Saturday 19th December 2009

Merry Christmas! Jane has another 4 days of chemotherapy before she gets 2 weeks off for Christmas. It seems to be doing some good according to the results we have seen since this round of treatment started back in October. However, she is in a great deal of pain and we have been back to see the palliative care doctor at the hospice and, as I write, we are awaiting a prescription of painkillers to try and improve the situation. The oncologist will review the situation in the New Year and decide what to do next.

Both Lydia and Leo are at home now and last night they decorated the Christmas tree. We shall go to Canterbury for Christmas to see Jane's family and especially to see Jake but we shall be back in Salisbury for the New Year.

We wish you all a very blessed and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love from us all.

Tuesday 24th November 2009

Jane saw the oncologist yesterday having had an MRI scan and x-rays a week or so ago. Her most recent blood test indicates that the chemotherapy is having a beneficial impact in lowering the blood tumour markers although Jane is experiencing considerable pain and nausea. The scan indicates that the cancer is present in Jane's neck and she may need radiotherapy for hips and neck but we agreed that unless something unexpected crops up - no radiotherapy until after Christmas.

The oncologist explained that the way the cancer manifests itself can be expected to change and so we have to be prepared for that and flexible in the way that it is treated - no wonder I was confused by what was happening. So, it is something of a mixed picture but it could be far worse than it is. We'll keep you posted; we see the oncologist again in a couple of weeks time.

God Bless

Monday 16th November 2009

Jane saw the oncologist today. The cancer count in her liver has dropped a little. It is too early to tell if the chemotherapy she had a week ago has had any real impact. However, she is in a great deal of pain in her hips and so she had an x-ray this morning and went back for a lengthy and painful MRI scan this afternoon. She starts chemo again this evening and she may need some additional radiotherapy on her hips in the near future. It was a bit of a bleak day really. The oncologist showed us a scan and the cancer seems to be fairly well spread.

Jacob is also continuing his valiant fight against leukemia with his fair share of problems from side effects of the treatment.

So, could we ask for lots of prayers for them both.

Love from us all.

Saturday 24th October 2009

Jane started her course of chemotherapy this morning. The plan is that she should undertake 3 cycles each of 3 weeks consisting of 2 weeks of chemo and a week to recover. We'll see how it goes. I have attached a couple of pictures from our recent holiday in Turkey.

I think some of you know that Jane's nephew, Jake, is really ill with acute lymphoblastic leukemia - please pray for him and especially his immune system too.

Love from us all.

Saturday 10th October 2009

We haven't blogged for a while but there has been some news that I want to post now. Jane took quite a while to get over the radiology that she received back in July. She still seems to have really achy hips despite the treatment. More recently she had to have a brainscan but, mercifully, that has come back clear.

However, the tumours in her liver have doubled in size and the markers in her blood have gone up sufficiently that the oncologist has advised more chemotherapy. She will start on 23 October for an initial course of 9 weeks. We are going on holiday with the children for a week before the treatment starts.

I am not posting photographs because I know that some of you download onto laptops whilst on trains etc. No pictures means you can download more quickly - in any case there are plenty of pics in the archives. That said, if we get any memorable pictures on holiday we may post a couple.

In the meantime, thank you so much for all your continuing prayers; they mean a great deal to us and they work.

Love to you all.

Tuesday 4th August 2009

Dear Friends

Just to let you know that Jane is doing a lot better now. She seems to be responding well to the antibiotics and, to be honest, she is now feeling the radiotherapy side effects as much as the pneumonia. Thank you for all your prayers. Will blog again soon.

Friday 31st July 2009

We saw the oncologist yesterday. Jane's cancer tumour markers have risen sharply but are still relatively low compared to 2 years ago. She will have further tests at the end of the month. But, more importantly, overnight she seems to have contracted a really bad chest infection. The doctor called this afternoon and prescribed anti-biotics. Please continue to pray.

Love from us both.

Thursday 23rd July 2009

Just a very short update to let you know that Jane has completed radiotherapy. The side effects don't seem to be as bad as they were last time (2007) but she is nonetheless very tired and achy. However, she is also her usual stoical self in the midst of it all smiling her way throughand lending encouragement to the rest of us. Meanwhile, we have no kitchen for 2 weeks until a new one is fitted - it was planned but we didn't reckon on the radiotherapy happening so soon! We see the oncologist a week from today and I'll blog again after that.

Much love to you all and thank you for continued prayers.

Thursday 9th July 2009

Hi, folks. A little update for you. Jane saw the consultant in Southampton yesterday. She is going to have 5 days of radiotherapy on her hips and lower back to reduce pain. We hope this will happen in the next few weeks. Thank you for continuing prayers.

God Bless

Peter and Jane

Saturday 4th July 2009

Hello, everyone. I just wanted to write a few lines following a wonderful holiday and also to report on Jane's endoscopy. Let's do the medical update first. Jane had a wretched time the day before the procedure because she couldn't keep down the dreaded laxative; she was violently sick twice and was really anxious about whether they would be able to proceed. As things turned out, she was fine and the procedure went off well. Even better, they found nothing untoward and Jane's colon (forgive such details!) appears to be in good shape. She is very relieved but very tired. Next week we are off to Southampton to visit the radiology department to see if they can do something to resolve the pain in Jane's hips. Our hope is that, having had almost 2 years without treatment, she will respond really well.

Our holiday was really great. It was just what we both needed in terms of a change of scenery and rest. Rome for the first couple of days was very hot and busy. It was great to see Filippo and Alessandra again (and to enjoy A's fantastic cooking). The weather changed the day we left Rome and turned cooler and poured with rain. We hired a car and ended up with a Fiat Qubo (it looked rather like a bread van - sliding doors at the rear!!). Tuscany was great - weather was patchy but the temperatures allowed us to do a lot more than we would had it been 10 degrees hotter.

Sandra hosted us brilliantly as did Martin and Tina for our last 3 days. We ate and drank too much (well, I did) and Jane managed some spectacular combat shopping in Arezzo and Cortona. The photos above were taken on Sandra's terrace the evening we arrived there and a sunset shot from the other side of her house on another evening.

We will blog again after we have had news on radiotherapy options. Thank you all for continuing prayers.

Love

Peter and Jane

Sunday 14th June 2009

I just wanted to write a few additional lines now as we prepare to go on holiday. Jane and I are off to Italy on Wednesday for 2 weeks. We shall stay with friends in Rome for a couple of days before returning to Umbria/Tuscany for the third year in succession to see dear Martin, Tina and Sandra.

Jane's liver is swollen and the Crohn's disease has flared up. She is going to need more tests almost as soon as we get back in early July in addition to a visit to the radiotherapy department at Southampton; we've been here before and obviously we are really disappointed to be back here again but there's still a way to go yet.

I shall write again when we get home and as we make our way through the various test, check-ups and treatments. But, as usual, I would just ask that you keep Jane in your prayers.

Love from us both.

Sunday 24th May 2009

It's a Bank Holiday weekend here and we are blessed with warm, sunny weather - this is unusual stuff.  I think in my last blog I mentioned that Jane was going to have a scan; well, she did and we got the results last Thursday.  The news isn't great but I think it could be worse.  In a nutshell, the cancer in her liver has grown a bit (not sure how much but not hugely), there is evidence of colitis flaring up and the cancer in her hips and femurs looks to be on the up.

So, we are going to have some more checks and then consider the options for treatment.  This comes down to radiotherapy for the bones and pimidrunate (can't spell that stuff but it's intravenous and tries to preserve bone mass).  Jane says she hopes to avoid any treatment before October so that we can take a holiday with Lydia and Leo lat summer.  (She doesn't think she will feel like it once treatment starts).  I think we just have to take one thing at a time and see how it goes.

As I write, Lydia and Leo are in the garden playing swingball with friends.  Andy and Alison (getting married in September) called in for lunch.  I have known Andy more than 30 years and Alison I met for the first time 3 weeks ago.  Great to have them here and we really look forward to their wedding.

Looking to the immediate future, we are off to Italy in mid-June for 2 weeks - our 'winter sun holiday'.  Can't wait - Jane reckons last proper holiday was in Gozo back in September so this is long overdue.

Well, that's a snapshot of just some of our news - please pray for Jane.

Our love to you all.

God bless.

Peter and Jane  

Tuesday 28th April 2009

We haven't blogged since early March but Jane's trip to the oncologist has stirred us to action.  The news is not too bad:  Jane's tumour markers have gone up again but the rate has slowed - I guess that's what you'd call a 'bad news - good news' scenario.  She also had an x-ray done of her hip that has been causing quite a lot of pain recently - not sure if that's cancer or athritis.  Finally, she will have a scan in the next couple of weeks just to do a full check of other parts.  So, overall, pretty fair and certainly nothing dire or unexpected.

The rest of our news?  Jane's Mum came to stay for Easter - we really enjoy seeing her here and it gives an excuse to do things we don't normally do.  Jane and I went to the sunrise service at the cathedral on Easter Sunday morning - it's always a delight.  

We seem to have been really busy just lately.  Lydia spent the weekend making a small movie of the set construction at the Playhouse with a lot of help from Sharon and Andrew Cooper who came all the way down from Hitchin to help.  We went to see Leo's band (Taking Tiger Mountain - can be found on Myspace) play a gig at Madame Jojo's in Soho supporting Betty and the Werewolves (don't worry if this sounds like a parallel universe).  We are the only parents who hadn't seen them in action and, despite no sound check, we thought they'd dun good.

The bluebells are out now in Groveley Wood andso we have walked up there a bit to see this fantastic blue/purple haze of colour spread through the wood.  We have had really nice weather so it has really prompted us to get out a bit more.  An amazing contrast from the snow we had not long before my last blog.

My dear late mother's old friend Mary Morris came to see us for a night at Easter and kept us all spellbound over dinner with accounts of her trip to Yalta with Churchill.    What lives they did lead in WRNS.

Well, I must off to the supermarket to get some supper but I shall try and blog more frequently rather than just when Jane sees her specialist.  Please, do keep her on your prayer list because you can see the effect of her prayers with your own eyes.  Even the oncologist has stopped talking about "timeframes".

Our love to you all.

Monday 16th February 2009

We waited until now to blog for Jane's latest results from the oncologist. Her tumour marker count has gone up again - to 168. It's still pretty slow and so, for now, no further action and we'll see what the count is in 8 weeks' time. In the meantime we are trying to sort out the medication so that Jane doesn't suffer the dips and the fatigue that she seems to be troubled with at the moment.

As for the rest of our news; well Christmas and New Year came and went without too much event. Quiet family Christmas in Salisbury but early in the New Year, Kay's (Jane's Mum) 80th birthday bash in Canterbury. All the grandchldren performed for her and made it a memorable occasion. Since then we have had a rare taste of winter and a prolonged spell of real cold and a week or so of snow. One evening Jane and I just had to go out and walk in it - Jane even made a "snow cat" that stayed with us for an entire week. After getting quite cold we came in and had a sloe gin before heading for a warm bed.

We haven't been far yet this year. We missed our normal New Year trip to Cornwall and, instead, spent New Year with Alan and Jenny Bowen up at Ross on Wye. A couple of weeks ago we went down to Chepstow to see Ken and Verity Jackson and popped up to see Bruce and Brenda in the Forest of Dean with little Lottie and their new arrival, James. Great to catch up with friends. What we want now is some warm sun!!

Our love and best wishes to all our friends. Thank you for your continuing prayers.