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.