Emma Kinniburgh: Update 18

Again I find myself saying sorry as I wrote this over a month ago and have not published it again. We are just back from a lovely half-term week in the Isle of Wight with Emma's family. Good weather, lovely house, amazing food, good company, quite a bit of booze and no mobile signal - all in all a great break.

The post that I wrote at the end of April reads like this:

We were seen by Dr Illsley today for the results of Emma's PET scan. The PET is more sensitive than a CT scan and is able pick up any other secondaries in the rest of Emma's body. Cutting to the chase, there are no more secondaries outside the lungs which is positive news. The less positive news is that there are more spots in her lungs than the original ones already identified. The original ones are all still growing slowly and steadily. So it is mixed day of news, but it certainly could have been worse.

The result of this is that there are now too many secondaries in Emma's lungs to enable any local treatment which is a shame. So the likely outcome is another round of chemo - the question is when. Emma will have another scan in June and depending on how things look then Emma and the medical team will decide how to proceed. The other route might be the fast moving science around 'jamming' certain cells which have been identified as 'baddies'. The pathologist in the multi-disciplinary team is also checking out the latest news on this form of treatment. We are back to see Dr Illsley on the 23rd June which is when a decision may be made on when they might start a new round of chemotherapy. There is no evidence to suggest that early chemo is any more effective than later chemo, so it seems likely that the timing will be driven by how Emma feels and any symptoms.

On family life the children returned to school today celebrating the fact that they are now on packed lunches. Testimony to Emma's catering skills and perhaps the school's lack of catering skills! Emma flies to Spain on Thursday for a weekend in Almeria in South East Spain with some girlfriends - it is apparently baking hot so it should be good. I am soon to take part in a charity walk (15th-16th June) and if you feel so inclined I would be very grateful for any sponsorship. You will see from the link that the causes are very worthwhile and close to my heart. The 'giving' page is at the following link:

http://www.justgiving.com/teams/24peaks24hours

I need to run now but our love and best wishes to all in the meantime,

Andrew xx