Hi all, we had Steve's 3 monthly appointment today so thought I'd update you all on how he's going. The doctor is happy with his progress. He's maintaining his weight which is good but we still need him to gain alot more (mission impossible). No evidence of the cancer being present from just looking and feeling so that's great.

But his jaw bone is not good. We have been waiting now for 8 months for surgery for his dead jaw. What started out as a small area has grown quite conciderably. We deal with 2 hospitals. For those not familiar with the hospital system in Australia we have private and public health. Our cancer centre is a private hospital. The see all cancer patients for chemo and radiation etc even if you don't have private health insurance. When it comes to Steve's jaw bone and the maxillofacial surgeon it's through the public health system (no insurance needed). Still good doctors but long waits to get seen. This is why we are still waiting.

Our RO has been checking Steve's jaw every 3 months and last time we saw him he was very concerned at how it's looking. He has been in contact with the other hospital (maxillofacial) to try and get us pushed up the waiting list. So far this has not made any difference. Today we saw his RO again and his jaw is now worse. So the RO ordered a ct scan to be done of Steve's head, jaw, neck and chest. On the 15th of March we have to go back to the Cancer hospital and see a private ENT to be assessed. We will also see alot of other doctors at this time also. I think they are doing this in the hope that the private ENT will be able to get something happening with regards to Steve's jaw. It will be a 4 hour appointment, the same as when he was diagnosed. He will be seen by many doctors and then they will all meet together to discuss the next plan of action. Fingers crossed we get somewhere this time.


Got to admit I'm a bit concerned about the scans though, as normal. He hasn't had one for a year now and I really hope they show nothing but the dead bone that we are expecting. So the next couple of weeks will be a bit stressful but hopefully we will get some answers and some action finally.

I'll keep you all updated on how we go.