Happy Spring Everyone!
I got back a week ago from my fourth trip to Vienna, for my fifth round of low-dose chemo, hyperthermia, IV's and immunotherapy. It was a good week of treatment, nothing unusual to report. As with my scans, my lab tests there show a mixed report with my tumour markers higher again but my immune and inflammatory markers normalizing. I am still quite thankful for the treatment and care provided at the clinic in Vienna, as it seems to be helping me but doesn't wipe me out with harsh side effects. I have even been able to ride my bike outside on the nice days here at home.
On this trip, I was accompanied by my friend Leslie Ernsting who used to live in Thunder Bay but moved to Whitby, ON almost a year ago. We hit it off well in T-Bay and were able to pick right up where we left off when we met up at the Vienna airport. Leslie had booked tickets for us to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" which was a highlight of our week. We weren't sure if the story would veer offensively off of the Biblical account of Jesus' life, but it stayed quite well on track and we enjoyed the show immensely. We're both suckers for great singing voices!
Along with the musical, we were also able to get into the spirit of Easter by attending a Catholic mass on the evening of Holy Thursday. It was held in a beautiful little church near our hotel and we even recognized parts of the service despite the whole thing being conducted in German. Another highlight was going to the upper Belvedere palace, a place I had not yet seen. That is where Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" is housed, which happens to be Leslie's favourite painting. A big thanks to Leslie's husband, Paul and their two kids, Audrey (age 3) and Grant (almost 2), and your families for freeing Leslie up to come with me!
A couple days after I got back home, Will, Alexis and I drove to Edmonton and Vegreville. We had fun at the West Edmonton Mall's amusement park, water park, mini-golf and restaurants on Bourbon St and Chinatown. Will went on the big triple-loop roller coaster; I went on what used to be called the "Drop of Doom", and Alexis couldn't get enough of the wave pool and one of the other roller coasters. A visit with Will's grandparents in Vegreville rounded out our spring break "mini-holiday" nicely.
I am booked to go to Vienna once more from May 5-12. My long time friend from home, Shawna will come with me, so I look forward to another week of catching up (really, who else gets to spend a week of uninterrupted time with a friend?). After that, I plan to re-evaluate the plan based on my next scans and the advice of my doctors, both in Vienna and here in Calgary. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom as I go through that process.
God Bless,
Shawna
