A better night

Mari wanted us to thank you for all the prayers and love shown to her. She had a better night last night and feels she has turned the corner. For the first night since February, she did not wake with drenching night sweats. Her blood and oxygen levels have increased which is encouraging too. She is still coughing badly but that too seems a bit easier than it has been.

She is hoping that if this continues she can come home in a day or two and have a few days in her own bed before the next Chemo session.

We as a family join with Mari in thanking you all again for your prayers.

With love

The Days

Friday Night

Mari has been in hospital for a week now and is anxious to come home. The Drs are still unsure of where the infection is and so are giving a wide range of drugs to try to cover all the bases. If the fever stops, they might let her out early next week, if it doesn't, they will do a more invasive investigation which Mari does not relish in the slightest. When she woke up this morning, her temperature was 39.6 which is still very high. Please pray that will level out. Her blood count is up which will help her fight infection.

We have mentioned before about the problem finding veins for the lines to be put into Mari. They have to be changed every few days to avoid infection. Today, they had to use Mari's feet as all the veins in her arms and hands are not suitable. Every time they try to put a line in it causes much discomfort.


Thanks again for all your love and support, it means so much to us all.

God bless
With love
The Days and Phil

Thursday morning

Just an update and request for more prayer please. The Drs are still not happy with Mari's fluctuating temperature and are trying to find out the causes. Mari will have a CT scan today as the Chest X Ray proved inconclusive. The Drs need to take a sample from Mari's lungs, there are two ways they can do this, one by giving her something to help her bring stuff up, if that doesn't work, they will have to do more something more invasive which Mari really does not want so please pray they can get something first time round!

As a possible cause of the temperature fluctuations could be DVT related, Mari will be given something to protect her from DVTs.

She has been booked in for chemo next Tuesday which seems a bit too soon for Mari.

Thanks again
Love from us all

Wednesday night

Thanks again for all the support, love and care being expressed. There has been some improvement today which is encouraging. Mari's white blood cell count has risen after the injection yesterday. She had another today and they will review how many injections she will need after blood tests tomorrow. The increased count will help fight the pneumonia as well as the antibiotics she is still on. Her temperature is being controlled well and her blood pressure is up a bit so that is good news.

Mari still is having trouble breathing without oxygen, especially when she has to move around. In order to prevent the threat of deep vein thrombosis, Mari has to try to move about a bit and do some light exercises but she finds that hard without oxygen and ends up coughing quite badly. Please pray for the pneumonia to ease!

She is finding sleep difficult, she sweats so much at night which keeps her awake, most nights her bed needs to be changed at least three times. Also there are many interruptions all through the night as the staff do their vital duties. Please pray for some more chance to sleep. Much as she loves seeing visitors, it can be tiring so please contact Dave or Rhi if you are wanting to visit.

Thanks again
With love

The Days and Phil

Tuesday night

Thanks again for all the messages. Mari does love reading them. Her temperature has generally been kept under control by paracetamol though her blood count is still low. Her neutrophils, which are a type of white blood cell, are very low and have not risen over the past days. They currently measure at 0.4, normal is between 1.5 to 6 and they will not consider letting her home until they are at least 0.8. Consequently they are giving Mari daily injections for the next 14 days to try to build the cells up. We dont know at this stage whether she will have to stay in hospital all that time. Chemo, which should have been today, has been postponed.

The Drs seem to think that these symptoms are not suprising at this point of the chemotherapy. Mari is still needing oxygen as she is very short of breath.
Her veins are still a problem, the Dr had to have six attempts to get a line in today and each attempt was painful.

So, please keep praying for the cell count to increase, her lungs to clear up and her veins to become stronger. She needs grace and strength too to cope with all that is happening to her body.

Many thanks again for all you love and care.

The Days and Phil

Please keep praying

Mari is still very ill. The Drs think she has pneumonia and her oxygen count is very low. Hopefully the antbiotics she has been on will start to take effect soon and she is already been given oxygen. They are also talking about changing her chemo routine ( presumably giving different drugs) but Mari is reluctant for this. Please keep praying for her as she is very poorly. Tomorrow she will see the consultant haematolgist, being a Bank Holiday the hospital is a bit low on staff so we should know more tomorrow when there are more Drs and specialists around.

Many thanks
The Days and Phil

Monday Morning.. after a bad night

Thanks again for all the comments and prayers, as the NHS does not stretch to wireless connection, we have been able to print out all of the comments etc and take them in to Mari which is encourages her.

She did not have a good night last night, her blood pressure is very low, she drenches the bed with sweats and has had more rigors which are very unpleasant. Sleeping is never easy in hospital so with the rigors, frequent visits from staff to change drips etc she needs sleep so please pray that she will be able to get some sleep somehow.

Everytime her temperature rises above 38 C, the nurses have to take blood so it can be checked for infections. Chemo always has a detrimental affect on veins so it is becoming increasingly difficult for the staff to find a vein to get blood which makes it quite painful for Mari. Please pray too that the nurses will be able to locate veins more easily. Though up to this point, nothing has developed on the blood to show infection, she is so vulnerable to having one she has to be constantly tested.

Thanks again, we will continue to keep you posted

With love from the Days and Phil

Saturday Night

After numerous blood tests etc, the Drs are saying that Mari has neurophenia which is a serious lowering of the infection-fighting white blood cells in her body. Her white cell count is very low and this has been causing all of symptoms. Though it appears there is no infection, the symptoms are similar and she is particuarly vulnerable to any infections. Rhi, Phil and I( Dave) have to put on blue gloves and a plastic apron just to go into her room. Though they look fetching on me, I am not too sure about Phil and Rhi!

Mari's temperature is still fluctuating as her body tries to cope with the neuropenia but it is being controlled by the intravenous paracetamol.Please pray that her white cell count will build up which is needs to to combat the symptoms of neurophenia and also to be able to continue with the chemotherapy. They will not administer it if the white cell count is too low. Mari will continue the 5 day course of antibiotics.

Many thanks again

With love
The Days ( and Phil)

Update from hospital

Thanks for the comments and support. Mari did not have a good night in hospital, her temperature was very high and on a few occasions went into rigor ( strong uncontrollable shivering). This morning her temperature went up to 39.9 so the hospital have given her intravenous paracetamol to lower the temperature. They are unsure what is causing the infection so are also giving her intravenous anti-biotics too. This is a 5 day course so Mari will have to stay in unless there is a marked improvement, they can then give the last couple of days in tablet form so she can come home. Her blood pressure is quite low too.

One of the effects of chemo is damge to veins so the intravenous drips are quite painful. Her white cell count is low so her chemo on Tues will be postponed. Because she is in the Highly Infectious ward, she does have her on room with TV for which she is grateful. Rhi is sleeping in at the hospital with her.

We will keep you updated and thanks again for all the support.

God bless
With love
The Days

Back into hospital

Mari was able to have a few days away this week which was a nice change but her temperature has been inconsistent and a couple of time has very strong shivers and shakes. Her temperature went up to 38.8 today ( 102 F) and she is supposed to go back into hospital if it exceeds 38. We phoned the hospital who wanted her to go straight in so has just gone ( Friday early evening UK time) The consultant wants to look at her white blood cells. She will be in at least overnight or over the weekend, she is due to have the next round of chemo on Tuesday.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers.

With love
The Days

This week.

Thank you for all your wonderful messages!
I had a rough week last week. I was also unwell on the weekend ( my temperature kept creeping in to the "danger zone", so I had to keep a close eye on it)! The chemo is definitely getting tougher both mentally and physically. I have been a bit brighter this week and I've even been able to go away for a few days which has been lovely.
I am back in to hospital on Tuesday for blood tests and for my 9th round of chemo!
We will update after that and let you know how it goes.
Thank you for your amazing support and encouragement.
Lots of love, Mari

Some good and bad news.

Mari had chemotherapy today - her temperature has been really high over the past week and she reacted badly to one of the chemo drugs today. It left her shivering violently, so she was wrapped up in blankets and hot water bottles when we finally got to talk to the Doctor regarding the CT scan results.

The CT scan shows that the cancer is reducing, however it is still there! As a result they are going to extend Mari's treatment. She will have an additional 4 chemotherapy sessions! Mari feels really disheartened about this, especially because all the chemo side effects are getting progressively worse. This leaves another 8 treatments and it means Mari will (hopefully) have completed treatment by December 2008. The area of concern is the mass in her chest so please join with us in praying that this will go altogether and that after 8 more round of chemo, Mari will need no further treatment. The Doctor said she was not surprised it is still there because the "mass" was so large in the first place.

Mari is now at home recovering from her hospital visit, with another big bag of drugs ready to control all the unpleasant side effects. This phase of the journey is hard work and very tiring. Mari is still struggling to see light at the end of the tunnel most days.

Thanks for your prayers and faithful support.

The week ahead

Hi there,
Hope you're having a good weekend.

Mari is going back in to hospital on Monday for usual blood tests and then on Tuesday for chemotherapy ( round 8). Mari is quite nervous about this next round because she felt so unwell last week ( so would greatly appreciate your prayers - thanks once again).
We will let you know how it goes and what the results are from her CT scans as we should find out this coming week.

Thanks and God bless.

Scans today

Thanks for your messages and prayers for today. I had my scans this morning at Frenchay hospital and apparently it will take one week to take ten days before we get the results. We will let you know when we hear.

I have a week off treatment this week (phew) before my 8th round of chemotherapy on Tuesday next week and the usual hospital visit on Monday before.

Enjoy your week!
We will update soon.
Love from us all

Hospital tomorrow.

Mari has had a fairly rough week, the chemo knocked her pretty hard on Tuesday! Tomorrow she is going in to hospital at 11 am for CT scans. We will let you know how it goes and what the results are.
Thanks for your messages and thoughts.
With much Love.