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