A quiet day

Derek spent a quiet day today. He is having intravenous sugar and electrolytes, but no other food. Tomorrow he'll try some liquid food (he can sip water now and sucks on ice cubes). Derek also had the TV set connected. This is wonderful, he's taking an interest in normal things again. Airdrie has also brought him the Harry Potter book, and he's got a book by Steven Wozniak (of Apple fame) as well. At the time we visited, he had the room all to himself, the other patient (a man from England on a visit) has left. Derek says that he hardly needs the morphine any more; only small doses are being administered. We are hoping that he'll be able to tolerate the food, so that he can finally start to "fatten up".

Some good news

Airdrie phoned us last night to let us know that Derek's oncologist had phoned her. The pathology report says that Derek's removed cancerous colon tissue showed that all of the diseased tissue had been taken out, and nothing had been left behind. This is a good piece of news, and a big step forward in Derek's fight against the cancer. Of course, there is still a long way to go - more chemotherapy is yet to come, and there will also be another operation to "reconnect" his plumbing. We haven't talked to Derek today yet, but this is a great relief to him, no doubt, as it is for all of us.