Update 7 - 18th February 2008

Hi everyone

We have had a busy week.

Last weekend we managed to get away to Hope Cove in South Devon (near Salcombe & Kingsbridge) for 3 nights at our favourite little hotel, which had just re-opened following its winter close down. It was full! It has about 20 rooms in all. We had a sea view room with a balcony looking down to the beach and little harbour. It has been in the same family for many many years and has recently been taken over by the younger generation. We had dinner (5 courses) B & B at a very reasonable rate because it was February. It is quite traditional, very friendly and well located. In fact a little bit old fashioned! 4 guests went swimming in the sea Sunday morning!!

On our way down we went across Dartmoor which was very pleasant. On Saturday we went to Plymouth, walked around the old harbour, and up on to the Hoe in wonderful weather. We ended up on a conducted tour of the Plymouth Gin distillery, which has been on the same site (originally a monastery) since 1793, and was the place where the Pilgrim Fathers stayed before setting off for the New World. It’s interesting to note that in common with all Gin Distilleries in the UK, they are not allowed to manufacture the neat alcohol on site. They (along with Gordon’s and most others!) obtain their neat, flavourless alcohol from a distillery in Greenwich, South London. It is delivered by tanker, and they just add and distil all the (secret recipe) herbs and flavours to make their unique high proof premium gin. They even send the finished product back to Essex for bottling in the same tanker that brought the neat alcohol down from Greenwich!

During the weekend we went to a wonderful National Trust Garden (Overbecks) that had just opened for the season. It had several enormous 100 year old Magnolia trees which were well in flower. The gardens were high up on the cliffs overlooking the estuary and Salcombe.

We also strolled around Kingsbridge, Totnes and Dartmouth, where we saw the world’s largest privately owned yacht, EOS. It has recently been completed in Germany and is undergoing trials before moving to the Mediterranean. I think it was 320 ft long, with 3 masts each of around 250ft, a crew of 22 and berths for 60 guests! All very secretive about the owner.

On our way home we stopped off in Axminster, just to have a look at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s new organic shop and restaurant. Unfortunately it was 5.30 pm and the shop was closed, but interesting to see style, layout and prices through the window. It will be interesting to see if it is eventually successful financially.

Back to reality on Tuesday. Liz had a canula fitted (for dye) prior to having a CT scan done of her stomach, to act as a benchmark against the chemotherapy treatment. She was also informed that she needed another blood transfusion later in the week. Following the scan I had an hour long meeting with her oncologist (by myself) to discuss a wide range of issues relating to diet, treatment and other matters.

On Wednesday I took Liz to Weymouth for a hair and nail appointment, to enable her look her best for the start of the chemotherapy treatment.

On Thursday (9.00am) she attended the chemotherapy suite where the first cycle of treatment commenced with a blood test and then 3 hours of drips into yet another canula in her wrist. This all went ok.

On Friday she had to have a blood transfusion (two units) as she was still quite anaemic. This started at 9.00am and finished at 2.00pm. Again no real problems.

She now has quite an array of tablets to take for the first 5 days to stop nausea etc. I still have to give her an injection of Clexane (Warfarin replacement) every morning and she also has to take 4 chemotherapy tablets each morning and evening for the next two weeks. She has to avoid contact with possible infections for about 5/6 days in the middle of the three week cycle as her immune system will be at its lowest, and as a consequence her resistance to infection will be very low. After about 10/12 days her resistance will increase again and should be back to normal by the time the second cycle of treatment begins.

In total she is to initially have 4 cycles of treatment (12 weeks) after which it will be reviewed.

The only side effect of the chemotherapy treatment so far is strong tingling in her mouth, and on her fingers and toes if she comes into contact withanything cold. This means she must not open the fridge, mustn’t drink cold water or other drinks, and try not to touch anything cold. Anything from the fridge must be left for a while to allow the temperature to rise before she touches it. There are many other potential side effects but hopefully they will not become a problem, although it is still early days.

Liz had a quiet day on Saturday just going out for a drive in the bright Dorset countryside, with Tim (who is down for the weekend) and I.

Yesterday we went to Kingston Lacey House & Gardens (National Trust, Wimborne) to see the wonderful display of Snowdrops and Daffs, following which we went to Stourhead (also National Trust) strolled around the lakes, and bought a rather special Llanhydrock (NT) Camelia. Both gardens were full to capacity with visitors because of the smashing weather. It really was a great day.

Providing there are no emergencies we now have nearly three weeks without visits to the GP or Hospital which is a major relief for both of us!

Unless anything untowards happens this will be the last update for a few weeks, at least until we have a progress report from the oncologist.

Bye for now and thanks as always for your words of support during this difficult time.

Dick, Liz & Family