We have finally found out that "Yes" - Ray does have the Wild Gene (are any of us surprised?) that is required for him to go on the clinical trial at the Western General.
Ray has an appointment next Monday (29th Nov) to sign paperwork and have some base-line tests done.
The drug is delivered by injection - either once a week or fortnightly and hopefully we'll find that out next Monday as well.
How are we feeling? Relieved - it's been a bit like waiting to find out whether you passed or failed your exam.

Love to you all
Marg, Ray, Tahnee, Marli.

Still waiting for results to come back - from Antwerp in Belgium! - before we know whether Ray will be eligible for the clinical trial at Western General. Hopefully we will know by late November. In the meantime ....
Ray is off on his annual men's group weekend away - camping on Gunbower Island, just north of Echuca.
Tahnee was nominated to compete in the secondary college's Musician of the Year event which she found a daunting experience up against year 11 and 12 students.
Marli continues to be entrepeneurial with her Saturday morning market stall.
I am getting regular work at the local hospital on their casual bank as a ward clerk and admin assistant.
Hoping you are all in good health and spirits and enjoying the beautiful Spring weather when we have it.
Love Marg

Sorry I haven't updated the blog site for a while.

Am in the middle of an enjoyable school holiday with the girls (what we've seen of them that is!) They are such social critters. Off to sleep overs and day trips to friends.

Took Tahnee and 8 of her friends camping for 2 nights at Joyce's Creek in Newstead. Lots of water, green grass and terrific weather.

Went down to Melbourne to see the Tim Burton and Titanic exhibitions with some friends. Slept all the way home on the train after the big day out.

Have family visiting from Canberra and Perth next week.

Got the results of my most recent CT scan today. The tumors have grown slightly which indicates the chemo is no longer working so a decision was made to discontinue it's use.

My oncologist has referred me to the Western General Hospital in Melbourne which is undertaking a trial of a drug called Certuximab. I will have some blood tests to determine whether I am eligible for the trial. There is a 60% chance that I will. It will mean a weekly trip down to Melbourne. The affects of the drug are negligable compared to chemotherapy, which would be a blessing.

Feeling a little flat given that this is a new hurdle to leap over and I'm still getting over the affects of my last chemo treatment.

Love and blessings
Ray

We have settled back into life in Castlemaine after a few restless nights wandering around the house at 3.30am in the morning. After the warmth of the northern hemisphere, with days lasting until 11pm we came back to dark frosty nights starting at 5.30pm. It's still taking us a while to get used to the chilly winter here, but we are rejoicing that there has been so much rain.
As we expected, the tumors in Ray's liver have started to grow again and a tumour has been located in his lung. The planned course of action is for him to resume the chemo treatment he had started before our trip. The first dose is tomorrow (Wednesday). After 12 weeks of feeling pretty much normal, it's not something Ray is looking forward to at all. Saying all that though we are so very grateful for the opportunity to experience our trip abroad, memories and reflections we will continue to talk about for years to come. The girls are loving reconnecting with friends and school and Mum and Dad are slowly engaging with their garden and the Castlemaine community again.
Blessings to you all

Well, we're on the homeward trek. Driving down to Birmingham this afternoon to spend a final evening with Di and family before heading off for the airport at 6am for a mid-day flight. Thanks once again John for the loan of your car.

Thanks to all Ray's 'Ollerton' family for the wonderful hospitality they gave us for our final week in Lancashire. We had a lovely catch up with Aunty Marg West before John came over from Blackpool to spend the weekend with us in Darwen. Had a lovely Indian dinner with Susan, Mel, Westley & Lucas. We stayed 2 nights at Uncle Tom & Aunty Marg Ollerton's beautiful country home at Entwistle - went through the family photo albums, took an early morning walk around the reservoir and enjoyed Aunty Marg's home cooking (especially her whinberry pie). Caught up with their daughter Catherine and son-in-law Peter and their gorgeous sons Sam, Nick and Ben. Cousin David cooked us a gourmet bbq at his, Sarah & Toby's house where we caught up again with Ray's cousins Lyn & Christine. Although no longer a hairdresser, Susan obligingly brought around her scissors and gave Ray (and several others) haircuts & trims.
We spent a last day in Blackpool with John and watched the tide come in on South Shore, then we went to see a play in the evening at the Grand Theatre.

This trip has been a wonderful experience and special time for us all, but especially Ray, to get to know his family in the UK.
We are looking forward to putting our feet on Australian soil again, however, and seeing our family and friends there.
Our love and hugs to everyone - Marg, Ray, Tahnee & Marli

With the help of our sat. nav., we navigated our way through Paris to the campsite we are staying at successfully. Marg still found the experience stressful – if not quite to the same levels as when travelling through Prague without the sat. nav.
Our cabin at the campsite is a bit of a comedown after our luxury hotel experience in Dole – it is much smaller than what was depicted on the internet, however, it is comfortable and we are enjoying being able to cook our own meals again. The campsite is in the historic area of Maisons-Laffitte on the banks of the river Seine.
The weather is quite hot now (low 30’s) and we are finding the heat energy sapping (ironic – Aussies complaining about the heat!). The long days (it’s not going dark until after 10.30pm) mean we aren’t getting to bed until after mid-night. So we have decided to take it a bit easier for our 5 days in Paris, - start our days later and not try to do too much. Paris is also, even more so than London, so busy and full of tourists – we are finding it a bit overwhelming.
Our first day out was to the Arc de Triumph and then a walk down the Champs Elysee to the Louvre, where we spent the afternoon. Our second day we visited Notre-Dame and took a boat ride down the Seine. Sunday, we decided to do Paris by night to try and avoid walking around in the heat of the day and it also worked in well with watching the England vs Germany game (sad outcome!). Went up the Eiffel Tower (the girls wanted to walk, but you could only go to the very top by elevator) and walked back down from the second level. Wonderful views across the massive expanse of Paris. Got back down just after 10pm and went and had snails, salad and pizza. Ray (accidentally) did a re-enactment of a scene from “Pretty Woman” and managed to flip his snail, firstly onto the floor and then into his beer! Those snails surely are slippery suckers.
Monday we had another lazy start to the day and then caught the train into Montmatre where we visited the church of Sacre Coeur, the markets in Montmatre and then walked through the Kings Cross of Paris –Moulin Rouge. We all felt Montmatre had the feel, look and essence of the Paris we had been anticipating.
Tuesday – our last day in Paris, we caught the train to Versaille to visit the Palace only to find the queue of ticket holders waiting to go in was about 1km long (no joking). This is before you stood in the queue to purchase tickets. We decided we would have a walk around Versaille instead and then caught the train back to Maisons Laffitte, enjoy a drink at a sidewalk café and then relax back at the cabin before going out to dinner for our last night.
Tomorrow, heading back to England via the ferry at Calais to spend a final week with Ray’s family before heading home.

Our drive from Innsbruck in Austria to Airolo in Switzerland has been marked by extra-ordinarily long tunnels (the longest being 30km which make our Sydney Harbour tunnel seem petite) and beautiful snow-capped mountains and rapidly running rivers. We stopped off at Vaduz, capital of Lichtenstein, for lunch, then continued winding our way through some beautiful little villages. At times, as we climbed higher into the mountains, the temperature dropped to 3 deg. C and we stopped a couple of times to look at the view and throw a few snowballs. We were obviously close to the Italian border in Airolo as everyone spoke Italian and every second car was an Alfa Romeo. Airolo is the first place we have been where we can’t find someone who speaks a reasonable amount of English. This proved frustrating when we tried to get directions to the Devil’s Bridge – famous for opening up the San Gottard mountain pass between the north and south canton’s of Switzerland. We eventually found it after using the internet to get an approximate location. Compared to our previous accommodations, our hotel in Airolo was relatively expensive and basic. However, the restaurant/bar downstairs provided a comfortable environment for us to sit, have our dinner, read, play cards & chess, watch the World Cup and the girls to do their homework for the two nights we were there.
Left Airolo and drove again through some spectacular landscape before entering the motorway heading towards Paris. We drove for 5 hours before stopping off in Dole, a provincial town 300 km S.E. of Paris. Not having any pre-booked accommodation, we took a punt and ended up at a beautiful hotel with a swimming pool that the girls enjoyed after the long drive. After the rain in Austria and the snow-chilled air in Airolo, we are back to high 20’s temperatures. Sitting in the manicured gardens, Ray felt a bit embarrassed reading a book about Wellington, who defeated Napoleon in 1815!! We used up our two night’s accommodation budget for getting to Paris, so decided to go to Paris a day earlier. Luckily the Eurocamp we are staying in was able to accommodate our change. Back on the road for the final leg to Paris, we have worked out the system of toll paying, which is quite expensive. Paris, here we come!
P.S. Tahnee & Ray are sad that Australia didn’t get through to the next round and Ray is convinced Soccer (Football) IS the World Game.