We returned today from our second spell in the sweltering Southland, L having received her second dose of chemo on Monday last. Her hair, as predicted, has abandoned ship. She has shed an astonishing amount of weight since her last birthday, just in advance of the onset of symptoms, and has aged extraordinarily: as a tactless friend observed, “Got some real concentration camp survivor vibe going on here.”

We (well, she, actually, but I endorse the decision) have opted for Cedars-Sinai in SoCal, preferring their programme to Oakland Cæsarcare’s evasive and dilatory approach to treatment. We are particularly gratified that her surgeon there is all-in with HIPEC, a remedy that Cæsarcare sneered at as, beancounters at the oncologist’s elbow, they all-but dismissed it as quackery. The Cedars-Sinai surgeon responds that HIPEC has hitherto been deployed as a last-ditch action for this condition once remission has inevitably waned. He, and an oncologist colleague, believe that remission can be significantly extended with the procedure inserted in conjunction with surgery (they will be carving out her ladyparts) halfway through the chemo regimen, and that my wife is a perfect “test case” to demonstrate the truth of this proposition. We’ll see. As Lina says, what have we got to lose?

cordially,