In the Purple Zone

Joan has to keep a daily diary of her chemotherapy side effects. In the booklet that comes with Xeloda there are three 'Zones' of side effects. Green, Purple and Red. This morning she entered the purple zone with nausea, stomach cramps, a mouth ulcer and chills. The instructions are to ring the oncologist. He is in Chicago at a conference at the moment, but his offsider advised Joan to stop taking the Xeloda and treat the mouth ulcer and urgently ring again if these symptoms persist. The red zone is a straight to hospital ticket.

She is unable to eat anything and that is a bit worrying. This afternoon there has been some improvement and she is feeling a bit better about her situation. We hope tomorrow will be better.

Recently a Western Australian trade union official was released from the Bali jail after serving 5 months for smuggling into Indonesia a small quantity of marijuana. He initially claimed that he had been set up by his enemies and the drug had been planted on him, but later recanted and admitted that he was using marijuana for a medical condition. He was very lucky to get off with a five month sentence especially after lying to Indonesian customs officials. On his release he ranted on about the corruption of the Indonesian justice system and urged the Australian government to seek the release of another Australian, Chapelle Corby, who is serving 20 years for smuggling in over 4kg of weed. His public criticism of 'corrupt Indonesian officials' will certainly not help any efforts to seek the release of Chapelle. Idiot!