Shopping

Now that school has finished for the summer, Julie, Maddy and her brothers had time to go shopping in Hebden. Maddy bought various adornments and accoutrements for her bedroom from Innovation, then enjoyed lunch at Coffee Cali. May and Annie visited later, before they went away on holiday.
It's been great to see Madeleine so bright and cheerful. Although she may have been slightly anaemic yesterday, she certainly didn't seem particularly fatigued today as she kept going until nearly 23.00, before she felt she wanted to go to bed.

Biscuits and blood

Biscuits and blood were the two themes for today. Maddy has been feted with visits from Beth P, Nicola, Daisy, Natalie and Alex. They spent much of the afternoon baking biscuits and cakes and, most impressively, some of them were not burnt.
Earlier in the day, a community nurse visited to take a blood sample from M. This was used to determine Maddy's fitness to face her 5th chemo cycle.
The results came back late afternoon, confirming that she'll be at home for a few more days yet. Unlike in previous cycles, her neutrophil count is OK, but her haemoglobin and platelet levels are both below par (aka anaemia and thrombocytopenia respectively).
Maddy's still eating well - looking forward to chicken salad for tea, seeing more friends visiting tomorrow and the probability of a whole weekend at home.

Busy

A lot of activity today - including visits from Daisy, Helen, Georgina and Erin, followed by Beth F and Racel G.
Beth brought the flowers - see pics below.
It was good to see Eileen and Michael Burnip when they also showed up a bit later.
(Forgot to mention Diane & Silvia from along the terrace, who came last night.)
Maddy quite enjoys all the attention, if not the reason for it.




Later that evening, in quite a rush, the whole family went to the cinema in Burnley to watch Madagascar (great film, lots of fun, but too fast-moving and frantic to pick up all the jokes in one sitting - needs to be seen at least twice...)
M had control of the large bucket of popcorn and certainly got her fair share, at least - don't misunderstand ......nobody's complaining !)
Amazingly, even though she was very tired on her return home, quite late, Maddy went straight up two flights of stairs without resting, to get to bed. Last night she had to stop for a breather half way up.

Chris & Julie would like to thank all the friends and family who remembered their wedding anniversary, amidst all these unfamiliar distractions.

Settled

After all the trials and tribulations of getting Maddy back from hospital, she seems really settled at home now - Wednesday morning. She had an uneventful, but restful night's sleep and is looking forward to Karen visiting later today. Karen's keeping M company while her parents go to brother Bob's leavers' assembly at Old Town Primary. Maddy would have liked to be there herself and she might well have coped OK, but in a crowded room with lots of young children for an hour or more, she could put herself at considerable risk of infection, particularly from chickenpox - highly undesirable.
Meanwhile - here's another pic - with Dad this time.

Home.......is where the patient is

Possibly an ambiguous title,....(with apologies to the Battlefield Band)....but M is back in Hebden, in high spirits and looking good for the night, - she's set up for an overnight feed, managed via a drip pump (Julie has yet another vocation within her grasp).
Maddy got home just after 16.00 where she was greeted by Eve, Laura and Ella from school. Mary and Emily Bell also visited a bit later, as did Georgina (see pic below) from along the terrace.



The next scheduled visit to Jimmy's is not until Wednesday 27 July - for another scan. In theory that could herald a whole week at home...but for now, one day at a time seems prudent.

Ward 11.....

.......is Maddy's temporary 'home' for another (Monday) night. Maddy and her mum are appreciating the private space of the room and whilst she still feels "yucky", Jimmy's seems the safer bet. It's a bit of a ghost ward is 11 (...hope there aren't any NHS bean counters lurking...), so Maddy gets plenty of care and attention from the ward staff - although she's still seen by the doctors from Ward 10 - which seems to be permanently packed out just now.....obviously cancer's in vogue this season, whilst liver problems are dropping down the charts.
There was a slim chance that Maddy could have been home on Monday night, but hey ho...tomorrow perhaps.

Home and away

After a rather uneventful Saturday, Maddy did get home on Sunday afternoon, saw the Hudson sisters for a bit, alternated between sipping water and being sick, before all agreed (incl staff on the ward, via teleconsultation) that hospital might be a better venue for the night.
Maddy did last 5.5. hours in all, longer than last time...........
Back at Jimmy's for around 21.00, Maddy had lost her bed on 10T and Ward 10 was also full. Ever keen to seek out new experiences, Madeleine and Julie were smuggled into the adjacent Ward 11 (you're really supposed to have something wrong with your liver to be on there) and into a good-sized side room complete with sofabed for Julie/visitors - the best accommodation yet - neat manoeuvre Maddy!
Tomorrow is another day - but to all those planning to visit Maddy at home - apologies, but those plans will have to go on hold for a while.....more later.....