A change of scene

Alison is back home now, going for the LAST THREE radiation treatments, hurray! And as of this writing, today's sesion should be done and she only has the last 2!!!! I know she will say a not-so-fond farewell to that radiation mask, it has gotten so tight.

So, she spent the weekend in Aptos being her sweet self. We did not exactly set the town on fire, but she did walk a bit each day, spent time with her daughter, rested, visited, read, caught up on some things on her To Do list. Kirk stayed in Berkeley to attend to a multitude of projects and needs, but I hear he got a wee bit of relaxation with some visiting friends. He has been 'on duty' for such a long stretch that I was itching to give him a break, and finally got to do that. Those of you who have done long-term care-giving know how much he needed to be 'off-duty' even for a little bit.

Alison is still super-tired at this point, which is to be expected. The irony is that she isn't sleeping fabulously because she is up at night to have a snack/visit the facilities, so she needs lots of resting and naps. The Hunger Beast seems a bit more contained (though not resolved, to say the least), but I think the modified diet has her going in the right direction with less shakiness. The radiation and steroids are sapping her muscle strength (think about what happens every time you get up from a chair - you are using your big quadriceps muscles), but she is trying to combat that with making sure she does something physical every day, even if just walking the stairs in her home. We are hopeful that once radiation is done and maybe the steroid dose goes down again, she will build her muscle strength and general energy levels back up. Her spirits are in reasonable shape, still plenty of times of sadness and worry, but it was also good to see her relax and enjoy the change of scene. Now I'm working on getting Al and Kirk back to Aptos to take care of the pair of them!