So, a week on from the Royal visit and we are still reminded of that wonderful day by finding Fabian has appeared in ‘Hello!’ and ‘Ok’ magazines. Folk in dentist’s waiting rooms across the land will be reading his story! He is hopeful that as was reported, the Duchess will post on his guestbook, so if you are reading this Catherine, we would be honoured if you do just that!
Our ‘rest’ week began with a whistlestop tour of the north west and midlands to visit as many university campuses as we could. We wanted to show Oli how much colder it is up there, but untypically it was the warmest weekend for a 100 years! The following days were then punctuated with 3 visits to the hospital for Fabian to receive the regular treatment he has to protect against the side effects of chemo. It seems ironic one needs treatment to protect against the effects of the treatment, but such is the toxicity of chemotherapy. Fabian usually fares well when at home and he has been getting stuck into some serious Lego construction as well as keeping up with school work. His latest bloodcount, though, showed he was neutropenic and as has so often been the case in the past, he duly spiked a temperature yesterday accompanied by much nausea. Lydia took him into Kingston Hospital where he remains for now receiving the ubiquitous antibiotic with which to fight the infection. His appetite always drops at these times and any chance at present of his weight recovering is no better than the economic growth forecast. So Monday’s planned BMA (‘spinal tap’) is now uncertain. This would be a setback as our Onc is keen to determine that he is in remission. Without this confirmation, she cannot initiate preparations for the transplant. So then, our word in faith for now is …remission.
Our ‘rest’ week began with a whistlestop tour of the north west and midlands to visit as many university campuses as we could. We wanted to show Oli how much colder it is up there, but untypically it was the warmest weekend for a 100 years! The following days were then punctuated with 3 visits to the hospital for Fabian to receive the regular treatment he has to protect against the side effects of chemo. It seems ironic one needs treatment to protect against the effects of the treatment, but such is the toxicity of chemotherapy. Fabian usually fares well when at home and he has been getting stuck into some serious Lego construction as well as keeping up with school work. His latest bloodcount, though, showed he was neutropenic and as has so often been the case in the past, he duly spiked a temperature yesterday accompanied by much nausea. Lydia took him into Kingston Hospital where he remains for now receiving the ubiquitous antibiotic with which to fight the infection. His appetite always drops at these times and any chance at present of his weight recovering is no better than the economic growth forecast. So Monday’s planned BMA (‘spinal tap’) is now uncertain. This would be a setback as our Onc is keen to determine that he is in remission. Without this confirmation, she cannot initiate preparations for the transplant. So then, our word in faith for now is …remission.
Dear Fabian, we hope you are soon out of hospital. your Lego sounds terrific. our Matthew and Stephen used to have a great time with it, including villages round their train track. also a space set.
with love
Janet and Peter Nicolls
Hey fabe! Zachary here. I’ve started school now and my Lego time has been severely restricted by the need to learn to read and write which mum says is top priority….. Shame. There are 7 other boys in my class and 8 girls who I ignore (well when you have 4 sisters…), and my favourite time is playing football in the playground, there’s also cool Lego here too. Looking forward to seeing you soon and eating pancakes again together. See ya! Zachary xx
David Coates
Hi fabe! It’s been an exciting week for me. Can you remember I started clay pigeon shooting in the autumn last year, well, one year on and i now belong to the Devon and Somerset lady guns. We had our first competition against each other on Thursday, and Somerset won and I was in first place with my partner Sarah-Jane. I got to take home a medal, a small silver plate and a large salver for our county! Yippee! We hit 18 out of 25 clays in the first round and a few less in the second round. I had to keep Algie in the car because he kept trying to retrieve the broken bits of clay that fell on the ground…. He did however manage to eat the fallen bits of barbecue without being told off! Pleased to hear you are at home – enjoy your lovely garden and your family. With love to you especially, Emma x
Emma Coates