Race for Life! Please sponsor us xx

I know I haven't written for a long time.  Things started back on a somewhat normal footing and it has been nice just being a normal family again and not a family with Cancer always in the forefront of their minds.

This Sunday however, Cancer will be right there in my mind and everyone else that I will be with too!  For I am taking part in Race for Life in Cambridge with 4 other lovely friends of mine who have been so great in supporting me in more than just this!

We are so very close to the £500 target I thought I would set Claire's Crew.  If you can spare a few pounds to help us reach the target and help such a worth while cause, I would be ever so grateful.  I hope it will certainly bring forward the day there is a cure for every Cancer type, preventing families going through what we have been/and will go through!

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/clairescrew/?utm_source=DM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2013_InSer_PreR2

The results are in......finally

I am pleased to be able to tell you that we have received the results from Paul's scan and they have confirmed a definite reduction in the cancer.  We are both very very pleased to have this news but, like all things in our lives at present, getting there has not proved easy!

Yesterday after my post Paul started with a headache which turned into a migraine and by 2pm he was being sick.  I of course rang our hospital urgent number to find out what we should do.  They said to phone our GP if it got any worse.  I rang our GP after Paul had been sick 3 times.  After an hour waiting for them to call back (and Paul being sick again) I phoned them back, only to be told that Paul was a non-urgent case.  After 3 hours they rang back but luckily by this time Paul had improved and had managed to keep some tablets down which had helped with both the migraine and the sickness.

This morning we had an early start as the trip to Cambridge in rush hour is not the easiest.  Paul wasn't feeling 100% but Ok to travel.  He had his usual bloods taken and then we were called through to see his oncologist.  Unfortunately he had been unable to compare Paul's scan last week to the one pre-chemo as that scan had been done at Papworth and not at Addenbrookes.  He had therefore compared it to a pre-diagnosis scan take in September and said he could see a little improvement.  Not really a lot of help bearing in mind Paul had a major op in November to remove as much as possible of the tumour.

We came away feeling a little disheartened and were told they would obtain the scan from Papworth and call us if they felt the cancer was not responding.  Paul had been asked if he wanted to continue with chemo or postpone his next session, and I am so glad we decided to leave it booked in for this week.

On our arrival home we decided we weren't greatly happy with how things had been left.  Paul put in a phone call to one of the lovely Specialist Nurses at Papworth to see if we could move things along a little and maybe get a bit of a better answer sooner rather than later.  I am so pleased we made that call!  They managed to get the right scan to the oncologist for him to look at and he reported back the 'definite reduction'!!

I think this first bit of good news since diagnosis will spur us both on and give us the boost we need to get through another 3 cycles of chemo.  Although I think Paul will be taking it a little easier from now on......

End of our 'normal' week :-(

Our 'normal' or Paul's good week (the week where he is feeling the most like normal) is coming to an end and next week is chemo week.  Paul has had a full week at work and even been out to the pub with one of his mates.  Ethan and I have been out twice this week to playgroup and to meet with friends and have lunch. So all in all a good week!  A week where we almost forget the 'c' word and sometimes it seems like it could just be a dream.

Unfortunately Paul isn't feeling so great today and I suspect a full week at work was a little too much for his body to handle.  He says he feels like he has no energy and is resting as I write.  A relaxing day today is definitely called for (with lunch out at my parents) and he will have to take it easy this week ready for his next cycle on Thursday.

Tomorrow we are back at Addenbrookes to see his oncologist and hoping for good news from Tuesdays scan.  We were discussing this yesterday and good news will definitely give Paul a boost to get through the next cycles as he will know something good is coming out of feeling so bad.

Quickest hospital appointment in history??

The key to a speedy hospital appointment became clear to us last night, the last appointment of the day and it being a late one i.e. 7.30pm!

We arrived into the CT department at 7.25pm to be greeted by the lady scanning Paul and her taking him straight through to be scanned.  10 minutes later Paul appears into the waiting room complete with cannula in his arm for the 10 minute wait to check the contrast injected into him doesn't give him a bad reaction.  The cannula is then removed exactly 10 minutes later.  Total appointment time = 20 minutes!  I suspect they were due to finish at 8pm but saw the opportunity to finish early :-) 

We didn't even have to go and seek out someone to give us a special outpatient car parking card as we were only 40 minutes in the car park and the fee for that is cheaper than the outpatient pass.

My brother and his girlfriend live not too far away from Addenbrookes so our evening didn't end there.  We went for a visit and they very kindly cooked us pancakes.  Although some of Martin's efforts did look a little like cat sick, Katie's were much better!

I woke this morning at 6.15am, which was fabulous.  I have just found out our little monkey, who has been waking at around 5am for the last week or so, decided that was also the time he would wake up.  I've already warned Grandma and Grandad that if he wakes at 5am tomorrow he is off to live with them!

CT scan tonight!

Tonight we are off to the hospital for Paul to have a CT scan to check what effect the chemo is having on his cancer.  We should get the results next Monday at chemo clinic.  Paul has already had 3 if not 4 CT scans so I am sure he is not worried about the procedure at all.  We just need to pray that the chemo drugs are doing the same to the horrible stuff as they are to Paul's stomach and immune system!

So a 7.30pm appointment at Addenbrookes means Ethan gets to spend the night at Grandma and Grandads and Paul and I get a night to ourselves!  So we are planning on going out for a meal before going off to the hospital which will be lovely and of course, we should get a lay in tomorrow morning (even if its only til 7am)!

New Blog

I have decided that our journey through mesothelioma needs to be recorded and I am therefore starting this blog.  I am going to try and write posts back from the beginning (Sept 2012) but this could take me some time......so please keep looking back!

The first mention of the C word!

Today was our first visit to Papworth Hospital.  Paul was called to have a CT guided needle biopsy to take some tissue away from the parts of his lung and diaphragm which had the 'unknown' areas on them.  Today was the first day the C word was mentioned.

We arrived at Papworth quite early as we had never been there before and didn't want to be late.  We were shown to the day ward and Paul has some bloods taken.  Before Paul's biopsy was done we were seen by a Junior Doctor.  She asked us to tell her what had brought us there and what we knew about what was going on with Paul.  We explained to her the journey so far, but her asking us in this way made me feel slightly uncomfortable.  Rather than her telling us what was happening and what would happen she was asking us what we knew.  From this moment on our lives would change in a rather large way!

I think she knew I was concerned from the look on my face and she asked me 'Mrs Cowley, what are you thinking'.  My reply to her was that they were thinking this was Cancer.  And at this moment our worst fears were realised.  They too had concerns that this was Cancer and not just a harmless unknown area.

The needle biopsy was carried out with no problems.  Paul had to lie on his side for an hour and then after another hour have a x-ray to check that no air had leaked into his lung.  Once this was completed (with no complication) we were free to go.

Before we left we were introduced to our Specialist Nurse, Claire.  She talked to us about where these unknown areas were on Paul's right lung and diaphragm.  She also arranged our appointment for the Thursday after in the out patient clinic to get the results from the biopsy.