Sh!t start to 2017

Last night my daughter, Eve, was diagnosed with leukaemia.
We're heading down to Luton today and across to Cambridge where she's on the TCT ward. I'd hoped not to need to practice my cancer dad skills again.
Apparently they think it's the "better sort" of leukaemia- too early to be sure.
Bugger.

OMG what awful news after all that the family has been through.
Here's hoping for a positive outcome.
John

This is terrible news MRS after everything already, 'better sort' or not it's still serious

Crikey Richard, fate has dealt you a harsh hand

Many of us will remember Charlie's long journey through illness and eventual wonderful recovery - every good wish to Eve and her treatment and recuperation.

So sorry to read this. Be strong and all the best wishes to you all. My Dad got diagnosed with Cancer late last year, had his kidney removed and now we wait for further news.... Nightmare scenarios! Be strong.

Sorry to hear this.

Sorry to read this

Thank you, everyone.

Yes - we've taken a share of kickings for certain.

We do, at least, understand what it's all about too.

Eve's boyfriend lost his mother to cancer when he was quite young too. He's been a star.

Oh no, that is a worry Richard, I know you've been through something similar already but the care she will receive will be great, she'll get through it.

That's terrible news MRS. Puts my minor problems into perspective.
I wish Eve a speedy recovery.

Best wishes to you and Eve MRS. Hope all goes well.

Oh what a bummer. Puts everything in perspective! Best wishes Rich. As others have said "stay strong" and good luck with everything

Hoping for the best possible outcome for Eve!
Thoughts are with you, Eve and your Family!

Really sorry to hear that MRS. You'll all stay strong and that's the best you can do in these situations.

So sorry to hear this.

Fingers crossed for the best possible outcome.

Oh come on Richard, the fates are not playing nicely. Let's hope for the best possible outcome.

Best wishes to Eve and you and the rest of the family.

Wow, I cant believe how unlucky you have all been, I really wish the best to you all

God, TCT are fantastic

And, god, I do feel angry. Seeing another of my children suffering breaks my heart.

Very sorry to hear, thoughts from the Hanny household to your family

So sorry to hear your news, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Sorry to hear your news, MRS. Let's hope they got it early.

As a cancer survivor, I fully understand what your family is going through.

So sorry to hear this disturbing news, I wish you well and hope things go your way from now on.

Thank you everybody.

They do think they caught it relatively early though her white cell count was through the roof. It's just very lucky that Eve persuaded the GP to give her a blood test. The TCT nurse said it's incredibly common for leukaemia to be dismissed by GPs as glandular fever.

Very sorry to read this Richard.

Wishing Eve a speedy recovery.

Best wishes MRS

I'm 5 mins from J14 M1 if you need a brew or comfort break on your journey

My heart dropped when I saw your post, surely not again... All the luck and positives to you guys, especially Eve.

Thanks again, everyone - you're a very special group

Sorry to read this MRS - I work with someone who's been dealt a similarly harsh hand the last few years and thankfully you're both positive people.

Sorry to read this. Best wishes for a quick recovery.

Poor lass is suffering from the chemo today. Cancer treatment is just so brutal.

Wishing you and your family the very best MRS.

I can really sympathise with her, I went though chemotherapy in early 2009.
I really used to hate that when I had pretty well got over one cycle of treatment I knew I was going to feel really rough for a few weeks when the next one started.

She should forget the unpleasantness once the treatment stops.
I had a target to aim for when it was over; seeing my old school friend in southern Spain the week after treatment stopped and driving to SpaItalia about 6 weeks later.

I'm sure it helped.

How awful for her. I'm sure she has all the support she could wish for, but if there is ever anything we can do, don't hesitate to ask...

Oh Richard, so sorry to hear that the family is having to deal with this horrible disease again, absolutely and totally bloody unfair

As I know you live some distance from Cambridge, and I don't, please do shout if you, or Eve ever need any help or assistance at this end.

Oh Jeez Richard, my heart fell when I opened this post!! my first thought was 'not again! Everything is crossed for you all. So So hope your daughter beats this quickly... if that's possible...

Thank you, everybody.

Eve is more upbeat today. She's getting a trial drug today that helps target the chemo. She's progressing well so far. Having a transfusion today to boost Hbt but they are happy with her.

Hughie, my youngest, is getting a bum deal. It's his final year at school and has his mock exams shortly. He also has his driving test this week. Charlie is coping OK but also not finding it easy mentally. Rachel (Mrs MRS) is coping much better this time around. I'm OK - just switch back to my "cancer dad" mode - I know I can cope: it's very powerful.

Sorry to read this. I hope the treatment goes well, at least she has seen her brother beat it so knows the treatment is worth any side effects.

Eve quite bright today. Last of the nasty chemos for a while later on. It made her feel very rough last time. 5 more days of other chemo in this segment.

Dr said she might only have had leukaemia for 2 weeks when she was diagnosed- she said that teenagers are often late in being diagnosed so Eve was diagnosed very quickly. Parents of kids and teenagers might want to read up on symptoms which are easily mistaken for flu or glandular fever. Blood test is the key.

This what someone about to get leukaemia looks like

Unbelievable.
All of you have been in my thoughts since I read your first post on Friday.
As a dad of two kids I can try to imagine what you must be going through.
All strength to you all, and wishing a speedy recovery.

Ps Just looked up the symptoms of [url=https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/get-help/ive-got-cancer/types-cancer/leukaemia][/url] leukaemia.
Thanks

Day 6 and the dr says Eve is doing "really great" (dr is American) and has "flown through" the first 5 days with none of the complications that can occur. 4 more days of chemo then 2-3 weeks of getting bone marrow back into shape.

Eve has the positivity of her dad so is pretty upbeat at this news.

Good to hear-wishing her well.

Day 11 - chemo is finished and Eve continues to do very well. The consultants have been around today and are very happy with her. One said that AML patients tend to fall into two groups - those that have lots of problems with the treatment and those that sail through and Eve, he thinks, is in the latter. The other consultant said that the genetic markers of the leukaemia have so far shown nothing really bad and, if the stars align, might be very good. My fingers are well-and-truly crossed. We had a scary weekend because a doctor had said that, given her age, she was at risk of having the bad stuff. Uncertainty is the worst part of cancer treatment - it's insideous and eats away at you.

Eve has (what my kids call) "chemo brain" where you can't concentrate on anything. She's lost loads of weight and is getting lots of transfusions.

Hugh (youngest son) continues to be a real star. He's coming down from Scotland on Thursday with Mrs MRS (who went up yesterday) to be tested as a potential bone marrow donor. He's desperate to help his sister. When Charlie was diagnosed both of his best friends at primary school (he was only 11) had a parent diagnosed with terminal cancer in the same week. I'm so proud of him.

Thanks again for all of your support.

Excellent news Richard, the coal-face of the NHS is really hard to beat and we're all extremely lucky for that when we get there.

Sending you best wishes mate and healthy thoughts.........
I had a year of it over 2015/16 as my wife was diagnosed with the big C then 6 weeks later so was my sister. We spent Christmas Eve 2015 having chemo - Mrs Nello in one room and Sister Nello literally in the room next door. Pleased to report both doing well and post treatment all looking good fingers crossed. If theres one thing it has taught me its to not automatically think of the worst when you first hear the 'Cancer' word. Theres so much more they can do these days. Anyway all the very best.

Very promising update, fingers crossed

That's a very positive update - great news MRS.

Your post sounds more positive and good to hear that she has the warmth and support of your great family.

Hope this continues so that this becomes a distant memory your daughter and family.

Best Wishes Hanny and family

Sounds like a very positive update, MRS. The courage and resilience of all your family (and, it seems, quite a few others) is humbling.
Rooting for the best possible outcome.

Another week on and the doctors are still happy with Eve. The consultant, talking to a load of students, said "Here's a perfect example of someone doing well on AML treatment".

Hughie was in on Friday giving loads of vials of blood for marrow testing (poor lad nearly fainted).

Eve doesn't have an infections yet (despite having almost zero white blood cells) and now has a better than 50:50 chance of not getting an infection.

Obviously the key question is how well the chemo has worked. For that we'll just have to wait and see. It's always humbling to see what the kids on this ward go through - it's so bloody tough.

Keeping fingers and everything else crossed for you all. Hope the bugs keep their distance from Eve.

All the best wishes for a hardcore recovery mate, all my best wishes xxx

All things crossed it keeps on going in the right direction xx

Hughie's a brave lad MRS. Great to see the Drs are still happy with Eve's progress.

Wishing her a speedy recovery MRS!

Sorry to hear the terrible news MRS but hopefully something you can all fight together and come out the other end even stronger.

Best Wishes!
Clint

Thanks everybody.

No real news to report other than Eve continues to do well. In fact the doctors today said she's "remarkably well" and have been considering letting her home for a bit.

She had a bit of a melt-down last night when a big chunk of hair fell out. It's all so brutal and heartbreaking that, on top of everything, the humiliation of losing your hair just reminds you of how sick you really are.

That's understandable. Really do wish her well; Never met you but I just became an Uncle and it give a whole new perspective. I can't imagine what you're all dealing with... Stay Strong for her.

Another quick update

Eve is out of hospital (Sunday night - came as bit of a surprise) and I flirted with the limit of a Merc SL's luggage capacity. We are now waiting for her blood counts to get high enough for her bone marrow test to be done. This seems to be pretty critical for her future treatment.

Lots to do. Heading up to Glasgow this weekend in a van to clear the stuff out of her student flat. Then on up to Inverness to collect furniture for the house in Cambridge. It's all go.

Young Hughie continues to be a star: he's got himself at job at Tesco, passed both of his mock exams with good grades and is looking after himself.

Great update! Hope all the various tasks go well and that Eve continues her encouraging progress.

Indeed - keep us updated, and please continue to pass our best wishes on!

Good to hear that news, best wishes to all:)

Heartening to read the positive updates MRS.
Continued Best wishes

A good step in the right direction

Thanks everybody.

Holey Moley, I'm knackered today. Spent 20 hours driving a high-top Transit from Cambridge, via Glasgow, to Inverness and back. It's now sat outside my parents' place packed to the rafters. Taking it to my brother's place to empty it to store whilst we're waiting to get into the house.

Exciting drive across the A66 - strong winds and blizzarding snow.

That's a seriously long drive, did that van have cruise control?! We continue to think of you and your family.

It did but I also never use it - there's too much traffic. Adaptive cruise control would have been good.

Thanks, Dave.

Good news finally on the results: Eve is in "remission". Chemo starts again this week to mop up any remaining cancer cells. All going well, treatment should be complete in 3-4 months..

There are still ways it can go badly wrong and we still aren't clear on the long-term prognosis (still more test results) but this is a very positive first step..

Thanks for all of your support.

Excellent news

+1 Richard

Wow! most excellent news, I guess you guys can breath again...well much easier anyway...

Great news

Yay!

Good news! Long may it continue!

Congratulations on the positive news so far.
Lets hope this great progress continues.

Thank you, everybody!

I have just seen this, I can't tell you how glad I was to get to page three and hear the great news about remission, my fingers will be tightly crossed for you all but especially for Eve.

Such are the highs and challenges of cancer treatment: had to bring Eve into A&E just before midnight because she had a temp spike of 38.7C

We're under strict instructions to bring her in within an hour if her temp exceeds 38.0C

She's (we're) back on the TCT ward on precautionary IV antibiotics whilst they test for bugs. We were admitted at 3am - as it happens at exactly the same time as another patient. Eve's fine - most likely a response to one of the chemos

A&E at Friday midnight is a grim place

Today is my 25th wedding anniversary- not sure this is the way one should spend it.

Eve is currently an in-patient having got some sort of infection causing a fever. Yesterday we got the news that she will need the more brutal chemo and probably a bone marrow transplant. This isn't really what we wanted to hear but better now than later. Chances are that she won't now be able to have kids.

You learn to count your blessings though. Last week two kids being treated on the ward were told their cancers were terminal. There's always someone worse off than you.

When it comes to families being put through the mill Richard an unkind twist of fate seems to have put you up there with the front-runners

There are positives that come to mind; Charlie's remarkable recovery and the fact that these youngsters have a couple of parents to be proud of in the way that they handle adversity.

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What he said... and please pass our best wishes to Eve.

As above and congratulations on your anniversary I'm sure you and Mrs MRS will have a small celebration regardless as to what's happening and it's good that you've stayed solid together through everything and that will mean a lot to the kids too

I can only add my heartfelt wishes for Eve to recover as speedily and fully as possible to those above.
You are all shining examples of dignity and positivity in adversity.
Happy Anniversary!

Thank you, folks.

All is OK and we know just how lucky we are. It's very tough on the kids though.

Continued best wishes MRS to you all.