Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

 Finally, I m catching up with all of you to tell you that things are going a bit better.  I have finished 4 chemo and immunotherapy sessions.  The last two chemo really wiped me out and it was even hard to get out of bed.  No nausea or vomiting.  Just wiped out and weak and couldn’t eat.  I ended up in the hospital 2 more times and just fatigued and wiped out, couldn’t eat or drink and had a UTI. This past Thursday I did my first immunotherapy by itself which is IV for and hour once a month. I did well and no side effects.  My scan 2 weeks ago showed shrinkage of the cancer mass and the oncologist was very happy as he was only hoping it would not have grown. Now I will continue IV immunotherapy once a month and scans every 3 months.  As long as the tumor continues to shrink that is the plan. I have been going everyday at 0900 for an IV antibiotic since I was in the hospital for 30 days in a row to get a half an hour infusion.  I go 10 minute...

  Well, it has been almost three months now since I have added to the blog and I finally feel well enough to catch everyone up on what has been happening in the whirlwind of time. Most of the year since getting back from furlough in mid-February I have not been feeling well and I went through having an ulcer, having H. Pyloric, resistant H. Pyloric and then finally the end of October (27th) showed a fast-growing liver mass. Through it all I worked 6 hours in the morning and then went home and slept 3 hours most afternoon.   I also lost my appetite and could not eat much, so had not energy.   I was not having direct patient care due to COVID so preparing the staff for working without me! They opened the boarders to fly on October 1 so when all 3 of my doctors said to go to the USA as soon as possible, I had a liver biopsy on 3 rd of November and got on the plane the next day to the US. We had to have a negative COVID test to fly out within 72 hours. I flew from Ha...

  For my birthday, this year I went with Major and Patience back to Rhino Camp for 3 nights of enjoying animals.   Major and Patience tried to fish but did not get much luck after promising bream to eat for my birthday.  Major caught a large Vundu but it is on the endangered list so he had to throw it back!  He was so disappointed. We enjoyed our time away and it was relaxing and incredibly beautiful.   They cooked me fish for one  dinner since Major did not catch one and a birthday cake!   Nice way to celebrate #66! We came back on Monday evening and by Thursday we were on our way to Harare as my stomach pain was getting no better.   I was referred to a new GI doctor who felt I was probably resistant to the antibiotics for H. Pyloria I was taking.   He changed drugs and I will take them for 2 weeks and see him after 4 weeks.   If I get worse, I may need another endoscopy to see if my ulcer is better and more biopsies.   So far ...

On the 25th of August I went back to see the surgeon about my ulcers.  After 9 weeks of treatment for ulcers I wasn't getting any better and was tired of being sick!  He did a colonoscopy and another gastroscopy.  More biopsies taken and no malignancies but this time it showed massive amounts of h. Pyloria, and infection in my stomach common in developing countries, and causes ulcers, so I was on the wrong treatment for 9 weeks. I started on a 14 day treatment program of antibiotics on the 28th of August and it seems a bit better.  Hopefully this will put an end to the ulcers and erosion in my stomach.  I have good and bad days but am praying this will end it! On the 2nd of September, Patience and Major and I took off for a short vacation to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary. We spent the night of the 2nd in Harare and were able to have dinner with Dr. Shield and Mrs. No Kajese and their daughters Zoey and Alexis.  We had a great visit and kept our s...