Treatment continues, every two weeks and Dal continues to react positively, there are always little things to mention, like the numbness of his hands and feet, the feeling of cold in these areas even when he is quite warm, and the few irregular nose bleeds. Other things also like, Dal's hair continuing to grow, his ability to eat solids most of the time with very few problems, but he has a few glitches which catch him unawares and frighten the living daylights out of me.
We get wake up calls every now and then, reminders that we need to be vigilant, continue on the food regime and healings we have started, focus on keeping Dal positive, it continues to be a frightening time.. the not knowing the wondering, the waking / sleepless night.
You may remember I mentioned at the beginning of November that we had an Oncology call due on the 17th, well, I took advantage of that call to take some time away from Dal, to talk to the oncologist to get a greater insight as to where we are now.......our conversation went a little like this.
I would like to ask you where things are now with Dal, as you know he is a very positive man, focused, and looking well, but we were advised by the other hospital that he had months, or months and months, well, we have had the months... where is he now with his treatment.
Did I discuss prognosis with you before?
No!
Ok, Let's go back to the beginning, one of the markers we use to measure how ill someone is, is called CA19-9 the top end marker is 37 in most people, but Dal's was over 4000. This was in May 2020, by June he had reduced this count to 1900+, over halving it and by July 25th he had it down to 400. The really amazing thing here is, at the last count, which was in October, Dal's CA19-9 marker was 27. 
Prognosis wise, had Dal decided not to have treatment, he would probably no longer be with us...4 to 5 months would have been expected, with treatment for his type of condition we are normally looking at just over a year... currently I need to stick with that prognosis, until we receive the results of his next scan, that said he does seem to be responding very well to the maintenance chemo and immunotherapy that he is now receiving.
So here we are, waiting for the date of the next scan.... we think it will be in the next week or two, and we continue to focus, pray and believe that things continue to be good.. The small side effects are a patch on what could be.. so we ask for you continued positive thoughts, love and prayers.
I spent many weeks scouring the web for positive news, I know how cruel and quick this disease can be, We just hope we can keep giving positive updates...
Here's to a positive and healthier 2021.
Lowedal
