Feeling good

Just a brief update to say I am feeling good! Have taken off the steri strips from the surgical wound, and taken the dressing off the biopsy site, and my right side is MUCH more mobile and comfortable which is great. Still a bit of discomfort with the PICC line- my left arm and shoulder are a little achy, but we shall see what they say tomorrow. It would be great if that discomfort would disappear too, otherwise it will be a long 18weeks!!

13th visit to hospital.....

well, this morning did not go too great! My optimism at avoiding vomiting was shortlived and I have been feeling fairly rough. I had to get to the hospital by 8.30 am today which meant I could not wake up slowly, so felt awful throughout the procedure. I had to have biopsies and blood tests, and decided to take Tara with me today-as she is harbouring a thought that I am on regular secret shopping trips (after all , why would I be needed at hopsital 13 times in 26 days??). She did great, and the nurses were wonderful with her- and I think she was quite intrigued by the whole process. However, they could not get blood out of my PICC line - which rather defeats the object of having one inserted! It appears I may have a fibrin sheath around the vein preventing the blood from being released, which will need dissolving with enzyme. I obviously did not look up to the task today though, so they are getting me back on wednesday to try and resolve the issue. Wed. is also the day of the node biopsy results- so please pray for clear nodes and a working PICC line.

one down, 5 to go...

Conquering my fear of floral Parker-Knoll chairs I duly went and sat among some very ill patients and awaited the dreaded drugs. Fortunately, they have visitors chairs and Nigel was able to be with me all the way through the procedure. It felt a little like going to the slaughter though, and I realised that as soon as I handed my arm over I would be assaulted with toxic chemicals.
There was a student nurse watching my procedure and the sister asked her why she thought one of the drugs was bright red. After some thought she answered 'is it because it's lethal?'......The sister duly diffused the comment by saying 'Yes it is lethal to the cancer, but that was probably not an appropriate comment to make in front of a patient!!'
Each of the three drugs were administered by injection (into my wonderful line) and took over an hour to give. Each one was preceded with a huge list of symptoms I may feel as it went in- ranging from sore bottom(!!!) to headache, to a feeling of drinking way too much alcohol. Of course, once the thoughts have been placed in your head you sit there waiting for something awful to happen.
Apart from a tight chest and coughing fit I came out realtively OK and managed a 10 min walk up the hill to the car. Once at home the alcohol one kicked in and my faithful servant got me into bed as I was unable to do anything!
Spent the night with waves of nausea and clamminess and a general felling of horrible toxicity, but have woken feeling just woozy and light headed. So, am encouraged to think I may have escaped what can be 3 days of severe nausea and vomiting.
Have been out with Tara and Emily and chosen some pretty scarves, and am picking up my wig this afternoon- so all prepared for the worst.
Will post some pics soon.

The PIC sisters.

I know they sound like a band of some sort, but these wonderful nurses walked me through the PIC line procedure without hiccup, or pain- just a little squeamishness, light headedness and general fainty feelings!!
It was probably all the gowns and gloves and green drapes which did it- or maybe hearing the words 'ooh your veins are over 1cm deep in your arm', ' now we will just slide the tube up towards the heart', 'just rest your chin on your shoulder as sometimes the wire goes into your head and this will stop it taking a wrong turn'.............. eeek
Nigel was also suitably supportive, but even for him there were moments when he rather wished he had eaten more breakfast!! But the nurses sprang to and gave us cups of tea at just the right moments and jollied us along most professionally!
Anyway, it is now in, and I am all taped up. I have an enormous yellow glove (a vet's one!) which goes right up to my shoulder and apparently if I secure it with an elastic band and clingfilm I can shower in relative normality!!! I am not quite sure what is normal about wearing a luminous glove in the shower! Alternatively I can pay a relatively small amount for a plastic waterproof cuff which just covers the patch. Hmmm - dilemma!!

We also discovered that I am not carrying the HER2 receptors- which means I am not suitable to take the wonder drug Herceptin. Have to say that I was a bit disappointed by that, but apparently it could be an indication that the tumour is not as agressive as it could be- as the receptors are more commonly found in very agressive cancers. So, I am slightly consoled, and still praying for the lymph nodes to be clear- I get the results on wednesday 9th.

Chemo starts tomorrow and my anxiety is lessened by having the PIC line in- I worked out that I have at least 18 more occasions where they need to give drugs or take blood, so my morning's procedure will hopefully save a lot of digging around!

Update on Sue

Well, we have been inundated with people wanting news and update on the breast cancer, so have decided to re- launch the blog as a means of keeping folk informed.

We received the diagnosis (mid March) of an agressive, invasive cancer of large size (measures 6x5 cm). One of down sides of having big boobs is that such a lump can be hidden fairly easily!!
Since then there have been many hospital visits. There was some concern that the cancer may have spread, so I have undergone bone scans, CT scans (to check the soft tissues), a chest x-ray and surgical removal of 4 lymph nodes in the armpit. So far, we have had clear results from all but the lymph nodes- and we wait 2 more weeks for those results.
Surgery took place under GA on friday, but I was released on saturday and feeling fairly pain free which is great.
The most discomfort was caused by the canula they placed to administer the drugs, as I have terrible veins, which even the most experienced of doctors are challenged by.
The oncologist suggested today that I have a semi permanent line placed in a vein tomorrow so that chemotherapy can be administered and blood taken without all the digging around which commonly occurs.
So, I go in in the morning for a gruesome sounding procedure of inserting a wire into my arm and feeding it up towards my shoulder, taking an x-ray to check positioning, and then feeding a plastic tube over the wire and taping the whole lot in place. Nigel will have to act as nurse and change dressings and flush out the tube on a weekly basis, but hopefully it will remain in place for the next few months.
Because the tumour cells are rapidly dividing they are giving me agressive treatment. So, I will be having 6 cycles of chemotherapy- administered once every 3 weeks for 18 weeks, followed by 6 weeks recovery, surgery (at the moment looks to be a mastectomy, but may be more conservative if there is a radical shrinking of the tumour during the chemo), then I will have 6 weeks further recovery before radiotherapy, and longterm hormone therapy. Urghh!

Chemotherapy will start this thursday.

I know Ruth Bell would be very disappointed to think the summer was just one ball of fun!
So, here is evidence of the children hard at work, practicing penmanship and multiplication tables! They all have to use fountain pens at their new school, and we found some great children's ones in a wonderful stationery shop (including a left-handed one for Emily). A few cents more on a notebook each, and I get quiet mornings while they are seemingly loving the novelty of writing in ink!

We eventually found the beach, and Shoreline village (very fancy shmanzy), and the Queen Mary (which is now moored up as a floating hotel). We tracked down the bike rental place and had gone about ten yards when there was a scream from the back seat!

The pedals go round whether your feet are on them or not- a difficult concept for an eight year old, who it appears was having a little rest! Her foot got trapped under a rapidly revolving pedal, and she spent the rest of the hour moaning and groaning. She ended up sitting right on the front complaining about how it wasn't just sore, it was smashed!! When we got back to the car we took her trainers off and prised the sock off the blood, bringing a whole load of skin off too! Today, it is swollen and blue, and we are feeling slightly more sympathetic!

We drove over to the coast yesterday with the intention of renting bikes and cycling along the beach front. Obviously took a wrong turn on the 'scenic ocean drive' and ended up in the port with all the massive cranes and ships. Then we realised this was Long Beach, and this is where our container was taken and loaded! The kids suddenly became a lot more interested and we spent ages watching all the activity.......

Ahoy there!

On Saturday we went to an 'interactive pirate dinner adventure', which was pretty much that! It was a mix of panto and a musical with tables tiered in the round. The stage was a floating galleon. We all were assigned one of six colours relating to six pirates, and we had to cheer loudly whenever our pirate was involved in the battle. We all were waving flags and sloshing glasses of Coke around, and generally having a great evening!

Refreshing

Many of you will know I am not really a novel reader- I like to read books with a purpose. So, I came across a recommendation on Eddie Gibbs' blog (the church then and now) and thought it was obviously a relevant book for the emerging church (after all, it was in the 'relevant books' section!!) Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, and I decided to give it a try.

About half way through, I realised it was not particularly relevant to anything on my radar!!

It is about murder, getting old, elephants, and dark secrets.....

However, it is absolutely wonderful- beautifully written, and totally captivating, and also about love, being young, sequins and horses!!!

Couldn't quite work out why it was on his recommended list, then found a blog entry called 'sorbet for the brain'- a refreshing change from theological tomes- have to agree there!!

More fun!

After the fair, we headed into town to the Corvette diner, for a true taste of America!
The waitresses were all dressed in 50's outfits with beehive hair. They chewed gum, and threw straws and bubble gum at us. Tony and Emily had a spit wad fight, and there was some table football (American style) with sugar packets, root beer floats, and burgers with peanut butter!

Tony and Bobbi were fabulous hosts and now rank as our kids' favourite adults! High praise indeed.
Bobbi delighted us all with her bubble blowing prowess, her homemade blueberry pancakes, spaghetti and meatballs, and gallons of ice cream, and the kids even got to love Luke (the very playful dog!) by the end of the stay!

The Fair

Deep fried Twinkies, chicken sandwiches on honey -glazed Krispy Kremes, Dr Seuss hats, dodgem cars, pig racing, hot tubs and saunas, turkey stampedes, garden planning, dune buggy trials, prize dahlias, and award winning livestock. The fair was a wonderful mix of agricultural show, fun fair and an Ideal Home exhibition. It was great fun -and managed to keep everyone happy!

Ratatouille

Nigel had the day off school today (4th July!) and we went to see Ratatouille.

It is one of the best Disney films I have seen.

Absolutely hilarious.

Makes me want to go to France, and do some cooking..........

My mum would love it too!!

Finally!

We had to delay our family holiday while we were waiting for a truck! So, we are really glad to have got away, and have just had a fabulous few days in San Diego.

Silly hats, pirates, the zoo, the state fair, and a fun ride on a SEAL (a bus that turns into a boat!).
We stayed with some great friends who certainly know how to have a good time! (More photos to follow). The kids have had ice cream or whipped cream on practically every meal this week!!



Now we have headed up the coast to LA, where Nigel is at college for 2 weeks, and we are going to be chilling by the pool, and trying to amuse ourselves while he is studying. Doesn't look as if we will have too much difficulty.......

We are rich!

This morning we had a garage sale- a half hearted attempt to rid the house of the last few things. We put the signs out last night and drove over to the house for 7 am, to discover people had been waiting since 6 !!

They quickly snapped up our 'tat' and the kids were very excited by the whole thing. They labelled all the stuff- one of Emily's plastic robots was on sale for $20, whilst a whole box of wine glasses merited a mere 10c !! We were aiming for enough money for family ice cream (not that we are obsessive about this, but we are making the most of our last few days in the land of frozen dessert!). After a while we realised we would be able to see a movie too, and with the grand total of $130 will get spending money in California thrown in.

Over 50 of the dollars were in $1 bills, so there was a massive pile, and the kids were absolutely delighted to be so rich!!

A welcome sight in the neighbourhood!

Today the truck arrived.

We count our blessings.

1. the truck arrived!

2. we are not removal men!

Just watching these guys move our boxes and furniture was enough to make us melt.

The kids splashed in the pool while the men struggled for 4 hours in the heat.

We kept giving them water, but felt helpless to do more- can't really turn down the sun, can we?

Get me out of here.......

We are really glad we made the decision to leave here in the summer! The heat is really on at the moment- the last week has seen an enormous leap in temperatures, and we are all feeling fairly wiped out by it. I took these photos today as we got into our car! Fortunately, the heat coincides with vacation time (ie. ice cream and pools), but Tara and Emily both came down with a bit of sun-stroke today. We dropped off our golf cart this morning to the new owners, and Tara spectacularly vomited all over their garden!!!

The girls then spent the afternoon lazing under the fan and sipping iced water.......oh for the joy of torrential rain !!!!

All packed up with nowhere to go!

Well, the house contents are all in boxes, and we are living out of suitcases for the next six weeks or so. Could be longer- as the stuff still sits in our house!

They packed us on Thursday and were supposed to load the container on Friday. But, it turns out that shippers are like airlines, and they overbook their containers, hoping that one or two will be cancelled. So, we are waiting for a container to become available, and feeling pretty helpless in the wait.

We have an option to pay more money and do a 'double load'. ie They load it onto a truck and then drive to LA and load it into a container there and then onto the ship. Don't really want to pay any more, but don't want to delay much more either.............urghh!

Fortunately, our innovative friends bought the kids some ice cream gift cards as a leaving present, so we are having great fun spending those, and watching the Disney channel, and splashing in the pool........hey, if our stuff is in suitcases we must be on holiday surely!!

Celebrations!

Nigel graduated from Fuller yesterday with a Masters in Theology, and it was a very special day. Paddy and Mary were able to be with us, and several friends cheering him on -we were all encouraged to make loads of noise, and there was lots of 'whooping and hollering!'
On friday night we had a big party to celebrate, and also to say farewell to friends out here. There was a spectacular turnout (very unusual in this culture!) and it was a fitting end to our time in Phoenix.
And, as if that were not enough, today we celebrated Nigel's birthday! It is not the real date, but we were on a bit of a roll, and decided to make a celebratory weekend. Also our packers arrive this week and our stuff gets shipped on Friday- I decided it was way too complicated to buy presents which have to fit in a suitcase, so he has 3 days to play with his toys and then will not see them for another 6 weeks!!
Paddy and Mary left last night on their journey back to Sheffield, and another chapter of life is rapidly closing for us too. But we still have a little holiday planned in California before we return- which is great to look forward to after the chaos of the move!