Christian is now home and feeling much better (as is Claudia). The intensive chemo is due to start on the 25th April (correction from incorrect date).
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Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Intensive Chemotherapy, The Second Round.
Easter Monday (and my sister Sam’s Birthday)
Christian has been pretty unwell all weekend. His temperature has got up to 40.3 C, this has made him very uncomfortable and he has had vomiting and diarrhea. They are not sure if it is due to a Bacterial infection or a Virus but his CPR count has risen to 250 which, apparently, is a sign of bacterial infection. They have added a third intravenous antibiotic to help combat it.
Claudia seems to be suffering from the same bug as Christian has and to top it all off Henry did a Superman off a climbing frame and had to go for an X-Ray at A&E to make sure it wasn’t fractured.
Christian seems to be getting better, his temperature is not quite so high and he’s a bit happier. Wendy (Nanna) is staying with him at St George’s tonight to give me a break and Bob and Marc (Claudia’s dad and brother) are looking after him tomorrow while I go to work.
Christian is also getting GCSF which boosts his neutrophils so hopefully he will soon be better equipped to fight the infection.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Chemotherapy, Christian's Story, Henry, St George's Hospital, The Second Round.
Easter Saturday
We got home from The Royal Marsden Last Sunday evening. Christian has had a cold all week so it was inevitable that when his neutrophils came down to zero we would be back in the Hospital. He spiked a temperature this afternoon and Claudia brought him to St George’s. As usual he is on first line antibiotics until they can rule out a bacterial infection. He is currently having a blood transfusion as he HB levels are also very low.
A few people have asked about how Henry is coping with all of this. So far, I reckon he’s done better than any of us. We got his school report last week and amongst lots of good comments it said he’s popular with his friends and his teachers and is a pleasure to teach. He also got an A++ for arithmetic and an A+ for drama where is he is a natural unless he is asked to mime…
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Henry, St George's Hospital, The Second Round.
Chemo
We are at the Royal Marsden again. Christian came in for the last dose of this round of chemo. It was the one that is given over three days with fluids so his kidney is protected. We were due home yesterday evening but unfortunately his temperature spiked and Claudia had to stay here with him overnight. He is now on antibiotics and we are waiting for his temperature to stabilise before we can bring him home. We are hoping that’ll be tomorrow.
The plan is still to start the intensive chemo in the beginning of May and we will probably be here at the Marsden for the whole of May as he recovers. It’s possible we may come in a week early for an intensive dose of the same chemotherapy that he’s been on so far.
I have been given a long list of all the people who sponsored online, I am busily trying to reconcile that with the people who pledged sponsorship. If you did pledge and haven’t sponsored yet I would appreciate it if you could pay online here and send me a copy of the payment e-mail receipt. If you would rather pay by cheque please e-mail me for details.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Chemotherapy, Christian's Story, Sponsorship, The Royal Marsden, The Second Round.
At The Royal Marsden
We are in The Royal Marsden at the moment. Christian has had a ultra sound on his tummy and pelvis which was all clear. We have also had the results of the MRI on both legs which shows no spreading on the left leg and the right leg is clear. This is good news as he been complaining of a sore tummy and pain in both legs so we had been very worried that he hadn’t responded to the chemo.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, The Royal Marsden, The Second Round.
MRI
We took Christian in for an MRI scan today at the Royal Marsden. It was done under a general anesthetic as he needed to stay still for over an hour as it was done. He always finds general anesthetic a bit upsetting but has recovered well and is now in a good mood. We will get the results of the scan on Friday when we go back to see Kathy Pritchard Jones. It is an important result as we will find out if there has been any spreading of cancer since the treatment began. He has had some aches and pains recently which are, apparently, common when on chemotherapy but each one is clearly a worry.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Christian's Story, Kathy Pritchard Jones, MRI, tests, The royal, The Second Round.
Red
Christian had his chemo last week which means there is only one dose left of this stage. After that, at the end of April, he will have the intensive chemo. We will be admitted to the Royal Marsden for it and Christian is likely to be very ill for at least two or three weeks after. It is at this stage that he will be given the stem cells that were harvested a couple of months ago. He’s in quite good spirits generally at the moment but his hemoglobin levels are low which makes him feel a bit poorly and means he will probably need a transfusion by the end of the week.
The sponsorship money is coming in well, thank you very much again to all those who donated. There is a full list of donors and a link to the payment page here. Please contact me if you should be on this list and are not.
By the way there is a photo of Christian in page 96 of April’s Digital Camera Magazine!
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with Chemotherapy, Christian's Story, Sponsorship, The Royal Marsden, The Second Round.
Photos
I have some photos of the run, they are here . I have set up a new donation page with a list of donors and total amount donated it is here.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story, Fund Raising. Tagged with 10km, run, Sponsorship, The Second Round.
The 10km Run in Battersea Park
Fortunately, we came home Saturday evening and got a good night’s sleep ahead of Sunday’s run.
It was a fantastic event, the photographer Jonathan Cook has taken loads of photos, it will take a bit of time to process them all, there a few here.
If you are one of the people who have generously pledged then you can pay either by cheque to me or online here. If you meant to pledge something but didn’t get around to it, it is not too late. Either way please forward the payment confirmation to me at peter@christianblandford.com.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story, Fund Raising. Tagged with 10km, Battersea, Christian's Story, Claudia, Peter, spons, The Second Round.
At St George’s
Christian had been given his antibiotics and a blood transfusion and he was all ready to go home. The community nurses would finish the course of antibiotics by visiting us once a day at home. Claudia then noticed that the scar on his leg were the autopsy was done was red and inflamed. We showed the doctors who said that, as long as his temperature didn’t spike he would be allowed home as the antibiotics would sort it out.
Right on cue, Christian started to look a bit flushed, they took his temperature and it was 38.5. He will now probably have to stay for 48 hours as they blitz him with “first line” antibiotics, the one he was on before and two others.
He is, however, in fine spirits. It’s 8.45pm, he has finally stopped chatting and is peacefully asleep.
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story. Tagged with antibiotics, Christian's Story, St George's Hospital, The Second Round.
