Your loss is overwhelming John. Your beautiful wife was happy, caring, loving and very selfless but her most wonderful gift of all was....she had you for her husband for 24 spectacular years. You have served her well. You must take good care of yourself now for being a care giver takes so much out of you. Life will go on and you will smile once more for your beautiful wife would not have it any other way. Love Jan ... View more

Hi JohnK, If you read my replies on this page you, you will know what 2 types treatment regimes my wife was on. They stopped working eventually. At a meeting with the oncologist late last year, he said he had run out of options, except there was an " old fashioned " chemo that could be tried. My wife who had had chemo every 2 weeks for 2 years accepted the fact that the disease was progressing rapidly and nothing was going to halt it, so she declined, and chemo was stopped. When we were told of the 3rd chemo, I did some research on it, I do not remember the name, but that could be obtained. It was a chemo that was first used in the 1930s, a German scientist did the research and started to use it. It is extracted from the mushroom plant. It was offered to us, so it must still be available and still used. Wombat4 ... View more

John the pain and heartbreak you are feeling now must be so tough I can only imagine how much it hurts,my thoughts and prayers are with you and your lovely wife.I to know the need not to have answers sometimes and the feeling of wanting to run away to a place where there is no cancer pain or hurt.Hang in there you are doing a great job caring for your wife and although you are riding this rollercoaster you are still there and loving and carihg for your wife.My hat comes off to you,look after yourself to it is important.God Bless. Tina. X ... View more

Dear John, give yourself permission to be human and feel and express your emotions as they arise,as long as you are in a safe place to do so.Being a carer to our loved ones is such a tough job because we are emotionally involved. I really hope you can talk to your own doctor or the palliative care team for some support for yourself. Your dog sounds like a beautiful animal who loves taking you for a walk...sometimes John it is our weakness which is our strength because to be strong all the time is putting a heap load of pressure on ourselves and when we do that our expectations come crashing down. Be gentle on yourself. Dotty. ... View more

Thanks for sharing with me Dotty (and Wombat4 and Tina as well). It just doesn't stop does it and I have already been warned it will get worse and worse. ... View more

I hear you! Hope and peace coming your way from a carer tonight....... PA ... View more

I am pleased for you and your wife John K with the latest results. It is a roller coaster ride, a ride through hell, as the great Winston Churchill once said, "if you find yourself going through hell, keep going", an apt quote for just about everybody that visits this site. You are in the same position my wife and I were in with the secondary tumours in the liver, as well as enlarged liver, and any positive sign was one to be very grateful for. My thoughts are with you both Wombat4 ... View more

Thanks purple angels and SILLY for your kind advice and words. Well we have a decision about the SIR Spheres and it is not good. We had a meeting with my wife’s oncologist this morning and were told the told tests she had last week indicated she would not be a suitable candidate for the SIR Spheres treatment (too much leakage to the healthy parts of her liver). It was a difficult conversation. Somehow I was expecting this outcome remembering how the specialist’s whole manner changed after the tests last week. We were told they would go ahead if my wife wanted to (they are clearly running out of options) but the strong advice was against it. A strong woman my wife and although clearly upset by the news (she had been hoping/expecting the treatment would go ahead) she understood it was far too risky to proceed. Goodbye SIR Spheres. What do we do now? The oncologist is clearly concerned about liver failure and the last LFT is not good. We were not told in so many words but the implication was that my wife was approaching so sort of tipping point. Completely stopping treatment was mentioned. My wife said she was not at that stage yet and was not yet ready to give up. Try another form of Chemo (it will be the third)? The problem with this is that her white blood cell-count (WCC) is so low that they are hesitant to start again. Apparently there is an expensive drug that can lift the WCC but it is not on the PBS and costs $1000 a dose. My wife’s oncologist is going to see if she can get it as part of a trial. Gawd it is awful when apart from everything else you have to worry about the cost of treatment and/or depend on charity. As soon as my wife’s WCC is up they will start the new Chemo (didn’t take notes this time and cannot remember its name). It has some risks (don’t they all) and nasty side effects (my wife knows only too well about that) but what else can we do. Fingers crossed. When we got home there was a phone call from my wife’s sister who lives interstate. She is going to fly up to visit on Easter Sunday. That is nice, lifted both my wife’s and my mood for the moment. And I baked her a cheese soufflé for dinner (eggs and cheese being among the few things she enjoys eating now). Only my second ever so soufflé and it turned out well if I say so myself. (Tried to attach a photo but it didn't work). ... View more

Not being fond of cooking ,I am only insulted when I come home from my night dance class to find a baked dinner waiting. He loves my baked dinners and I've told hom to ask whenever he wants one. Still he goes ahead, when I'm doing something else , and cooks them . I was kidding,as I was only insulted the first few times. Now I just say thanks and enjoy it. I'm pretty easy going ,I suppose . Most women seem to like cooking . Have a happy Easter. ... View more