Sunday 26th December

We are approaching the end of the year. Jane had a dose of chemo just over a week ago and the side effects (predictably) are kicking in. She has had a really busy time with Luke and Lydia's wedding and all the preparations for Christmas. This all has a cumulative impact that is really affecting her just now -fatigue, nausea and so on.

Amazingly, she managed two consecutive days of shopping in Southampton where she used a mobility scooter with great success. She also made it to midnight mass at St Thomas' church on Christmas Eve. She was able to be out of bed for some time on Christmas Day but today she has kept to her bed.

I went for a walk this morning, up in the Woodford Valley where Jane and I have walked together in the past. It's not too long and has lovely views back towards Salisbury; I attach a couple of snaps that I took this morning.

Looking back, I hadn't really expected a year like this and I really don't know what we should expect for the year that looms ahead. On the whole, though, we reflect and know that we are blessed. Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and kind messages.

God Bless you.

Thursday 16th December

Good news! Jane's blood results are very positive and so she has gone ahead with chemotherapy today and will have more in January. Apart from swollen ankles Jane is feeling very positive, especially following Lydia's wedding.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year and thank you for all your prayers and messages of support through this year

God bless you.

Sunday 12th December 2010

Lydia and Luke were married yesterday. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. Thank you so much to all those who came to the service and for all your prayers and best wishes. Jane did really well too.

God bless you.

Friday 26th November

Jane had a blood transfusion yesterday. She no longer has a syringe driver in her arm and the combined effect of the new blood and recent chemo is similar to that of putting the new battery in the toy rabbit on the Christmas advertisements! She's getting feisty so she must be feeling better too.

Prayers answered again. Thank you, all, so much.

God bless.

Tuesday 23rd November

Oops! I made a mistake in the last blog entry. Lydia gets married to Luke on 11 December!! Jane very bright at the moment. The syringe driver will probably be taken out in the next few days as well. She is due to have a blood transfusion this week to solve a minor anaemia problem.

God Bless you.

Monday 15th November 2010

Just a quick update. On the whole Jane seems a lot better. She has had a small dose of chemo today and will have some blood before Lydia's wedding to treat slight anaemia. Then no more chemo until after the wedding - currently planned for 16th December. This should allow sufficient time to recover enough to enjoy Christmas.

As always, we thank you for your continuing messages and prayers of support.

God bless you.

Sunday 7th November 2010

Jane has a week off for good behaviour - no hospital visit tomorrow! The chemo she had last Monday has made her very tired but she is strong in so many ways. She came to church this morning and was accompanied by Lydia who had her banns read - very exciting, and so many people came up afterwards and congratulated her.

Leo has been home this weekend for his birthday. He and I went to see Australia play Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. It was a good day out but the stadium was only about 2/3 full - the recession must be biting in the Valleys. In the evening Jane and Lydia came out with us to celebrate at Annokka, one of our favourite restaurants in Salisbury.

Last week Jane had her old friends, Janet and Suzie, staying for a couple of days. Leo bought fireworks and set them off in the garden and Jane was able to watch from the window; she borrowed Jan's hat - hence the photo.

We both draw huge support from all your calls, visits, emails, letters and 'love outpouring'.

God bless you.

Wednesday 3rd November 2010

Jane went to the hospital on Monday and did have chemo at a reduced dose. Her hair is very thin now and so she has also been measured up for a wig. The anti-sickness syringe driver seems to be effective but the steroids in the mix are making her ankles very swollen. She is brilliant though and just keeps going.

Of course, we are all excited because Lydia has announced her engagement and will marry before Christmas. Jane was out shopping for wedding dresses today! It's the best thing for her and she's just as excited as Lydia.

We both feel your prayers and thoughts make such a difference to us. We have had some hard times lately and it is a great comfort.

God bless you.

Monday 25th October 2010

We went to see Jane's oncologist again this morning, had the normal blood tests and decided that although Jane's blood had improved it was better to leave the chemo a little longer. Jane is still feeling nauseous from time to time and a week to gather more strength seemed like a good idea.

After the oncologist, we popped around to the hospice to get a professional view on the site where the syringe driver goes into Jane's arm; it was sore and red so one of the lovely nurses changed the site and we will now add a small dose of steroid with the anti-sickness drug to try and prevent this happening. It was a beautiful morning and Jane was really pleased to be out in the sun.

On the way home we bought some of Jane's favourites "sweet yum-yums" from Waitrose. I took a picture of her enjoying one in the sun room when we got home. Jane is sporting her new "Mia Farrow" look. The last photos posted on the blog were from Jane's party back in July (all the others are 'archive' shots from earlier); we both thought it important that you can see how she is - thinner but still smiling.

Thank you again for all the cards, prayers, visits, calls, kind words, emails, flowers and love.

God Bless you.

Monday 18th October 2010

Jane's mother has been staying with us this weekend and returned to Kent this morning. Leo has also been at home and came to hospital with us this morning. Jane has been sick several times in the past week and the drugs, as they say, didn't work. So, she now has a cyclizine (anti-sickness) syringe driver in her arm that will need to be changed every 24 hours. However, this has always seemed to work best and so Jane feels a lot more confident. Unfortunately, although her blood test had improved a little, because of the sickness in the past days we agreed it was best not to have chemo today...next week though, it looks as if Jane will have chemo and pimudranate - lucky girl!

Jane does get tired very easily now but she did manage to do a little shopping with her Mum on Saturday and she got to church and out for a pub lunch yesterday.

Thank you for your continuing prayers, kind thoughts and positive messages. We don't always reply but we do appreciate them.

God bless you

PS Pic from NZ

Wednesday 13th October 2010

We went to hospital on Monday and saw the oncologist and palliative care doctors. Jane had a blood test (it took about 45 minutes to find a vein!) but after all that her blood results indicated that she wasn't up to having chemo; it seems strange but we were disappointed in many respects. There is not a lot of other news - Jane is a fighter and keeps going. She got to church on Sunday and last night we went to see Ross Noble at the City Hall -there's always a bit of positive news.

Thank you for continuing prayers.

God bless you

Peter and Jane

Monday 4th October 2010

Jane and I got back from the hospital about 30 minutes ago. The good news is that the oncologist (who saw us at the end of a long afternoon) is reasonably relaxed about the blood tests. However, Jane has had an awful thrush infection in her mouth and this has been accompanied by quite bad nausea. So, I think the plan is to put back in an anti-sickness syringe driver so that Jane hasn't got to take so many drugs orally. There was also consensus that she wasn't up to having more chemo this week. We'll see how she is next week and then make a decision. This accords with the plan to "see how it goes".

In the meanwhile we should both like to say a huge thank you to all those who participated in the 24 hour circle of prayer; we are both convinced that it has had a positive effect.

Well, that's the news in outline. I am always happy to chat to you on the phone and fill in detail but I do try and 'protect' Jane a bit when she is resting so please be patient in that respect.

God bless you all.

Peter and Jane

Saturday 25th September

Just brought Jane back from the hospice. She had an MRI scan last night - very extensive. It showed that there was no evidence of pressure on her spinal cord and so she's a free woman again. As I type, she's flower arranging!

Friday 24th September

Jane has been readmitted to the hospice today. She has pain in her leg that may be caused by a tumour putting pressure on a nerve or the spinal cord. She should have an MRI scan this evening. Depending on what that reveals, she may have a blast of radiotherapy next week.

Needless to say Jane remains buoyant and worries more about us than she does about her own predicament. I will update again in next day or two.

Thank you, as always, for prayers.

God bless you.

Monday 20th September

We went to the see the oncologist today to figure out what next. Last week we abandoned the plan to have a long weekend away because Jane felt so unwell - pain in her bones and nausea. But yesterday she seemed to really buck up and was pretty good today all things considered (and in a relative kind of way).

Jane had a blood test that indicated that nothing major was going on in terms of the cancer but that there was a high level of calcium in her blood that could be causing the nausea (amongst other things). Because Jane is still rather fragile we agreed that this week she would have an infusion of pimidrunate (no idea if that's how it's spelt) to try and reduce the calcium level and then next week, all being well, a low dose of Taxol (chemotherapy) and we would see how it went week by week.

We asked a little more about how the disease was progressing overall. The nodules reported in Jane's lungs after the chest infection she had in August are not confirmed as cancer; they just weren't there before the infection and they might be cancer - good news! The tumours in her liver are bigger but they are not as numerous as we had been led to believe - good news! The disease in Jane's bones is well advanced but, thus far, it has not affected her spinal cord - GOOD NEWS!

I don't really have a clue what all that adds up to but I have come home more cheerful than when we went. Of course, Jane has lost a lot of weight, needs to rest a lot, doesn't have a great appetite but we're not hitting the panic button just yet!

Thank you, all, again for your calls, words and prayers - they are an immense source of strength to us both.

Wednesday 8th September

Jane went to see the palliative care team at the hospice today. She came home very tired but with promising news. The view there is that the advance of the disease is perhaps not as great as we had first feared and time may not be slipping away from us as quickly as we had feared a few weeks ago. Of course, we need to remain cautious but this is welcome news.

God bless you all and thanks, as ever, for your prayers.

Thursday 2nd September

Well, we did manage to get away for one night - to Milford on Sea. The picture is of Jane (obviously!) by the sea with our hotel in the background. As you can see the sun came out on Bank Holiday Monday and we took a trip into Lymington before meandering back to Salisbury - we know how to live!!

We went to the Healing Service at the Cathedral this evening - always a lift for Jane. She is in a lot of pain just now and mobility is a bit of a challenge, especially in the mornings. Still, she amazes people with how much she does and how well she manages. And she still seems to notice all the things that I hope she could overlook!

The chemo starts on 20th September. We hope to get down to Kent before that.

Thank you to you all for all the emails, flowers, fruit and especially your love.

God Bless you.

Saturday 28th August

Tomorrow we shall celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary - we're just not sure how yet! Yesterday we went to see a consultant at the orthopaedic department. To be honest, we were not sure why he had asked to see Jane and her oncologist was equally mystified. During the course of our brief meeting he casually referred to the fact that Jane had fractured her spine some months ago (!!!) and then proceeded to show us the scan showing how it had affected the middle of her back - no wonder she was in pain. We both remember a small sort of whiplash event when we were driving down to Kent back in April and so we think that must have been it. However, a little good news at the conclusion of the meeting - no need for further treatment to Jane's spine at this stage.

You are all still sending cards, messages, emails for which we are very grateful - of course, we would ask you to continue to pray for Jane.

The picture was taken in Prague (a previous wedding anniversary trip)

God bless you all.

Thursday 26th August

Well, we made it to see the oncologist today. The number of tumours in Jane's liver has increased and she also has a few small nodules in one lung. We agreed that Jane would start on a new (to her) form of chemo on 20 September - why the wait? Jane still doesn't feel brilliant from her stay in hospital and she is still taking antibiotics. She wants a couple of weeks to feel a bit more stable before taking more treatment.

The oncologist plans to start Jane on relatively low doses of chemo delivered once a week by infusion. She thinks that this will prevent Jane from losing her hair. If Jane has had enough at any stage she can stop the treatment. We all feel very strongly about preserving quality of life.

So, here we are again. Disappointing news about the growth of tumours but not really a huge surprise. There is some good news - Jane's pain really seems to be under control and she has regained her appetite. I think we'll try and get away for a day or two in the next week or so.

Thank you for your continuing prayers, love and support.

God bless you.

Monday 23rd August

It has been a difficult few days but Jane seems a lot better now. When she came out of hospital last Wednesday she didn't seem much better than when she went in. So much so, that I called her GP on Friday and she spent an hour with Jane on Saturday morning. Since then Jane has gradually perked up. She spent a little time downstairs yesterday and quite a lot of time down today. That said, we didn't make it to see the oncologist today and will try again on Thursday.

Some of Jane's symptoms are caused by the calcium leaving her bones and entering her bloodstream. And, of course, she has only just overcome a severe chest infection. So, may be we shouldn't be surprised that she has been so low. I suppose she has also got used to the security of hospital routine and coming out left her feeling rather insecure.

Well, there is not a lot else to tell. Lydia and Leo have both been here to spend time with her and quite a few friends have come by to say hello. If you do plan to pop in it's probably best to give us a call first - if Jane keeps improving we might just take off somewhere.

God bless you and thank you for all your prayers and good wishes

Wednesday 18th August

Lynn brought Jane home this afternoon at about 4pm. She is exhausted and so she and I haven't really had a chance to chat but I know she is happy to be home. We'll blog again but probably after seeing the oncologist next Monday.

God bless you

Tuesday 17th August

A very quick note to say that Jane no longer has the syringe driver and we hope she will be home tomorrow afternoon. We suspect she will now need more treatment but we will be able to say more after we see the oncologist next Monday.

God bless you for all your kindnesses to us both over this very long 10 days.

Monday 16th August

Jane seems pretty good. her ankles are swollen as a result of the steroids she is taking in order to ensure that her arm copes with the syringe driver. Every thing that fixes one thing seems to cause a problem elsewhere. She's still in isolation but is bright and hopes to be out on Wednesday. I think they want to take out the syringe driver tomorrow and then wait 24 hours to make sure everything is OK. We'll keep you posted.

Can't say enough how much we appreciate your support in all the forms it takes.

God bless you.

Sunday 15th August

Well, Jane has been diagnosed as having campilobacter and is currently in isolation -that means gloves and plastic aprons when we visit. She can have visitors but they just have to be aware of the risk and gown up. Sadly, Jane's mum and brother were half way to visit her and had to turn around and go back because of Jake's danger of picking up viruses.

Jane also has very swollen ankles at the moment - we're not sure why. Apart from all that she is in good spirits and seems quite well - ironic isn't it?

She has a lot of visitors that have done a lot for morale and I should say thank you too, to all those who ask about me (I'm fine). I know I can be taciturn and graceless - it's not intentional!

Thank you for your continuing prayers, best wishes, flowers, cards, messages and love.

God Bless you.

Friday 13th August

Jane will probably stay in hospital a bit longer - may be until Monday. She had a CT scan today and she still has a syringe driver in her arm. I think we are happy that discretion is the better part of valour and that she should stay until everyone is satisfied that she is good and ready to come out.

Jane had more visitors today - thank you so much for coming to see her, Shane, Sue, Sara and Lynn!

We also thank you all for more flowers, cards, gifts and, of course, your prayers.

God bless you.

Thursday 12th August

Jane is better still. We hope she may be able to come home on Saturday - excellent news! She has seen her oncologist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist. That's enough pists for now. Will write again tomorrow. Thank you to all visitors, callers, texters and, of course for your continuing prayers.

God bless you.

Wednesday 11th August 2010

Jane is further improved today. She managed a shower this morning and ate a little breakfast, lunch and dinner. She also enjoyed one of Lydia's famous brownies. A few visitors today as well. Naturally she is still very tired and a bit wobbly on her pins but there is definitely good progress.

Thank you all for continuing prayers, messages, cards etc. They are really appreciated.

God Bless you all.

Tuesday 10th August

Jane was moved down to the Pembroke (cancer) ward last night at about 10pm. She is now in a room on her own with en suite facilities and it is all much calmer and quieter. She is in expert hands and is feeling much better. She even ate a little solid food this evening - the first since Saturday evening.

She is still very tired and on an impressive regime of drugs but the docs have told us that the issue is an acute chest infection. There is no reason currently to believe there is anything more sinister going on.

Thank you so much to all of you for visits, cards, prayers and messages of hope and love. We both appreciate it greatly.

God bless you.

Monday 9th August (later)

Jane is still on Whiteparish. She had some x-rays this afternoon. She is very woozy because of all the drugs. Fortunately the ward seems to be quieter this evening. I hope that tomorrow she will be put on a more appropriate ward and we can start to get on top of the pain control issues and that her chest infection will start to clear. Thank you for all your prayers, calls and messages. God bless you.

Monday 9th August

Jane finally left home to go to hospital (via ambulance - my driving is so bad) at about 7.30pm last night. She was seen by a doctor at about 11pm. She has been on the 'Whiteparish Medical Assessment Unit' since last night. There are no beds in the hospice or on the Pembroke Cancer ward at the moment.

We generally have a fantastic service from the NHS but the Whiteparish experience has not been great. It wasn't that busy last night (at least to my untrained eye) but the doctor (very young) took ages to get to Jane and then didn't seem to understand what we were saying. In the end they put in a syringe driver for cyclizine (anti-sickness) early this morning but it had dud batteries. They replaced the batteries but then didn't release the clamp until this afternoon (aaaghh!). If Jane wasn't so woozy from other stuff they have pumped in she'd be beside herself. Some of the nurses and ancillaries are very pleasant and helpful but they lack experience on palliative care issues. Fortunately one of the nurses from the hospice has been up 2 or 3 times to give advice.

Rant over - good news; Dr Kirk visited from the hospice and made a fast analysis. I anticipate that Jane will see the oncologist later this afternoon and will then be moved to a more appropriate ward. First priority is to re-establish pain control and overcome nausea. Second, to determine underlying causes - if any other than the fever and chest infection already diagnosed.

Thank you all, very sincerely from both of us, for your love and prayers. Will blog again shortly.

God bless.

Sunday 8th August

Not a good day. Jane was sick first thing this morning and hasn't eaten all day. We called the emergency GP and he has advised that she goes into the hospital for the night and then to the hospice. She has a chest infection and quite a fever. As I type we are waiting for the ambulance to come - Jane doesn't feel up to getting in the car.

I will blog again later on. As usual, we ask for your prayers.

God bless

Saturday 7th August 2010

Jane is a little better today. She saw her GP yesterday who told her that there was nothing 'worrisome' in the recent blood tests that were done. Jane is due to see the oncologist later this month. I think the virus she picked up before she went into the hospice and a subsequent cold have masked what is really going on. We need to wait, trust and see. Thank you for all your kind phone calls, cards and messages - they mean a great deal to both of us. God bless you.

Tuesday 3rd August

Jane came home today. She stills seems to be running a temperature and doesn't have much of an appetite but it's early days. We would appreciate your continued prayers. They have done so much in the past.

God Bless

Jane and Peter

Sunday 1 August 2010

Jane is going to stay in the hospice until Monday. She has a sore throat and a slight earache - understandably the doctors are erring on cautious side. Thank you for your continuing prayers.

Friday 30th July

Just to say that Jane is feeling much, much better and may be allowed home tomorrow. She is due to see the oncologist and the orthopaedic consultant on Monday so I will blog after that.

Wednesday 28th July 2009

A quick note to say Jane is in the hospice as an in-patient. She contracted gastric flu (or something like it) earlier this week and the nausea prevented her from taking painkillers. It all got a bit too much so she went in today and we are confident that they can get her back on an even keel in the coming few days.

Jane has had some blood tests that showed deteriorating liver function (compared to last 6 months) but that may be a symptom of something else that can be treated.

As you would expect, the staff in the Hospice are brilliant and Jane is so good at being brave in these situations.

I attach a photo taken last weekend at our dear friends', Michael and Ellie, Golden Wedding.

I will write again soon, in the meantime, we are grateful for your prayers.

Peter

Sunday 11th July 2010

I wanted to blog today because I have a bit of time in which to upload photographs etc. I know that next week will be really busy and I won't find time to do as much. We have just come back from lunch with friends in the New Forest. They have a lovely house up a dirt track right in the middle of the forest - 'idyllic' is absolutely the right word.

Last Friday Jane had a surprise party. She really didn't have a clue who was coming or what we were doing until she came downstairs on Friday evening. All she knew was that two couples were coming to stay and she needed to put a dress on. In fact 14 of us assembled at home for drinks on the patio and then we all went to Fisherton Mill for dinner where Nigel and Molly met us (they had dashed back from Wimbledon especially).

Lydia did the flowers for the tables, Leo's face tells the story about the wonderful food and after dinner Pete Aves played wonderful guitar and sang; it was a lovely evening.

Not such good news - Jane's neck hasn't improved as much as we had hoped from the radiotherapy. She saw her GP during the week who thinks she may have cracked a vertebra. The immediate recommended response is to take steroids but we know that will mean moon face, weight gain and, most importantly, will adversely affect her joints in the longer term. Jane is seeing the oncologist tomorrow and so I will blog again shortly. Suffice to say, we are all a bit concerned at this turn of events and hope for better times ahead.

To finish on a brighter note, Jane's nephew, Jake, has been discharged from hospital having had really positive results from the bone marrow transplant. He still has a long way to go but this is very encouraging.

Please keep praying for Jane and Jake.

God Bless you.

PS If you are in need of cheering up take a look at David Sedaris reading his Stadium Pal essay on the David Letterman show on You Tube. The link might be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBdymtyXt8Y

Sunday 20th June 2010

Hi, everyone. I just wanted to let you know that Jane seems to be feeling a little better in the last 48 hours. Yesterday we went to visit her nephew, Jacob, currently an in-patient at the Royal Marsden and about to have bone marrow transplant to treat his leukaemia.

Thank you for all the cards, emails and love.

love and best wishes from us both.

Wednesday 16th June 2010

Jane is struggling a bit at the moment. The after effects of the radiotherapy have affected her throat and so she is struggling to eat, drink and take her drugs. Nothing tastes good and she is losing more weight. She is also very tired and could sleep all day. We hope and pray this is short term pain for longer term gain.

On the plus side she has had some time in the garden enjoying the sunshine and she has been watching some of the World Cup.

We are at the hospice tomorrow (for palliative care and advice) and we are seeing the orthopaedic consultant on Monday. We are really hoping that Jane will start to feel the benefit in a week or two.

Love to you all.

Sunday 6th June 2010

A very quick one on the anniversary of D Day. Jane has had 4 of the 6 radiotherapy sessions due in this series. After a dreadful few days she felt a lot better yesterday - witnessed by this photo (taken by Lydia yesterday afternoon). Let's hope this lasts.

Thank you for your prayers.

Love

Peter and Jane

Monday 31 May 2010

We went for a radiotherapy planning meeting a week ago and Jane will start a 5 day course of radiotherapy tomorrow. The treatment will be focused on her neck and the middle of her back. The cancer in Jane's neck is affecting nerve endings and is making her face feel numb (like anaesthetic when you go to the dentist). We are not sure how bad the side effects will be but we know from past experience they will include nausea, localised burning of the skin and fatigue. Her last session will be on next Monday.

I will blog again shortly after that to let you know how things have gone.

Much love

Peter and Jane

Tuesday 11th May 2010

We have just heard that we have a new Prime Minister. I started to write this about 4 hours ago but then Gordon Brown resigned and I was drawn to the TV!

We haven't blogged for a long time and I wanted to provide a quick update. We saw the orthopaedic surgeon and the oncologist yesterday. Jane had some x rays done of her legs, pelvis and shoulders. They all show the disease advancing, albeit slowly. More worrying though is the area of numbness that has developed on Jane's chin. This results from the cancer putting pressure on Jane's nerves near the base of her skull/top of the spine. The potential for this to cause problems is quite worrying. So, she will have an MRI scan in the coming days and then, probably, some more radiotherapy to try and deal with that in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, we are going to try and go and get some sun and sea for a few days; we'll let you know how that plan develops.

Love from us all. I will blog again soon.

Saturday 3rd April 2010

Jane has been having chemotherapy for almost 6 months now. I think she is going to have one more course and then take a break for a bit. We saw the oncologist on Maundy Thursday and agreed this approach jointly, subject to any test results that indicate we should do something else. Jane will have a scan at the end of the month and that will either confirm or alter plans. Jane's hip is still giving her a good deal of pain and is badly affecting her mobility. She's taking plenty of painkillers but she is only rarely out of pain. The palliative care team are doing their best and we shall see them again next week.

Other than that, not a lot to report - hence the long gap since my last post. The photo was taken in Barcelona about 2 years ago.

Love from us both

Wednesday 24th February 2010

We saw the orthopaedic specialist and the oncologist together on Monday morning with a phone-in from the palliative care doctor. A consensus was quickly reached that surgery would not be appropriate at this stage and that the focus should be on removing pain. Jane has been prescribed with some new painkillers about which we are cautiously optimistic. She has been taking them since Monday. The problem has been that pain tends to break through suddenly and viciously and that really needed to be gripped. We were at a family wedding last weekend (see photo) but it just about finished Jane off by the time we got home on Sunday evening.

She started another course of chemotherapy on Monday and we will see the oncologist (and the orthopaedic specialist) again in mid-March.

Jane's nephew, Jake, has also been really ill - progression of the leukemia. He has just had a brain operation to remove an abscess. He is being very brave about it all.

Please keep praying for them both.

Love

Peter and Jane

Monday 8th February 2010

This is just a quick post and I will follow up later. Jane got to see orthopaedic surgeon today - at very short notice so I wasn't with her. Apparently the news is not good. Despite our early optimism following the bone scan, a more detailed analysis indicates quite significant progression of the disease in Jane's arms, legs and skull. Normally the hip pain would be resolved by surgery but that is not possible in Jane's case for obvious reasons. The surgeon is going to consult with a colleague based in Oxford and will come back to us - quickly I hope.

You will also want to know that Jane's nephew, Jacob, is in intensive care at the Royal Marsden fighting an infection.

As usual, we ask for your prayers.

God bless.

Peter and Jane

Tuesday 26th January 2010

We saw the oncologist yesterday. The chemotherapy Jane has had for the last few weeks doesn't seem to have had much effect - disappointing. However, the view is that her liver function remains sound. The major problem confronting Jane now is mobility; she has been diagnosed with avascular necrosis. If I have understood correctly what has happened is that the blood supply to the bones has been decreased to a point where the bone starts to die. The cause is a combination of the cancer and the chemotherapy. The symptom is really severe pain especially in Jane's hip joints. We are still awaiting a referral to the orthopaedic department but the little reading I have done on the net indicates that treatment options for people in Jane's condition are limited.

As you can imagine, Jane is quite depressed by that news and we are really not sure where we go from here. Best to take it one day at a time. Your prayers, as ever, are a great help and comfort.

God Bless.

Wednesday 13th January 2010

Life isn't much fun for Jane at the moment, well, less so even than usual. After a whole battery of tests over the Christmas and New Year break, the docs have diagnosed avascular necrosis. If I have it right this means, in layman's terms, that the bones are dying in places. In Jane's case, it is affecting the ball part of the ball and socket joint of her hips. The consequence is that she cannot really get free of pain at all. She is really struggling to move about and can't get proper rest even in bed. Jane thinks it may be one of the side effects of chemo.

Meanwhile she is still on chemo. She has been referred to the orthopaedic department but hasn't yet got an appointment. We are due back with the oncologist on 25th January and I hope to have some more positive news by then.

I took this picture out at Little Durnford in the Woodford Valley when I was walking on Sunday.

God Bless

Saturday 2nd January 2010

Happy New Year! I just wanted to post a quick message regarding Jane's condition. She is in a great deal of pain at the the moment as a consequence of really bad arthritis in her hips. We saw the palliative care doctor at the hospice just before Christmas but despite the prescription of a whole lot of additional (to the morphine patches) painkillers nothing seems to be working. We were at the hospital three times over the Christmas holidays for x rays and scans and the physiotherapist has visited at the house.

It's a really painful time for Jane and she is not able to walk very far at all at the moment. We'd be really grateful for your continued prayers at this time. If I could finish on a brighter note, the chemotherapy seems to have had a good effect on the cancer and Jane's pain is not caused directly by any growth in cancer activity and so for that we should be grateful.

God bless.