Our very sad news

Dear friends,

While we were in Twizel for Easter Sara's condition deteriorated, so we returned home late on Monday. On Tuesday we saw the doctor in CHOC and Sara had an MRI scan in the evening. The scan has shown that the tumour has continued to grow despite the treatment and was the cause of her worsening illness.

On Wednesday afternoon we were given the devasting and tragic news that there was nothing more that could be done to cure the illness. Our time with Sara is now very precious. The steriod medication has been changed and there has been a marked improvement in her symptoms in the last 3 days allowing her some quality time during these precious months.

We are planning a family motorhome holiday around some of our favourite places in the South Island for the next few weeks, and all going well we will depart mid- week.

Thank you for all the support, text messages, phone calls, cards, visits, prayers and presents over the last few months they have been a wonderful inspiration for us, especially Sara.

We will continue to post the occassional blog on the site while we are away when it feels right and the chance is there.

Love to you all

Rob, Sue, Kate and Sara

Home to the Mackenzie for Easter

Hi everyone

We travelled home to Twizel for the Easter break on Thursday. A beautiful day and great drive back home. The first time we have been home for a stay for over 3 months. Sara has been very tired for the last few days (both here and in Christchurch) and has been resting and sleeping lots. She has seen a few friends while we have been here but we are all just taking it easy and enjoying being home for a few days. We did have a meal out at Shawty's on Thursday evening which made us feel like we were really home.

A week ago we had a discussion with the oncologist Dr Rob Corbett about the analysis of the last MRI scan. He told us that there are indications that the tumour may have enlarged despite the radiation and chemo treatment of the last few weeks. This was devasting news for Sara and us and we have had a very emotional week. As a result we will be travelling to Sydney for the another PET scan - hopefully this coming week. Until we get the results of that we will not know where to next with Sara's treatment.

Kate arrived back on Sunday safe and well and has been telling us stories of her travels all week. We have been giving her a hard time about her acquired accent and she has also been entertaining us with her new liking for country music. She is working this weekend at the Korner Kafe in Twizel and plans to go looking for a job at the local cafes in Sumner when we return there.

Sara has solved her bath problem for the meantime by using a soft mat given to her by Aunty Robyn or a Z-rest sleeping mat discovered in the garage at 211 Mackenzie Drive! Sara enjoyed all the wonderful suggestions and discussion on soft baths - maybe an opportunity for someone to completely redesign the bath!

Thanks to everyone for the continuing support, messages and visits, when we are able to see people. Also a big thank you to all those who organised and contributed to the Support Fund in Twizel. We have recently received a cheque from this fund for $1400 which has paid for Sara's laptop. We feel very grateful and really appreciate this generous gift from our home town and all our friends there. We feel very humbled by your kindness - thank you so much.

Warm regards

Rob, Sue Sara and Kate (back in NZ)

Bath time

Sara is just off to her bath and complaining about how hard it is. Why do they make baths so hard? They should be like a big squishy pillow she reckons "I ALWAYS thought that". I have been instucted to measure the bath so she can go to Para Rubber tomorrow to get something big and soft to put in the bottom of the bath to lie on! Sara is thinking of a thick bit of sponge.

Does anyone out there have any good ideas for making baths soft! "This is a serious matter" she says "I have this problem EVERY night!"

THE BIG SOFTEE

A few hard days for Sara.

Hi everyone

So what's up so far this week?

Sara has been very tired and resting lots but having a bit of a tough time emotionally, the last few days. While she enjoyed the great success of Zoe and Caitlin at Maadi it has understandably made her reflect again on how different life is at the moment for her. This has been very emotional for her (and us) as she rides the rollercoaster of this huge change in her life and all the uncertainty it brings.

At times reading the blog this last week has made life very hard for her so we have been doing a bit of judicious management of what she sees and have now put in place the blog moderation system while we get through the next few days. This means that blogs don't get published until they have been seen by the blog administrator (ie me!). Hence a number of the bloggers over the last day or so haven't been able to see the blog appear on the site straight away. I promise they will appear on the site but not immediately - provided we think they will be a positive for Sara.

The blog has been a really positive thing for her and us and we know everyone enjoys using and benefiting from it. We wish to keep it like that, so thanks to everyone for all the positive stuff that we and everyone else has been enjoying.

Thanks and hope you are enjoying the new photos - and keep blogging!

Warm regards, Rob and Sue

Sorting out the car to go with the sport!

Sara with the the Canterbury Rams.

Sara's Radiotherapy Team, Kylie, Miranda and Anthea on the last day 2 weeks ago

Whats been up and down at 78 Glenstrae this week.

Hi everyone

Well the news of the week has to be the gold medal win by Caitlin and Zoe at the Maadi Cup reggata. Fantastic for them and everyone involved and undoubtedly the highlight of Sara's week. She got to watch it live by computer feed at the Salamander Art Gallery, courtesy of Anne and Bob - the visitors to the gallery were treated to a slightly milder version of the Maadi 2005 rock band but just as enthusiatic and even more wrapped that her buddies won this year! Hey you girls and all the coaching and support team what a result - fantastic, a testament to all the dedication and hours on and off the water - congratulations from all the Young Ones!

Last weekend was an exciting one for Sara and the Rams versus Nuggets game was great. Sara got to meet up with the players after the game including the American imports and get a few photos and signatures. The neatest thing about the game was meeting our long time friends Owen and Debbie Rees outside the Westpac Stadium and finding out that their son Ash was a Ram!

Unfortunately just as we almost reached home after the game, Sara had another seizure and we literally U turned in Ferry Road and went direct to CHOC. This one lasted quite sometime and was very scary for all of us. Sara spent 2 nights in hospital (with Sue staying over) and came home late Tuesday after another blood transfusion. Her medication has been altered and hopefully she doesn't have another episode like this for a while. She has been very tired as a result all week, and it has been very quiet for all of us since other than the rowing and a visit from our friends from Pleasant Point, Bill and Maureen Wright on Thursday (Bill was the Ranger at Kerikeri when I worked in Russell).Debbie Carter visited Sara for a couple of magic healing touch sessions at the hospital and at home later in the week - thank you Debbie.

Today was a beautiful day in Chch and we just enjoyed the day in the sun and Sara walked down to Redcliffs for some fresh air- her first real exercise for some time - she really enjoyed it. The day got even better courtesy of the Crusaders (yes I had to cruise to the local tavern to check out the second half) - they still rule eh Bob, Clare and Mark! It's not too late to finally admit that if you live in Canterbury you might as well join the winning team. After all this was the 14th win in a row!

Sara currently has a very low immunity level so please don't ask to come visiting if you think your getting, have had or had recently (ie in the last week or so) any bugs or colds or been in contact with anyone with anything infectious like this. Thank you and have a good week.


TTFN
Sara Sue Rob and Kate (on a road trip to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico)