Update 16 - 18th December, 2012

My beautiful wife - so there!

A slight improvement on the recent Kinniburgh performance in terms of blogging - except it is now the 28th and the last draft of this post did not publish for some reason.  News just in - we saw Dr Illsley, Emma's oncologist this afternoon (10 days ago) and the news is pretty good on Emma.  The spots in her lungs have only grown by a small amount since September and therefore there is no requirement for any treatment at this stage.  She has said that Emma should come back in March for another scan.  This is amazing news for us just before Christmas and means that we can relax and really enjoy Christmas without worrying about impending treatment.   I thought I should up the photo count having got hold of Emma's SD card.

A post luncheon photo on the green at Lurgashall with Scotland Granny and Papa

Our 'little' girl reaches double digits - yikes - next stop a teenager - help. 

The Theatre Monkey display show, where Daddy and other embarrassed parents found their inner kangeroo!!  

The official Christmas photo, about 10 minutes before the tree fell over on top of our dining table set for 10 guests.  

We are all 'hingin oot' for the start of the Christmas holidays now.  We have had a run of birthday parties (well Hannah and James' at least) and highly sociable time with our kitchen / dining room back in full swing.  The children are really tired and run down along with a huge proportion of the pupils at Grayshott Primary (20% absent one day this week apparently) off with coughs, colds and sickness.  The two Nativities went off without a hitch I am pleased to report.  James and Hannah were in the Key Stage 2 together with Hannah playing the part of one of the narrators and very good she was too in my unbiased opinion.  James played the traditional role of a nativity lion (?), which resulted in some pretty disgruntled shepherds, as James disgraced himself by eating four of the sheep.  He was rather less engaged than Hannah shall we say, but still roared his way through some songs.  

Rebecca laughing and clapping with her classmates at the Nativity Play

Rebecca enjoys another tear jerking carol with the junior choir.

I was in Telford for Rebecca's Key Stage 1 Nativity, but Emma reported back that Rebecca did not crack a smile for the entire show.  I think being a Saturday morning regular at Theatre Monkeys she had an artistic difference with the school director who is not a fan of 'the method'.  We thought Rebecca pulled off the role of grumpy 5 year old with incredible maturity and feeling.  A role she has reprised nightly since the Nativity last week.

Slot car racing for James' 8th birthday

Cake with sweets was the remit - Ryan is struggling to contain himself in the background

We are looking forward to Christmas at home with Emma's family and then after the lion's 8th birthday we are heading north to see my family and maybe catch up with a couple of friends.  Work wise I have just secured a 3 month extension with the MOD which is good and 2013 is looking pretty busy at the moment.  So there we have it -  a good Christmas lined up for the Kinniburghs and the Quickfalls and we hope for all of you.  We hope and pray that 2013 will bring better health for the extended Currie family (Michelle's Dad) and for the extended Cleland family (Lorna). We wish you all a very happy Christmas and a good new year. Thank you everyone for your continued support and help throughout the year.  Love to all and God Bless.  

Andrew xx 

Update 15 - 29th November, 2012

SORRY - I know I know - June to November.  Pretty unimpressive. I do not have a valid excuse apart from being rubbish.  Emma is doing really well with no significant 'big C' activity to speak of over the last few months.  She had a scan in September which showed very little difference from the previous scan in July. The conclusion of Gazza the oncologist was to leave well alone and re-scan in December.  So we are currently awaiting a date for a scan in December.  We hope and pray that there will have been little or no change again.  The only slight fly in the ointment is that the aforementioned Gazza has gone and got himself a professorship in Birmingham and has now left. So we are back in the hands of Dr Illsley (nickname pending) who looked after Emma during her chemo and radiotherapy at the start of the year.  

On the domestic front things are rather hectic.  We finished our kitchen around July time.  Six week project turned into 5 months.  The floor got fitted whilst on holiday in Spain.  The results are really rather nice as you can see below.  Quite a contrast for those of you who knew the old kitchen.  

Redundancy payment disposal scheme proved to be highly effective.

The girls helped me to fill up the new log store - designed and built by myself (pause for a moment of self congratulation).  My friend Ross thinks the door in the background adds a certain Glasgow cooncil hoose style to the photo.   I sent him the photo because his log store was so impressive and my inspiration!

James's football team has a new football strip and has started the season in good style again.  

  That's it for now.  No wit and no proper news really, but blog duty dispensed so feeling a little less guilty.   Love to you all.  

Update 14 - 13th June, 2012

Just a quick update to keep you all in the picture.  We had a meeting yesterday with Emma's oncologist Gazza (Dr Gary Middleton to you) .  His view is that because the small spots in Emma's lungs appear to be slow moving, then he would like her to have another CT scan at the beginning of July.  That will give him 5 clear months since Emma's chemo/radio finished and provide him with a more accurate picture of what the cancer is doing.  Only after this is complete will he make a decision on whether to go ahead with chemo now or leave it for a while.
His analogy was if you are sitting waiting for the enemy with your machine gun, you don't empty your magazine of all the rounds at the first sign of that enemy.  You wait until the right moment to strike.  So we will need to wait about another month before we know what the next steps are.  In the meantime we will hope and pray that the result is that the chemo is on hold for the moment.
On the home front the children had an exciting run up to the Jubilee with lots of activities at school.  The last Friday before half-term involved dressing up as a king or queen, with a Jubilee tea party on the school field at the end of the day.

King James VI pre his Angliscisation, Queen Elizabeth I and Princess Rebecca of Headley Down.   

We had a lovely week with Emma's Mum and Dad (Colin and Alison) and brother and sis-in-law (James and Michelle) and their little ones Rachael and Charlotte in a beautiful house in Bembridge in the Isle of Wight, with a kitchen and everything! Ate and drank far too much and generally had a lovely time despite the ever present rain, wind and cold. The table tennis table was a godsend for little James who pestered everybody all the time for a game.  Uncle James and I had a nightly alcohol fuelled match which was pretty evenly matched until the last night - well I was very tired!!  Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned to Uncle James my regular appearances for Lomond School in the West Dunbartonshire Men's League Division 2.  Those intervening 31 years have not been kind to my table tennis skills.
Little James also mentioned that his friend Ryan's mum was good at table tennis.  Ahhh I thought - perhaps she was in the West Dunbartonshire Women's League Division 2.  It turns out she was UK and European Women's champion, ranked 18th in the world and represented Britain at the Barcelona Olympics.  Anyone for a game of badminton?    

Looking from the back door to the side door in the old dining room

Our kitchen is progressing fairly well.  The photo above will hopefully illustrate.
This blog should now be viewable on mobile devices as well.  That's all for now.  Love to all.  
God bless.
Andrew xx

Update 13 - 24th May, 2012

Just before embarking on a swim with a pod of about 50 spinner dolphins off the coast of Mauritius - as one does!!

My apologies for the break in communications.  Emma finished her treatment at the end of February and then she had a month to recover before we set off for Mauritius for 2 weeks.  We were then in Tunbridge Wells for Easter with Emma's parents and then almost immediately off to Edinburgh to surprise my Mum for her 70th birthday.

Mum's 50th (!) in Edinburgh

Easter break in Tunbridge Wells with Granny and Papa

We had a wonderful and amazing holiday in Mauritius.  Emma's health was good and we all ate and drank far too much under the all inclusive unwritten rules of gluttony!! We then enjoyed a lovely Easter in   Tunbridge Wells (where the all inclusive rules appeared to rear their ugly head again) followed by our sneaky weekend trip to Auld Reekie (Edinburgh for the 'furriners') to celebrate Mum's birthday.

We are now back and have got our noses back to the grindstone.  In total disarray at the moment as we are having our kitchen gutted and remodelled.  We are camping in the playroom at the moment which is very glamorous.  I think the low point was when we had a metre wide and metre deep gap under our back door and had to do the washing up kneeling at the bath.  Unfortunately the guy we bought the house from was at best totally incompetent or at worst a crook.  We are having to add foundations, re-wire the place, new gas main, strengthen the roof etc etc.  NIGHTMARE!!  How ever we are getting there slowly and have great builders.

On the health front we have mixed news to be honest.  Emma's oesophagus is looking good post her January / February chemo and radio therapy which is fantastic news.  However, they have found a couple of very small spots on her lungs that have shown some slow activity since the last scan.  Clearly these need to be nipped in the bud and so Emma is currently going through the usual barrage of tests and scans mainly done by Porsche 911 driving Sean, whilst they decide what is the best course of action.   We see Emma's original oncologist (Gazza!) next week, but the most likely course of action seems to be another bout of chemo.  They just need to be careful with Emma's bone marrow because of the cumulative effects of chemo.  So we are at the waiting stage at the moment and I will update the blog as soon as we know more.  Once again sorry for being so slow to update this (VIV!!) and I will do better going forward.

Love to all and God Bless.

Andrew

PS - Elisabeth W - we saw you in the back of Scottish Field in your glad rags - your life must finally be complete!!

Update 12 – 20th Feb, 2012

Steady now Kinniburgh – this is getting almost regular this blogging malarkey.   The fantastic news from our end is that Emma appears to have stopped ‘accumulating side-effects’.  The outside of her neck had got really sore by the beginning of last week, but over the weekend she began to see a slight improvement and it is less painful to swallow, although she is still very tired.  So hopefully we she can look forward to a few ‘steady as she goes’ weeks before the big trip.  Emma’s mum and dad were with us for a long weekend which has been lovely, and a huge help for us both.  I should be providing photographic evidence but have failed miserably on that front. Sorry. 

We had our last healing session last night which was lovely.  Our heartfelt thanks again everyone.  James got back to his football this weekend after the snow and frosts of the last month.  They recorded yet another win, 4-2 against the mighty (?) Frimley.  Headley U-7s are now undefeated since the second game of the season.  Competitive Dad is pleased to report that number one son scored a goal and won the man of the match trophy.  Swelling chest of pride, tear in the eye, jumpers for goal posts, hmm isn’t it etc, etc.  He was clearly inspired by the presence of Tunbridge Wells Papa.       

One amusing incident to report apart from that.  I am continuing to work in London at the moment for a large security company, managing the preparation of a tender.  As a new consultant I am always worried that once the job is done I will simply be forgotten.   However, I am quietly confident that this will not now be the case with this company.  We were trying to have a conference call as I drove up the A3 the other day, but gave up as the phone reception was too flakey.   My colleagues in London were then regailed with a full 5 minutes of me singing Mustang Sally, 'a ccapella', at the top of my voice.  They eventually left the meeting room and closed the door but could still hear me belting out the Otis Reading classic.  Monday’s progress meeting was rather red faced for ABK!  

Love to all and God Bless.  Andrew xx 

Update No 11 – 16th February, 2012

Emma’s 5 week treatment has now finished (hooray).  It seems to have flown by, although perhaps not so much for Emma with her daily commute to Guildford for radiotherapy.  We have been lucky that the snow and ice has not prevented Emma getting to the hospital and so she has only missed one chemo session throughout, and that was because of a low white cell count.  The cumulative effects of the treatment are really kicking in now.  It is quite weird with her treatment having finished but with the side effects continuing to build.  Emma is really tired and has a very sore throat and neck. This makes eating pretty uncomfortable and she is not sleeping terribly well.   However, that said, she is still able to take the mickey out of me and we even managed a Valentine Night visit to the cinema to see The Iron Lady.  I needed try to garner some brownie points as my valentine’s card to Emma consisted of a love note on a child’s mini whiteboard.  E was not impressed, even if it did come with an early morning bedside cup of tea and a tulip in my mouth (I was fully clothed before you ask!).

Rebecca, Hannah and James enjoying a hot chocolate after helping to build the Snowbot!

The Mulberry Cottage Snowbot.  

Emma has had a relatively quiet (well for Emma!) few days at home recently, with the children being whisked off by our lovely friends Ross and Annette (Rebecca’s God Parents) for a half-term mini break at their house on the edge of the Cotswolds.  They returned last night having had a wonderful time.  Thank you so much the McLarens. Whilst the children were away we nipped down to Ikea and got some new furniture for Rebecca's room so when she returned she had a new look bedroom, which went down pretty well.  I went for a fabulous walk around the Devil's Punchbowl on Sunday while Emma had a sleep.  It was stunning with lots of snow underfoot.  Attempted arty photo below.  

The Devil's Punchbowl, February 2012

Emma's Sunday night healing sessions have continued throughout her treatment and they have been a great source of inspiration for us both.  They have even continued in absentia when Emma is feeling too tired.  We are very grateful and humbled by the commitment and love they have shown us.  Thank you Glynis, Carly, Phil, Mike, Jane, Alison, Val, Ruth, Vivien and Kate for giving up your Sunday evenings for us.  We can't begin to tell you how grateful we are.  If I have forgotten someone may I be forgiven.  

 Anyway that is our news for now.  Only 1 month to until we jet off to Mauritius.  Very exciting and very decadent.  Love to all and God Bless.  Andrew xx

PS:  Congratulations to Peter, Ruth and Daniel on the birth of little Naomi Imogen.  FANTASTIC - well done the Mansons, especially Ruth, who let's face it, had most of the work to do.

Update No 10 - 30th January 2012

Here we are back in the Guildford Nuffield for chemo week 4.  Colin and Alison - I have let you down by not blogging last week - I'm sorry.  It is all a bit manic although that is not a good excuse.  Only one more chemo to go now and 10 more radiotherapies, the treatment is skipping by quickly.

Emma did not have her chemo last week because her white cell count was too low.  The chemo knocks your bone marrow's ability to generate white blood cells so it is a common side effect.  Dr Illsley, the oncologist was pretty laid back about it and recommended a week off the chemo and a quiet week.  Those of you who know Emma will know that my wife and a 'quiet week' are uncomfortable bedfellows.  However, she did have several afternoon naps and did not stay up too late.  We are just now waiting for this week's 'bloods' so fingers crossed.  I'll let you know in a minute!! Just got them and they are still not great but they are going ahead with the chemo anyway.  So another quiet week is beckoning.  Apparently the radiotherapy can also slow white cell production.  

The Kinnifam programme is still running at full tilt (feeding the starving children of Headley Down) which is fantastic.  Thank you so much Lisa, Jo, Caff, Ali and Kezza  for your continued help.  The food is delicious and it is such a help to us.    

I was going to say we have been pretty quiet but it is simply not true.  A top 21st birthday party (ahem!) at Taylor Towers, an excellent Noel Coward concert (for the St Mary's Church roof appeal that I am involved with) and a BRA party (my invite obviously got lost in the post).  Despite multiple offers from the boys to hold clothes and help with the measuring, our services were rejected.

We have also gone slightly mad and got terribly decisive all of a sudden.  We bought a kitchen last weekend (yikes) and then this weekend we bought a 12 day all inclusive holiday in Mauritius (double yikes!!).  We have decided that we all need a break once Emma's strength has recovered a bit.  Europe and North Africa simply couldn't cut the mustard when it came to temperatures for Mrs K.  So come the 18th March we are off to paradise.  Then we have another trip to an island paradise in May half-term when we visit the Isle Wight.  I'd better get my skates on with my business interests.

On the domestic front we were driving to church on Sunday morning and somehow got onto the ten commandments - I realise this makes us sounds hideously sanctimonious.  Emma asked the children if they knew any of them - Hannah and James reeled off a couple and then Rebecca came up with a less well known one - 'you must not stroke frogs'.  I think this might have just slipped through the net when they were drawing up the top ten.  Anyway love to all in the meantime and God Bless.

Update No 9 - 16th January, 2012

Well, happy New Year everyone.  Hmmmm........ 31st January........ hogmanay............ sassenachs............... blogger................. idiot...........Kinniburgh.............blah blah blah.  We hope you have had a great Christmas and new year and that 2012 is a good year for you all.  We are now into week 2 of 5 of Emma's combined chemo and radiotherapy and it is all going pretty smoothly I am glad to say.  Mondays are pretty busy at the moment, our day goes like this 1) visit the oncologist at the Royal Surrey 2) chemotherapy at the Guildford Nuffield  3) radiotherapy at the Royal Surrey  4) cup of tea at Mulberry Cottage  5) a bit of a kip at home if required.  Emma has put on a little more weight since last week which is fantastic and she is generally in good shape for the following 4 weeks.  Dr Illsley, Emma's oncologist, is very pleased with her progress although the fatigue that she has felt a little bit last week is likely to build up over the 5 weeks.  19 more radiotherapy days to go (Monday to Friday).  Short on time today so severe lack of funnies - next time.  Love to all and God Bless. Axx

Scotland Granny and Papa with the children at the Devil's Punchbowl

The Kinniburgh weans on Gibbet Hill, Surrey

Our impromptu pre-chemo / radio dinner party for the Haslemere NCT Class of 2002