Monday 11th July 2008

A quiet weekend, with nothing to report - physio going well, although I think Sarah has a reaction to the lollipops!! She was tearful and depressed, and she had a headache all day Saturday - some of the side effects of the drup in the lollipops! (I always tell Dave not to read the leaflets inside medicines, or you talk yourself into half the symptoms, but in this instance, I did read them, and Sarahs mood seemed to fit.!!) We stopped the lollipops Sunday and she cheered up again, so maybe they were the problem.She was till able to bend her leg with not much pain so we'll mention it to the doctors when we go back into UCH next Sunday.
This morning, we had to trek into London for a clinic appointment with Doctor Maria, to discuss the results of Sarahs histology report, and the clinical trial we signed up for - I knew this would be a challenge and Sarah didn't disappoint! The study involves you being randomly selected between 2 different types of treatment post-surgery - 1) standard chemotherapy of 4 cycles, then stop, which has a high success rate in good responses pre-surgery(which Sarah was) or 2) standard chemotherapy, followed by 18 months of weekly Interferon injections, administered at home. We both knew what Sarah would say, and we were right! She point blank refused the injections, as she is needle phobic! No amount of persuasion would make her budge.Maria said they would help her get over her phobia, she could do the injections herself, and other things too, but nope, she wouldn't agree. We did warn them, and our view is, that as she may not have been chosen to do the injections anyway, we aren't any worse off - she would have had the standard treatment if that is what the computer had chosen for her, and that has worked for hundreds of people before her.They also don't know if the Interferon would make any difference any way, so it is all speculation. We therefore came home not signed up for the trial, and treatment continues next Monday as before.11 weeks in hospital to go, intermingled with 5 weeks at home-November still seems ages away! One nice thing we did hear Doctor Maria say today was that Sarah was in remission - the surgeons report was good and said all the tumour was removed and there was no cancer left in Sarahs body - that's what we were waiting to hear - lovely to hear it officially though - long may it continue!
This afternoon we collected our new car, and Katie insisted we go out for a drive in it - L plates on, and off we went! nerve wracking for me, but exciting for her! I expect she will be dragging me out at every opportunity now, to get loads of practice. She has her theory tomorrow so fingers crossed for that!