Goodbye & Hello!

We had such a special weekend with all the family and lots of really lovely memories but it was tough to say goodbye to everyone yesterday morning :(

   

We are still stunned by the fact that Dad turned up and we are SO grateful to everyone for coming over to visit - especially with the long ferry trip and an early start for work and school this morning!

We've just returned from an overnight trip to Southampton where we had booked a cheap hotel deal back in December.  It turned out that our friends from Midleton, Mark & Bev were in Southampton for the weekend as well so we got to meet up with them this afternoon.

Cheers, Mark!

Enjoying the amazing weather on Southampton Common

We had a really lovely time together, sitting out enjoying the sunshine over a pub lunch and then chilling out in Southampton common.  Thank you SO much for taking the time to spend with us today...it was so good to catch up!

Speechless!

We got a lot more than we bargained for on Friday night when we went to meet Heather & Tommy & the girls!  Not only did they travel all the way over to see us but they brought my Dad as well!!  I was totally shocked to see him and still pinching myself that he's actually here!

Dad hasn't left Ireland since he came to see me in Spain 18 years ago and he vowed he'd never get on a plane again.  We've been trying to convince him to come over on the ferry for the last few years but I never imagined he would actually do it!

We've had a fantastic weekend and it's been so lovely to all be able to spend time together over the past 2 days.  We spent time around Swindon, went shopping, drove around the countryside, had some lovely meals, went to Eastnor Castle in Hereford (where Dad's brother used to work) and had a BBQ at Marilyn's this evening to celebrate Andrea's birthday today.  Happy Birthday Andrea!! 

To top it all off I got an amazing letter in the post on Friday afternoon - a report on my latest MRI scan which was sent to the Gamma Knife centre to review.  They said that compared to the Gamma Knife treatment on March 5th, the latest MRI showed a dramatic reduction in tumours and a significant response to treatment.  The best news we could have hoped for!!

Thank you SO so much to Bryce & Carolyn & family for the amazing tulips and chocolates you sent us yesterday....another wonderful surprise and reminder of what special, thoughtful & generous friends we have  :-)

Tommy, Heather, Lauren, Isabel & Leah

Best Pals... Dave & Leah

Friday Night!! 

Dad, Heather, Isabel & I at Eastnor

Grandad & Lauren! 

Visitors from Home

SO excited that Heather, Tommy and the girls are coming for the weekend!!  They should be on their way over on the ferry right now and we really can't wait to see them this evening :)

I haven't seen them since my quick trip home in February and Dave hasn't seen them since New Year so we are really looking forward to spending the weekend with them.  The weather here is amazing at the moment so hopefully we can get out and about and enjoy the sunshine over the bank holiday.

Wishing you all a great weekend as well :)

Latest Health Update

Thank you so much to everyone for the birthday wishes and all the texts, cards, mails over the weekend. After a really lovely Birthday weekend, we were back in London first thing on Monday morning for chemo.  Everything went well and we took the opportunity to detour via Wycliffe on the way back to see Russell, Katharine & Lowenna :)  We had a lovely time with them and it was great to see them again before they head off to Germany for the summer - Thank you for a lovely catch up & tea!! 

The good news is that the effects of the chemo seem to be much less the past two weeks.  They adjusted the dose very slightly but it seems to have made a huge difference and I haven't had any aches or pains or flu symptoms (so far).  I am taking quite a lot of steroids at the moment so that might be helping too :)  

As regards my leg, it seems to be getting stronger day by day and I have more sensation in my leg and foot.  I'm still walking with a stick but I'm getting around much easier now and although the progress is slow & sometimes frustrating it's great to see the improvement day by day.

The other issue I've been having is weakness on the right hand side of my face since I was admitted to hospital. The nerve controlling my eye, cheek & mouth movement seems to be affected so it's effecting my facial expressions (I can only smile on one side at the moment!!), my eating and my speech.  The good news is that nothing showed up on the brain MRI which can be causing this but it's a mystery as to why this is happening and it doesn't seem to be showing signs of improvement over the last couple of weeks...