For those of you who got the newsletter last week, you will have read that our friend Paige is helping out with the recipes.  You may have also noticed that Connie wrote the entire other side. Both are gifted writers and I feel very fortunate to have them helping us out.  Unfortunately, the reason for all of this was because Nigel was rushed back into the hospital.  Nearly two weeks ago, at Nigel's follow up appointment and after looking at his test results, his doctor informed us that the cancer is taking over the bone marrow and is growing very quickly.  We had planned on starting a new treatment, actually that day, but things were moving so fast that we did not have time to try out the new immune therapy.  Dr. Martin explained that at this rate, Nigel had until the end of the year unless we jump on it with heavy Chemo immediately.  They got us a room at UCSF and we were in by Saturday evening.  Chemo started Sunday, by Thursday his numbers were improving.  The plan was to stay in for close to 14 days, but I am very happy to tell you all, his numbers were so good, they sent us home a week early!  Nigel is feeling stronger than he has for months now. His appetite is quite good and we are confident we can beat this or at least keep the cancer down for a very long time.  He does have to go back in for another round of chemo in a couple of weeks and we are hoping to try out the new immune based drug sometime in January.  

I find myself telling you all this and am truly amazed by how much better it feels to be in attack mode, compared to the place of not knowing what is going on, or how to deal with his health.  Watching his appetite dwindle to almost nothing and him withering away, that was hard.  Right now, I feel like the emotions have long ago been spent and now we are focused on fighting the battle at hand.  We have many trips down to UCSF scheduled over the next couple of weeks, and then back in.  You will probably hear from Connie a bit more and Paige will continue sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge with the recipes.  But know that we are not disappearing, Nigel and I are focusing on healing, and learning to live life more gently.