End of Round 1- Part 1

I picked Colin up from Christie's yesterday afternoon and then took Kieran to see where Manchester United play as it is not very far from Christie's and Kieran supports them. He was very excited and couldn't wait to go. It was an expensive afternoon as when we got there he spotted the club shop - a shirt, baseball cap, football & shinpads later and my purse was a lot lighter but he was happy and we will (hopefully) never have to go again.
Colin was very tired when I picked him up as I don't think he's had much sleep in the last week and wasn't telling me the whole story of how he was when I was phoning/texting him during the week. Hopefully a week at home resting will be enough for him to regain his strength in time for round 2 starting on 4th May.
It's a good job we have a basement with a spare bed in it, as Colin couldn't get comfortable last night so after an hour and a half I decided to go downstairs so that we could both get some sleep as I had to go to work today, I think I will go straight downstairs tonight :-)

Treatment 1 - Day 6

Still going strong. Colin has now had doses 10 & 11 but that's it for Round 1 as he needs at least a week for his body to recover before he starts Round 2, which he will be starting on May 4th. So it looks like i've got a drive to Manchester and back tomorrow to pick him up (at least it's not a 6am start this time). Mind you he is being discharged at 9am in the morning. I have warned him I won't be there at 9 to pick him up though.

Treatment 1 - Day 5

Colin had dose 8 at 2am then dose 9 at 11.45 all going ok apart from Colin now has constipation, hopefully some sennacot will sort that out and he will get dose 10 this evening. I have received the polo shirts I ordered for race for life and am now planning what to put on them. If anyone wants to sponsor me my link is http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/colswife which is organised by Cancer Research UK. Hopefully we will be picking Colin up from Manchester on Sunday as Kieran is looking forward to seeing his Dad and has missed him this week. Again thanks for all your support and good wishes.

Treatment 1 - Day 4

Not quite as good a day today:-(. Colin didn't have a very good night last night and has had a high temperature and pulse (side effect) most of the day so didn't get to have dose 7 until about 15.30 today but hopefully will be able to have no 8 around midnight if everything is normal.
Colin asked me to thank everyone for their messages by E-greeting, Text and via me. Well I think that's what he said anyway, his voice is very croaky so its difficult to understand him, but that's nothing new!!!.
I had a good nights sleep last night - got the bed all to myself with no 8 year old visitors this time, can we do the same tonight please Kieran!!!!

Treatment 1 - Day 3

3 more doses done, he's now had 6 out of the 14 and only had mild side effects - rigors and vomitted once last night. So so far so good, hopefully it will stay that way.
Thanks for all your messages of support they are greatly appreciated.
Hopefully I won't get woken up by Kieran tonight as I'm not used to being woken up at 4am, 6.45am is quite early enough thanks :-).

Treatment 1 - Day 2

Well Colin has had 3 of the 14 doses of HD IL-2 and so far hasn't had many side effects, which is a good thing and hopefully will continue.
I thought I would have the bed all to myself (no-one snoring next to me) while Colin is in Manchester, but no I get woken at 4 this morning by Kieran asking if he can sleep in with me because he had a nightmare and guess what - he snores too just my luck :).
I will up date my blog as and when I hear from him & have a spare 5 mins :-)

Treatment day has arrived - Part 2

Finally left home at 6.30am (I was ready at 6am). The journey on M5 & M6 was fine, no hold ups going north, I'm very glad we weren't going south though. Got to the M56 at about 8am and that's where we hit the traffic, it took us 45mins from there to get to Christie's. This time we actually found one of the patient/visitor car parks with spaces so parked up and paid the £2.50 for up to 8 hours parking (not bad for an NHS car park).

We then went to find the Day Ward, where Colin had his PICC line ((Peripherally Inserted Central venous Catheter) in plain english the tube they use to administer the drugs) inserted and an X-ray to make sure it was in the right place.
This was all done by 11am, then we were informed they were just waiting for a bed for Colin. After an hour of waiting they said we could go and get some lunch and they would ring us when they had a bed available.

We went for a walk and found a Subway, so had lunch there then walked back to the hospital, sat in the garden there for a while in the lovely sunshine. Still no bed so decided to go to the car and have a nap (5am start remember).

At about 4.30pm Colin went back to the hospital to see if there was any news on a bed and was told there would be one available at about 5.30pm, so we did a quick shopping trip to Sainsbury's to get squash etc. and then went up to the ward and his room still wasn't ready. He eventually got into his room at 6.10pm, just in time for tea.
I left at 7pm and did the lovely 2 hour drive back home.

If anyone wants to send him an e-greeting here is a link:
http://www.christie.nhs.uk/egreeting/default.aspx
He is on Ward 11.

Treatment day has arrived

It's 5.30 on Monday morning, doesn't time fly it, doesn't seem like 10 days since we had the start date for this. Col should be nice and clean though as he has had to use Hibiscrub (anti everything hospital wash) in the shower for the last 5 days in preparation for the PICC line that they will be putting in later today (the tube via which they pump the drug). Nearly time for me to do the 2 ish hour drive to Christies. No traffic on M5 & M6 today please, Oh it's monday morning no chance of that :). Thanks to everyone for your support at this time, oh and I will ring or text if I need help with anything ;)

In Loving Memory of David

Its a year today (8th April) since Colin's brother David died. He is greatly missed by family, friends and everyone who knew him. I am sure most people will still miss his sense of humour and grumpiness. I know I will :).

There and back again...

We drove up to Manchester on Wednesday, arrived about 6pm, found Luther King House, the B&B we were staying at, dropped off our stuff and went to find curry mile. On the way we stopped for a pint at Hardy's Well and then found an Indian/Thai Restaurant called Al Bilal. We decided to try something different and both ended up having Chicken Tikka Keema Lazzez which was very nice.
After a restless night we caught a bus to Christies at 8.10am as Colin had to be there for 8.30 for his CT scan. After the CT scan we went to see Prof H and had a chat about the HD IL-2 treatment and now have a start date for the treatment of 20th April. So I will be driving to Manchester again in a couple of weeks (I'll be able to do the journey with my eyes shut soon ;-) ).
Now to celebrate Colin's Birthday as he will be 45 young on Sunday and has been advised not to drink after the weekend as his liver needs to be able to cope with the treatment.