It is thymic rebound!!

We had great news today, the Consultant told Mari that there was no sign of lymphoma and all the tissue from the biopsy was thymic...that means Mari is a cancer free zone and can start planning her life again.

She, as we all are, are still coming to terms with everything. It was in June that a well-meaning Doctor told her that ' we can not promise to bring you through this' and promised really harsh chemo treatment and now, five months later she has no cancer! Quite a turn around for which we are so grateful. As a result of the way Mari has responded to the PET scans, which is still a relatively new technology, the Drs in Bristol are now saying that they will routinely biopsy people whose PET scan shows positive in their thymic area.

It is sobering to think that if Mari had not insisted on alternative treatment, she would be in the middle of a stem cell transplant regime!

She is also recovering from her surgery last week, a bit sore still but the news today makes that worthwhile. Before her surgery, her notes said that she should have an excision which is major surgery cutting her breast bone and would have had a very large scar. When we questioned this, we were told it was a typo and should have been an incision which is less severe and traumatic. They apologised for the typing mistake and also for the wrong diagnosis.

Mari has been signed off for a few more weeks till she is fully over the surgery so will be looking to relocate back to London after Christmas.

We have been incredibly grateful to all of you who have supported us, prayed for Mari, send blogs, cards, love and best wishes. It would have been a far more difficult journey without your help.
With all our love and our deepest gratitude. xx

Surgery went well.

Thanks for your messages before the op. The surgery was done early in the morning, which meant Mari was able to come home that same day, in the evening. She is sore and will be uncomfortable for a few days but is coping well and was relieved to get it over with.
We are due to see her consultant on Thursday 5th November, when we will hopefully get the results from the biopsy. As soon as we know any thing we'll update the blog.
Thank you for all your love and prayers.

Update

Mari had a long day in the Bristol Royal Infirmary yesterday in preparation for her surgery which is to be next Thursday 29th. The surgeon told her they will be testing for one of four possibilities. The possibilities are; Hodgkins Lymphoma, Thymus rebound, thymoma ( a benign tumour on the thymus which would require major surgery), or a teratoma. Of these a thymic rebound would be the most preferable!

Mari will go in early on Thursday, have the surgery under a general anaesthetic and hopefully be home that day. The results from the biopsy will take 5-10 days but we are hoping they will be ready in time for her next hospital appointment on the 5th November.

We are still in a bit of a state of limbo and there is a lot of waiting around for Mari with uncertainty about what to expect so we are grateful for all of your prayer, love and support. We will let you know how the surgery goes.

This week...

Thank you for all your wonderful messages! Mari is still in limbo waiting for a date for surgery. She has a pre-op appointment this Tuesday at the BRI, so we should know more then, hopefully they will give us a date for surgery. We'll let you know.
Thanks again - Love from us x

Thymic Rebound?

Today we had a very significant and interesting appointment with Mari's Oncologist.
He began by telling us that the last four PET scans have showed no progression of the disease(not even August's scan - even though at the time they said there was some new growth). He and his colleagues have been in consultation with specialists in London and have all agreed that there is grounds for reasonable doubt that Mari has Hodgkins at this point. He said that they are cautiously optomistic that it could be a condition called Thymic Rebound. This can occur as a result of chemo and gives the appearance of malignancy on a PET scan.

The next step is to do a biopsy under general anaesthetic which will give a definitive answer. This surgery should happen in 2 weeks time.

We are still in a state of shock - it has been a very surreal day. It would obviously be amazing if the results come back to show it is not Hodgkins. The Consultant said that the past 4 months must have been an emotional nightmare for us and acknowledged that they are learning in this instance because this is such a unique case. At this stage, they are planning to write up the case in the medical journals etc. - should it prove to be Thymic Rebound. Ironically, if Mari had not taken the risk of choosing to have pre-chemo treatment, she would be in the middle of a very heavy chemo regime/stem cell transplant now - and perhaps unnecessarily.

They have given us grounds for hope but will not be confirmed until we get the surgery results.

Thank you for your love, prayers and for standing with us in so many amazing ways. We'll let you know as soon as Mari has a date for surgery.

With love - Us x

A busy day!

Mari had a full day today. She finally finished all her treatment in the Midlands this afternoon, followed by another pet scan this evening back in Bristol.
She was originally due to see her Consultant today, but this has been changed to next Thursday ( 1st October). They chose to give her a pet scan today instead. This will show where the cancer is at, for the starting point of chemo and give them something to measure the progress against.
It's been a long day. We will let you know the scan results as well as an update from the next appointment on Thursday, at the Oncology hospital.
Chemo will be starting soon now.

With our love and thanks for yours.

Next Round of Treatment

Since the last blog update, we had the chance to go to Redding California for 5 days. It was a bit short but a great time and experience and good to have a few days in a completely different environment before all the chemo starts. We sweltered in temperatures of 40+C at the foot of a 14,000ft snow-capped mountain!

Mari starts her next round of pre chemo treatment this week which will conclude with some mini-surgery. She will then start chemo at the end of this month or start of October. The next Oncology appointment is on Thurs 24th which will determine the start of chemo.

As the date looms nearer, please pray for Mari. As we have said it is a daunting treatment.She has been doing really well and looks and feels remarkably well considering her illness.

After the next appointment we will let you know start dates etc.

Thanks again for all the comments, love and prayers that have been passed on. It is so appreciated

God bless
With love
Dave, Rhi, Phil and Mari