Crazy news!

If you can believe it the State Department gave us an option today to return to Canberra.  They called our oncologist and heard from her how well she thought Chris was doing on chemo and that she couldn't predict how long he would remain stable, that she thought there was no reason he couldn't work at full capacity and that she thought the care in Australia was good. She told him she would remain his primary oncologist and that we could continue to be seen by her even if virtually. All this changed the State Department's mind and despite saying he would highly recommend against going back that we would have that option.
 We did press for reasons that he recommended against our return and the main ones were the concern that if Chris' cancer progresses sooner rather than later we would again be uprooted and he was also concerned about care there. But one of the things we had previously been concerned about was totally alleviated when we learned that if Chris' cancer progresses we would be moved back to DC and immediately curtailed (we had been worried about another evacuation like we've been on).  

I may not need to tell you all that Chris is thrilled and for the first time in 2 months I think he is truly happy about something.  I know there will be worries about us and we will seem far away but when we sat down to talk about it together it was clear that we agreed on one important thing. If we make our life decisions based on an unknown date when/if Chris progresses we won't be living anymore.  We are not naive - it is likely at some point to progress - but NO ONE knows whether that will happen in a month or 10 years from now.  Going back means that Chris gets to work at the job he had with supportive colleagues already aware of his situation, a limited clearance again to work abroad and we get to move right back into our home. Compared to driving across the country, finding temporary housing and putting an offer on a new home this seems much, much better.  I understand that it seems insane to think moving to Australia is easier than to DC but really it is.

I also want to make sure that you know I feel more confident about health care than I did awhile ago. I think yesterday helped tremendously as we saw stable disease again in the scans but also another few signs that the tumor was decreasing or at the least promising things that the tumor was responding in some way to the chemo.  What has become more clear as time has gone on is that Chris is going to have some up and down days but that those are going to be managed with somewhat "basic" meds and those days won't necessarily mean progression of the disease.  Furthermore, if there is progression, the next step is radiation and at that point we are back in the US regardless of where in the world we are.  The day to day care thus can be managed in Australia. Of course, the specialty stuff like accupuncture may need some good research but...

So, we are going back to Australia and to continue to work out this crazy life of living normally with a brain tumor. We love you all.

SVB