Bernadette

The first photo is Arielle cuddling up to Cam yesterday. The second is of Tieran on a dirt pile at the house. I thought I would put up this photo of Tiernan as it is just gorgeous. His tshirt says “I dig chicks in pink” and has two boobies on it!! We bought it from the Qld Breast Cancer Association. When he saw it he said “boobies I love boobies” and kissed and hugged the tshirt! His obsession with boobies is a worry! The third is a front view of the “broken house” (so named by Tiernan when they started the demolitions) and the fourth photo is the back of the house. It is both scary and exciting to see our house in this state!

We saw Arielle this morning and I had a lovely 4 hour kangaroo cuddle whilst the boys had a great walk through Brisbane. Arielle was a very good little girl and had a 20 minute breastfeed - her best yet. She has now moved to 3 hourly feeds and that is one of her first steps to coming home. The next step which should happen sometime today is moving out of the isolet and into an open cot. The paediatrician spoke with us this morning and said if she continues at her current progress he would be happy to let her go home within two weeks!!! Her weight should easily be 2 kgs by then and the only thing we have to work on is getting her to feed from a bottle. So the news all round for Arielle is fantastic. She really has amazed everyone with her progress.

On the other hand for me I am feeling a little down and that probably explains why I have just eaten my way through a packet of chocolate eclairs!! I saw my doctor yesterday and he was happy with delaying chemo until next Tuesday. However between now and then I have to have a heap of tests between now and then. Other than the fact that two of them involve injections I am a little upset about having them as the injection I have to have on Monday is some form of radioactive material and it remains in my body for up to a week. That means I am not allowed anywhere near Arielle for the whole week and I am also not allowed anywhere near Tiernan for at least 48 hours and then must have limited contact with him for the remainder of the week. To say I am upset over this is an understatement!! The tests are necessary however as they are the only way they can determine how much of the cancer remains and more importantly whether it is still active. I am having my 10th chemo on Tuesday and if the cancer is not all gone after the 12th treatment then they have to look at other treatment options such as radiation treatment as I can have no more than 16 treatments and the last 4 must be done once the cancer is totally gone. Statistics like 80% cure rates (and therefore 20% failure rates) start swarming around my head at times like this!! But the key to beating this thing is to stay positive and that is what we are doing. I have two beautiful children and a wonderful husband and nothing is going to take me away from them!

Leave a Reply