Update 3 - 26th October 2011

SORRY SORRY SORRY.  Blogs are great aren't they, if you keep them up to date. Sorry it has been a bit hectic over the last couple of weeks.  Emma had her 2nd (sorry I put 3rd by mistake) cycle of chemo last Wednesday and it seemed to go pretty smoothly again.  She has not been feeling too sickly but has been very tired this time - not surprising really.  She has also been having increasing trouble swallowing food and pills (of which she has about 25 per day at peak after the chemo). This is clearly a concern as it seems her oesophagus is up to its old tricks again which is frankly very irritating.  Emma is booked in for a endoscopy on Friday which will hopefully achieve the twin aims of seeing what is going on and also to hopefully give it a stretch and make it a bit more comfortable for her to eat and swallow.

On the home front Emma and the children are in Tunbridge Wells at the moment on half term holidays.  I managed a walk around the Devil's Punchbowl at the weekend with the children which was lovely and so quiet with no A3 roaring in the background - photo below.  Rebecca got caught a little short and she was just having her 'picnic wee' when a very friendly couple of border terriers appeared out of nowhere with their owners.  Much amusement all round and a good motivator for Rebecca to get a move on, with a couple of terriers scampering around her nether regions.  This was followed by an excellent pine cone fight and an ice cream at the cafe - well it was above 0 degrees therefore perfect weather for an ice cream according to James!

Having dropped Emma and the kids in TW I have come back home to do some work in the meantime.  Has anyone tried to leave a comment recently - it seems to be impossible?  Any tips much appreciated.  Also please forward this link to anyone who might interested.

Love to all in the meantime.  God Bless.

Andrew

Update 2 - 2nd October, 2011

Sorry I have been off line for little while.  It has been a pretty busy few days since Emma had her first chemotherapy session on Wednesday and I have to say that it has been an amazing contrast to Emma's first chemo experience in 2008.  Some of you will remember Emma had a really extreme reaction last time and this coupled with Rebecca being so young and various other things made it a pretty challenging time.  Emma was pretty much bed ridden for between 6 and 10 days after each cycle. 

Here we are on day four and we all managed to get to the Harvest Festival this morning and Emma has been doing magnificently well.  Even her tingly feet and hands have not been so extreme.  Helped in part by the hospital issuing her with some rather fetching orange knitted padded gloves which are half coated in blue rubber.  This avoids Emma feeling like she has been electrocuted every time she puts her hand in the fridge.  I am searching for a matching pair of socks and perhaps a hat for the winter which I think would complete the look.

We have finally admitted to each other on our coping strategies for dealing with the current situation. For me it is top quality late night TV such as Mighty Ships and Night Cops.  For Emma there is the appearance of new 'essentials' like two new flowery mugs because "sometimes I like a smaller mug of tea" - my suggestion to not fill the existing ones quite so full was not well received.   The kids seem to be coping well, with absolutely no sign of any extra help or lack of arguing from them - life continues for them unabated.  I suppose this must be viewed as success of some sort.

Sorry some of you have been struggling to get onto this blog. In true technophobe fashion I am ok when everything works fine.  When it goes wrong then I am quickly at sea and totally lost.  Anyway better stop now as it is a school night and I am still recovering from a difficult weekend of rugby results!! Georgia - where were you when we needed you.  

God Bless. 

Andrew