Tag Archives: The Royal Marsden

More Chemo

July 18, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

The chemotherapy went ahead at The Royal Marsden today. Unfortunately there was a complication with one of the three drugs. One of them is a slow drip over 4 hours and the needle slipped out of his portacath in the last few minutes and leaked into him. Bizarrely enough the chemotherapy is far more dangerous out of the bloodstream than in it and so Christian will have to stay in overnight so he can be monitored. He needs to have cream applied every 2 hours, it will feel, to him, like a burn beneath the skin.

Claudia will be spending the night with him but we have been told he should be released in the morning. We hope so as tomorrow is his second birthday. We have no real plans as we were hoping to be in Spain but we’ll certainly have more fun at home than at the Hospital…

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2 Hospitals…

July 17, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

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We’ve had a couple of nights at St George’s with Christian and he has been put on oral antibiotics and sent home. It took that much time because the doctors wanted to make sure that it was not a serious infection which would need more heavy duty antibiotics and he kept “spiking” temperature.

We will be going to the Royal Marsden tomorrow and if he is well enough they will give him the chemotherapy he didn’t have Friday. Henry is very excited because now that it’s school holidays he’ll be coming along, and they’ve got great toys there.

Claudia keeps bleating on about the fact that she and Christian were taken from The Royal Marsden to St George’s by ambulance and I haven’t mentioned it. Apparently it was very exciting.

While I was at St George’s, I spoke to Francis, the nurse who will administer the money we have raised. As the amount raised has grown, its effect will become more significant. They, apparently, got turned down a year ago for a grant to improve the treatment room which is seriously in need of modernisation. This will now be possible.

They are also getting a new waiting room (until now parents have had to wait in the kids play room until a bed is available). Whilst the room has been allocated for the waiting room, the money wasn’t there for chairs and curtains and so it has been delayed. This should now be taken care of.

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At The Pinckney

July 15, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Friday 15th July

Christian was due to be having his chemotherapy at the Royal Marsden today. Unfortunately he has had a high temperature since yesterday afternoon which is a sign of infection. Claudia took him to the Royal Marsden where they started him on antibiotics and then brought him to St George’s where I am spending the night with him at the, now famous, Pinkney ward.

He has had a bad day with Claudia and was quite upset most of the day. Fortunately for me, by the time I arrived the antibiotics had kicked in. They have taken bloods and will grow cultures to try to identify the bug so they can decide what the best antibiotic is for the job. That will probably take a couple of days.

We were hoping to go to Begur in Spain Monday, and my mum and sisters and all their families were joining us there next week for another week. We are still hoping to get there for the second week to join my family.

Most of the money has come in now, thank you very much. If you were kind enough to sponsor me and haven’t got around to paying please either send me a cheque or e-mail me for my bank detail for direct transfer. For what it’s worth Christian finally fell asleep tonight at 9.00pm when the sun started to go down. I wish those blackout blinds were already here…

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Chemo

June 4, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian went to the Royal Marsden yesterday for a triple dose of chemotherapy and some tests . As he is now over 12kg (just) he had the full dose, until now he has been on 70%. It seems to have hit him fairly hard and he’s been a bit sickly today not being able to keep food or drink down for long. We’re hoping this doesn’t last long as if there’s a danger of him getting dehydrated he’ll have to be admitted to hospital so he can get IV fluids.

The good news is that both tests that he had yesterday (a chest x-ray and an ultra sound) were clear.

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News

May 7, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian had an operation on Thursday to take out the portacath and came out on the same day. He’s got a canular in his hand (a needle and tube) which is being left in as he needs more antibiotics. We are taking him back to St. George’s this afternoon for the last dose and they also want to take some bloods to make sure the infection has cleared up. Claudia is taking him to the Royal Marsden on Monday to discuss the next stage and we’ll find out when the portacath is going to be replaced then

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Problems…

April 3, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

DSC06490Henry and I returned from the slopes today. Unfortunately Christian has not been well in our absence. The portacath (a tube fitted to an artery near the heart to allow access the the bloodstream) has become infected. He and Claudia have spent all of the week at The Royal Marsden where he has been on antibiotics.

He needs a further 10 days of treatment which, apparently, he has to finish off at St George’s, apparently they need the beds at the Royal Marsden for chemotherapy treatment. We are not very happy about this as The Royal Marsden is far more comfortable and, we feel, he gets far better care there.

We are trying to find an alternative hospital or another arrangement, for example a private nurse to come to the house and administer the antibiotics 4 times a day.

We should find out tomorrow what the plan is. The good news is that the antibiotics seem to be working and he is very happy in himself at the moment. He has had an nasal gastric tube fitted which looks a bit scary but is providing him with lots of nutrition overnight to build up his strength.

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At The Royal Marsden

March 24, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Claudia took Christian down to the Royal Marsden today for his chemotherapy. Unfortunately he’s not very well so they have decided to keep him in. I’m on my way down there to take over and Claudia will be home tonight.

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A temperature spike

March 21, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian had a high temperature yesterday so I took him to St George’s. I spent the night with him there and he has now been transferred to the Royal Marsden after much pleading from us. He has to stay in hospital for a couple of days as he needs intravenous antibiotics. The chemotherapy knocks the white blood cell count which makes it difficult for him to fight infections without help. We are hoping he’ll be back home later this week. Claudia is currently at the Royal Marsden with him.

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Bone Scan

March 3, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian was due back at the Royal Marsden today for a bone scan. The idea was to give him a sedative and then he would fall asleep and would lie still while the scan took place. The doctors even hoped that he would remain sleeping as they inserted a nasal gastric tube. Unfortunately two doses of sedative were not enough and Claudia had to hold him down as the scan took place. The good news is that the bone scan was all clear and the results of the marrow test last week were clear too. So all the tests have been done and there has been no spreading of the cancer that they can see outside of the kidney. The pathologist’s report on the kidney also came back today. It confirmed the fact that it was a stage 2 clear cell sarcoma. The plan for post operation treatment has now been drawn up. He will be taking 3 different types of chemotherapy drugs, one which is weekly for 6 weeks and the other two are every three weeks for 6 months to all run concurrently. There will be no need for radiotherapy. Bearing in mind we were expecting chemotherapy for a year this is very good news. He took one dose today and next Friday he will take the first triple dose. All the treatment is being done as an outpatient at the Royal Marsden. Christian has lost quite a lot weight recently, which is why the doctors are keen to get nutrients into him with the tube up his nose. He has, however, started eating again and we are hoping this continues so he builds up his strength for next Friday.

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At The Marsden

February 11, 2005 by Peter · Leave a comment

We are still hoping to take him home later today as he is off the drip. He has a bit of a rash on his face from an adverse reaction to the drug that he was given to reduce his blood pressure. He is due a course of chemotherapy, and they want to monitor his reaction to that as well as how he fares without the fluids drip. If all is well we’ll bring him home, Henry will be happy to see him again!

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