The Past Few Days

This is by far the hardest post I've had to write for Sharon so please bear with me.

Sharon didn't get to start her first radiotherapy on Friday. During the journey to London, she became quite unwell and the last part of the journey was a mad dash to the hospital whom I'd phoned ahead.

An emergency scan of her head showed a rapid progression of the cancer in her brain.

She was transferred by ambulance to another hospital in the London area where we have been since Friday night. Unfortunately, during that time, she has deteriorated quite quickly and is unable to respond/communicate. The first day or so, she was quite agitated during the times she was not asleep and was difficult to witness and deal with. The medical staff here have increased sedation to the point where she is now much more relaxed and calm and God-willing out of pain. She remains unconscious though and efforts are on pain relief and getting her comfortable.

Our family have travelled over from Cork and I'm indebted to them for Sharon's sake and also my own. This is an incredibly tough time and I would ask you to continue to pray for Sharon and her loved ones (especially those who are still separated by the miles).

Yesterday's Updates

Sharon is tired today so just want to ensure updates are coming out right now.

We had a meeting with the radiotherapy consultant and discussed the pros and cons of the proposed treatment.  Sharon also had a planning scan which will be used today to figure out the dosage and treatment plan.

Treatment starts this Friday afternoon and there will be 5 daily sessions in total (the others being Monday to Thursday next week).  In addition to the whole brain treatment, they are going to treat an additional site at the very base of the spine where although things aren't showing up on the scan results, believe that there are cancer cells which are causing problems.  Good to see that even hospitals are following supermarkets with "buy one, get one free".

Thank You yet again for all the texts she is getting and messages of support.  We are massively encouraged to continue to know of many people who are praying right now and to know that those cries are being heard by a God who dearly loves us.

Short Meeting

We drove into London this afternoon for a meeting with the neuro-consultant.  In the end, we were only in the room for about 10 minutes!

To sum things up, he is recommending that Sharon go ahead with whole brain radiotherapy and insists that this treatment is OK to do despite all of the previous radiotherapy doses to the brain (via Gamma Knife).  Whole brain radiotherapy is a much lower dose of radiotherapy but is administered to the entire area as opposed to Gamma Knife which is highly focussed.  Problem right now is that tumours are popping up thick and fast so the "blitz" approach is hoped to be a better option for right now.

Back to London tomorrow to the Marsden for a meeting with the doctor and a planning scan in preparation for the treatment.

Peta & Rebekah

There has been a ray of sunshine (two to be precise - all the way from Dublin!).

Peta and her daughter, Rebekah arrived on Saturday and are staying for a few days. It has been a great time and we are so thrilled that they are here.

We headed out to feed some ducks....

Checked out the local playground....

And made a necklace in the back garden :-)