Recovering

Well we are now into Day  44 of this incarceration, though I myself am not incarcerated – just in-car-se-ated since my weekly mileage has multiplied.  Our wonderful Fabian is finally recovering his blood count (WBC 1.1) and up and about continuing that interminable road to recovery since the chemo block.  He is now minus his hair and a few kilos in weight but nothing that won’t return in time (although his Kojak pate is nearly matched by brother Ben who actually chooses that style)  Mum Lydia has been unstinting at the hospital during this time with occasional overnight relief provided by Oleander whilst she was back from Uni.  The relentless march of infections seem to have been stemmed; the worst, a candida fungal infection, led to doctors having to remove his hickman line.  This in itself necessitated transferring to St George’s for a couple of days.  The frequent monitoring of Fabian’s organ and body functions is by now all too familiar; a legacy of the fact that each chemo drug causes unwanted side effects which manifest in every child to a greater or lesser extent.   At this stage, after 6 and a half years on and off treatment, the cumulative impact could have been chronic problems but our brave fighter has shown such resilience in mind I’m sure his body will continue to follow suit.

We’re now awaiting the next bone marrow aspirate which will indicate whether we have achieved remission, but notwithstanding this, a second block of consolidation chemo is a near certainty, this time using super drug chlorfarabine (yay).  In between this, Fabian may be given home leave which will be a huge boost for him, not least because I have redecorated his room to look like the hospital ward (, sorry, joke, it’s late at night).  Meanwhile, it’s always a pleasure having friends to visit and we appreciate the effort that that requires – especially trying to get into the place once they arrive!  We had another celebrity visitor drop in, Peter Andre, but Fabian wasn’t up for the photo opportunity (Mr Andre’s loss).  The Marsden is a unique environment where an improbable mix of parents, patients and professionals form a tight-knit community, all focused on the single goal of getting discharged from the place.  Global issues and threats of nuclear war are strangely distant and actually not very important whilst you are inside.  Do keep us in your prayers amongst the many demands in your life, we hope as many as want will be a part of Fabian’s healing (James 5:15).

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