Update 9 - 4th May 2008

Morning all

Just a brief update on Liz’s progress this week.

In the last update I mentioned that she was due to go into hospital to have fluid drained from her stomach.

We attended at the appointed time, 4.00pm last Tuesday, but they didn’t know anything about her or the procedure and said they expected her in the afternoon on Wednesday. The original plan was to get her a bed late on Tuesday and carry out the procedure first thing on Wednesday morning!

Because Liz was so uncomfortable I had made it plain that if they didn’t find a bed I would take her down to A & E and abandon her so that they would be forced to find a bed! After almost two hours they found a bed. She was eventually seen by two doctors at 11.00pm who confirmed that she was on ‘the list’ for Wednesday at 10.10am.

The drain was put in under local anaesthetic using a scan similar to those used on pregnant women. All went well and she was back in the ward by 11.45am. By the time we went in after lunch 1.2 litres of fluid had been removed, and during the afternoon and evening a further 2.9litres were drained, making 4.1litres (just over 7pints) in total. She lost nearly 10 Lbs in weight in around 8 hours!

She didn’t have a very good night on Wednesday as a 91 year old lady in the next bed fell over at 4.00am and broke her pelvis!

On Thursday having completed the drainage they gave Liz some iron tablets as she was a little anaemic, but this causes constipation, so they also gave her a double dose (by mistake) of laxative which really upset her already tender stomach (from the fluid which had been pressing on all her internal organs).

Throughout Thursday she was very uncomfortable, but was discharged around 5.00pm. She now only has to take one iron tablet a day and no laxative, which seems to be bearable. Her stomach does seem to have settled down although she is very weak.

We have also been trying to get her off the Clexane injection (every day), which is unpleasant and causes a lot of bruising. They are now reverting to Warfarin tablets; but that means regular blood checks at the doctors or hospital to ensure the INR level is correct. However a new drug has recently been licensed for use with knee and hip replacement patients who are at risk from blood clots. Unfortunately it is not approved for use on cancer patients yet and is therefore not available on the NHS. The hospital is looking into the possibility of getting it privately for Liz (£10.00 per tablet).

We went to the hospital yesterday (Sat) for a blood test for Warfarin, and have to go again on Tuesday. Thankfully for the time being, the injections have been stopped.

Liz has to have a scan and more blood tests at Poole Hospital next Friday, prior to starting the next chemotherapy programme (Tues 13th or Wed 14th) which is 12 weeks long (4 cycles of three weeks), during which time she will unfortunately lose her hair. She is threatening to have a red Afro wig for weekdays and a green punk one for weekends!

All being well the intention is to include her in a national trial called Piccolo which is investigating drugs to either improve the efficacy of the chemo drug, or reduce the unpleasant side effects. Because it is by random selection she may still end up with the basic drug and not one of the two alternatives. We will be informed before commencing the treatment.

All for now Dick & Liz