants Brian's body to recover from the chemo, wants to get the MRI and EMG studies done and then she will book another bone marrow to see where his disease is at and hopefully it is still in remission.   That is as far as we know for now, we have to wait for all these tests to be done and then we also see her and find out what happens next.  I assume at some point in the future, Brian will start with Revlimid which is pill-form and is considered a maintenance drug for multiple myeloma.  

I can't tell you how excited all of us are for chemo to finally stop. It was really starting to get all of us down and the accumulative effect of the chemo over the last 8 months has definitely played a toll on Brian.  The peripheral neuropathy is really affecting his legs and it has completely slowed him down when walking.  He has to be very careful when he walks as he is somewhat unsteady and we obviously do not want him to have a fall.   Hopefully, now that chemo will be stopped, all these symptoms will slowly get better.  I also feel that his back pain will get better too, and hopefully over time he can wean himself off the pain meds as well.  I think Brian is a bit afraid of going off the pain medications though as they have definitely helped him with the pain and helped him sleep at night, but he certainly doesn't want to have to be on narcotics for a long period of time, so hopefully over the next few months they can be weaned off completely.  

So, I will give another update once all these tests are done and that Brian has had time to recover.  In the meantime, as each day passes, Brian should start to feel good without those toxic drugs.    Maybe, just maybe, we might be able to take a week's holiday somewhere really nice and relaxing in a couple of months once Brian is back feeling well again. Keeping our fingers and toes crossed!!