The catch up

Hi dear friends

It feels so good to have Sara back home at Matai St. We had a great family brunch pancakes, strawberries, banana and maple syrup plus cream. Pancakes to be repeated tomorrow by popular demand! Most of the girls have been to the mall including Sara and have just returned with Sara now taking a nap. I'm severely outnumbered at the mo 6:1 so stayed home with Kate and listened to some favourite music. It feels good to just chill out for a couple of days before we embark on the next steps.

So what has happened since "the late blog"?

Yesterday we had a further meeting with Mike Sullivan and his registrars and while we do not have the plan yet we are in the fast track planning stages for the treatment and will be discussing the plan on Monday. He has already had a response back from the his colleague in Los Angeles confirming his proposed strategy for treatment. Sara had a long sleep yesterday morning after a second night of waking due to headaches ( due to the healing process). So once she awoke we had a very full day with the the oncology meeting, meeting with the social worker who discussed the issue of hats and wigs for Sara amongst other things, going to the radiotherapy unit to be introduced to the treatment process and start the process of having her mask made for the radiology treatment. This is done with the same computerised technology that Peter Jackson uses for the Lord of the Rings mask making - so by next week the front will be made from clear plastic and then a mould is made for the back of her head. Sara got to drive the radiology machine with the remote control unit to see how it all works - she thought that was pretty cool.

Radiology will start in three weeks and run for a period of 6 weeks -Monday to Friday. The chemo will start 4 weeks after the radiotherapy has finished which will be around the beginning of May we think.

Following this we visited the CHOC ward and were introduced to it and taken round by the charge nurse Jan Millar. This is where Sara will be recieving her chemo from May onwards. This will involve her spending 2-3 days at a time in the ward every 4-5 weeks until the end of the year. We learnt lots and were shown the portacath and how it will be inserted to allow the chemo to be delivered without the need for temporary lures.

Then we had to take Erin (one of Saras nurses) down to the coolest vending machine in the hospital for an icecream and then outside to the river for a sit in the sun which Sara loved. The machine is so great to watch that you don't need any excuse to go buy an icecream!

And then it was time to have the 40 stitches out! Erin took to them and in no time they were gone - the healing is remarkable with virtually no sign of the surgical cut made in Saras head. An absolute credit to the skills of the neurosurgeon Mr Macfarlane - he still uses blanket stitch rather thn staples. and then home for dinner!

Sara had a great nights sleep last night and we saw Mr Macfarlane before we came home today and he showed us the second MRI scan. No doubt we will be looking at that again next week with Mike Sullivan. We have lots of action again next week but will probably not update the site again until Monday evening.

We need to just put the record straight on which rugby team we support - sorry Bob its not the Highlanders we a very definitely all converted Crusaders supporters even Kate who once supported the southern men!!!

We have posted some instructions for blogging for those who have been having frustrating experiences - hope it works. Will throw some photos up later.

love to all from Sara and her whanau.