END OF TREATMENT

I am so sorry this has taken so long to post and for the lack of photo's. My computer has been broken for a few weeks hence the delay... anyway...

It is with a big sigh that we have reached the end of Francesca's treatment. It has been a long journey but, last Wednesday Fran made it to the end.

Two weeks ago Fran spiked a silly temperature which meant she was in hospital for a couple of nights - it amounted to nothing but did put back her last lumbar puncture. So last Wednesday we made our final visit to Safari Day Care for her lumbar and final bone marrow. What should have been easy was a bit of a task - it took four attempts to take blood before her general and three attempts to take the bone marrow. Poor Fran was terribly upset when she woke up and very sore. Rochelle said that it seemed her last treatment pretty much reflected how all her treatment has been! Rochelle called us on Friday to check on Fran (who was absolutely fine) to let us know that the results of her bone marrow were negative for leukaemia. It is with great joy that we can announce FRANCESCA DOES NOT HAVE LEUKAEMIA!

So, what's next? Well Fran will continue to go to Safari but just to the clinic side of things to see Rochelle and her consultant Nick - that will be every month or so to begin with and will then slow down. In six months time she will have to have her pre-school booster and her MMR booster. It can take up to six months for the bone marrow to recover itself post treatment so we still need to be careful around chicken pox and may still need to go to Lewisham Hospital if she spikes a high temperature. I am hopeful though that she will be fine now.

The pictures I have attached are from Bank Holiday Monday. Our very special friends Sam and Pete planned a surprise party in the park. Many friends from Fran's school were there and a great time was had by all. In fact, the party continued back at our house!! As you can see, the children had a ball with games and prizes. Thank you to all who came and made it very special.

This blog will continue and we will use it to keep everyone up to date with Francesca's recovery and with young Charlie's high jinx. Charlie has been an absolute star over the past two years - he is the best little brother going. Please continue to look at this blog and mark yourself as a follower!

Thank you for all your support. Jayne, Stuart, Francesca and Charlie xxxx

Racing for Life!

Just a quick note to let you all know that I will be taking part in the Hyde Park Race for Life - Please feel free to check out my sponsor page which is www.raceforlife.org/jaynecorp.

Charlie's Birthday, Last Vincristine and line removed!

It has been such a busy few weeks. Charlie turned the grand old age of 3 (going on 13) a couple of weeks ago and the party lasted a good few days. Saturday with his friends and fantastic weather, Sunday with the family and Monday a trip to Hamleys with Birthday money!

On the Wednesday we were at Lewisham Hospital for Francesca's last ever vincristine and last set of steroids - it was a bit strange to think that we won't be making the regular visits to the ward and a little emotional to realise that we have just a few weeks until the end of treatment.

Fran has still been having daily antibiotics due to her previous line infection and, as we expected, GOS wanted the line to come out sooner rather than later. So, the wonderful Rochelle organised for that to be this week and it came out on Wednesday!! So, Fran has no wiggly any more! She's just got a cannula in her hand for iv's but that will come out today. In less than three weeks we will have finished treatment and we can't wait. We do go from excited to anxious but, in the main we are excited.

Here are some long overdue pictures - Charlie's birthday, Easter, GOS this week and others... x

In our own beds!

It was great on Monday night to be informed that we could go home! Initially we didn't think it would be until Wednesday so was a real bonus to find ourselves all under the same roof after 10 days in hospital.

Fran is now on iv antibiotics at home until next Monday when we hope everything will then be clear. Unfortunately we haven't been able to go back to school this week though as there is a lot of Chicken Pox and other viruses doing the rounds in the playground and we are not prepared to take the risk of Francesca picking up another infection so close to the end.

The great news is that we will all be able to enjoy Charlie's third birthday this Friday. We are planning a weekend of celebration with a children's party on Saturday and family party on Sunday. It will be lovely to see some attention firmly focused on him.

Next week we will be back in GOS for a delayed lumbar and we will hopefully find out then what is going to happen with Francesca's central line.

We will, as ever, keep you posted.

Still in hospital.....

Fran's test over the last week haven't given us a clear reason why she has been so poorly. She continued to spike temperatures until Thursday morning and they have, fortunately, now gone. Last Sunday the hospital introduced a couple more iv antibiotics and then on Wednesday one was changed to an anti-fungal iv. Whilst she's not had any more temperature spikes we were today told that she has grown a bug in her most recent blood culture - this usually means that she has a line infection. It could be that she has had a virus over the last week and that this culture is simply contaminated or it could be that she has developed a line infection over the last week in hospital. We just aren't sure at this point. Obviously, we hope it isn't a line infection as it will mean a premature removal of the line, it will also mean more time at the hospital which we are now fed up of!

Fran is in good spirits though - a bit tired but all in all good. Stuart and I are tired and I am desperate to have the four of us under one roof soon! With Charlie's third birthday at the weekend we are working hard to make sure we are all home.

Will keep you all posted. x

A stumble at the final hurdle

With the finish line in sight it has been a shame that last Friday Francesca spiked a high temperature and was, for the first time in a while, admitted to Lewisham Hospital. We have been there since and at present aren't entirely sure what is causing her temperatures. It could be a virus or, most likely another line infection.

We know from GOS that if she were to get another line infection they would remove it prematurely which is a real shame. The most important thing though is that we get as much chemo into Fran over these final few weeks rather than stop the chemo due to illness. We understand the risk ratio but it still doesn't make us feel great.

Over the last couple of weeks she has had quite a lot of bruising which has concerned us a little - both Lewisham and GOS have tried taking peripheral bloods to see if her blood clotting is slightly off but we have so far been unsuccessful. Hopefully we will repeat this before we leave Lewisham this week.

In our minds we are hoping to be discharged mid week - we are certainly not planning on being in-patients for Charlie's third birthday on the 3rd of April!

Up to date pictures to follow. x

Snow, School and Half Term Fun

It has been busy, busy, busy here so apologies once again for the delayed posting!

Firstly, I have posted some great photo's of Fran and Charlie in the snow - they loved it!

Francesca has been really well, she had a chemo postponed a week last month as she had a rash on her legs and the hospital didn't want to risk her becoming unwell. It amounted to nothing but did mean that when we went into half term Fran wasn't on steroids so on that level it was good. The new steroids Fran is taking really are an improvement, she does seem to become quite 'manic' but, that aside we are glad that she isn't experiencing the depression the dex was causing.

She has been able to spend so much more time at school and it has been a relief to see her settled in and enjoying it so much. Her teacher Lorna is really great and she is beginning to develop new relationships in her class.

Stuart took the week off for half term so we were able to spend a few days in Bristol before returning on Wednesday for Fran's vincristine. That all went well and towards the end of the week we popped to a safari park in Kent with Fran's best friend where fun was had by all.

We are now looking directly at the end of treatment. With just two more doses of vincristine to go it seems impossible to believe that this part of our journey is coming to an end. The lows have been really low but I know (as I have said many times before) that they have made our family stronger. We are so excited that we are at the end but nervous about the first few months after treatment. It will be great and we will be celebrating with a big end of treatment party - date to follow.

Here are the latest pictures.

Quick Update and LONG awaited photos!

Over the last couple of weeks we have popped up to GOS a couple of times with Fran. The first visit was a scheduled one to meet with Nick and to talk about her continuing line infection - we agreed that if it didn't clear up then the line would be removed and she would finish her treatment without it. Fortunately her blood cultures are negative meaning the infection is now gone... Thank Goodness. Yesterday we went up again for Francesca's vincristine and to chat again with her consultant about restarting the steroids. She'll be taking a slightly different steroid and we hope that by doing so, she will not suffer the major side effects she has in the past.

Fran has been well in herself but post her chemo this week has a bad upset stomach and the usual leg and arm pain....

The other piece of news is that Starlight will be using Francesca's photo in their newsletter - she is also on their homepage - take a look.

Anyway, here are the long awaited photo's showing Christmas, cousins, friends and top hats! Enjoy.

Christmas and Into 2009

Two days before Christmas the hospital called to let us know that another infection had reared it's ugly head. Fortunately Francesca was feeling well so we only needed to have daily antibiotics at home - much to our relief!


Christmas was Fantastic - lots of fun was had by the children and despite Fran's continued antibiotics we had an amazing day, lots of food, wine and gifts! Santa was generous to all!


Fran has now had another ten days of the iv antibiotics but it hasn't cleared her line - they are now locking the antibiotic into her line and we are really hopeful that it will do the trick. Fran has been generally well in herself but today is feeling very "wobbly" and has suffered with her usual aches and pains - possibly due to the infection. If the infection isn't clear in the next ten days then GOS would want to remove it :-( .


We have had some good news though. Last Monday Francesca had her long awaited MRI scan up at GOS and, as we understand it nothing sinister was found which is good news. We are going up to Great Ormond Street on Wednesday for Fran's chemo and will chat to Nick then about further management of her leg pain and the start of the dreaded steroids!!!!