Uncomfortable Sunday - When Gloria awakened, she said she still felt pretty hammered, yet she looked better - more peppy than Saturday evening. She looked at a plate of food on her phone that daughter Katie sent from Japan and remarked it looked good. That too was a good sign.

Then she said I could make her a hard-boiled egg and some toast. Another good sign!

In the early afternoon, I headed into work to locate various materials that I had agreed to send to a fellow in New York. That proved to be more challenging than expected and I didn't get home until around 7:30 p.m. Gloria reported she had done the dishes, eaten some cornbread and applesauce, took a shower and picked up Saturday's mail from the mailbox.

I'm inclined to say we watched an episode of "Morse," but in reality, she watched it and I mostly slept. Then we watched a few episodes of "The Repair Shop" and headed off to bed around midnight.

Gloria seemed pretty lethargic and complained that her lower tummy was very sore and she complained again about not being good for much of anything.

Monday, 8 December - This day is the 7th since this first treatment cycle began and this would prove to be a tough one.

I awoke about 6:00 a.m. with Gloria already on the way to the toilet. She doesn't get up at night often, yet often enough that I thought nothing of it. But when she returned, she announced she was bleeding. I asked how much, and she said I should check.

I did. It was bright red and had soaked into the paper, but had not mixed with the bowl water at all. The amount I would guess was somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.

She has had some difficulty of this type before and there is a family history. But since her body had just been screened for cancer spread and that came back negative, it seemed this was unlikely to be serious, yet was still disquieting. And it was clear Gloria was bothered and her lower GI system was giving her more pain than when we went to bed. It seemed best to have it checked, if for no other reason than her peace of mind.

This was the first time she mentioned that if subsequent treatments were to be like this, she'd consider opting out. It wouldn't be the last time I heard this. Gloria tends to be a "grin-and-bear-it" person, so I knew it was difficult.

Something I had noted in the past was also done by these two care-givers. Whenever they left the room, they would pull the curtain between the edge of the room's sliding door and the nearby jam. It was one of those things that once you notice it, you cannot unsee it, so I eventually asked what that was about. It was explained that it was just to pull the curtain as wide as possible for the patient’s privacy. There you go - something seemingly odd, yet really nothing.

The mobile X-ray machine arrived for a chest image. While this scan seemed unneeded, I kept remembering that a similar "unneeded" exam of Gloria's mother had revealed her previously-undetected lung cancer.

Around 8:20 a.m., a fellow arrived to take Gloria for the CT scan. I figured daughter Mariya and wife Miriam would be awake, so I let them know what was happening, but decided there was no point in bothering Katie and Matt in Japan.

Near 9:00 a.m., Horn returned, informed us he had consulted with the hospital's Gastroenterologist and they agreed that everything looked like this was a case of colitis and there was nothing special to be done. There was nothing that indicated an infection that would dictate antibiotics.

After Gloria was given another 500 ml of saline solution, they sent her home, but with the order to follow up with our family physician the next day.

We left about 9:30 a.m. She was feeling about as well as she had for the past three days, but that was apparently due to the effects of the morphine as she slowly went downhill.

Certain anti-cancer drugs can specifically cause problems with the lower GI tract, but none of Gloria's fall into that category of known agents. However, general GI problems are common due to fast multiplying cells being targeted. I guess if you are so afflicted, but there is nothing to be done, there is little value in knowing the precise source.

Aftermath - In the afternoon, I received a text from Mariya asking if I knew where Katie and Matt were in Japan. There had been a 7.5 earthquake in the north, but they were in Tokyo at the time and said it could barely be felt.

I went into work, pulled the materials together for the fellow in New York and Fed-Exed them to him. I got home in the early evening, but it was obvious that Gloria had had a rough day. She continues to look better, yet her lower GI system is just monopolizing all her attention and the related headache makes it impossible for her to do anything else to occupy her mind.

We watched another episode of "Morse," a few of "The Repair Shop" and one of "Long Lost Family" before going to bed about midnight.