Song titles

We saw the Prof today for the results of Quent’s scans. He told us that all the tumours we have been tracking have now GONE. Quent needs another 2 weeks’ treatment in May / June (to be sure, to be sure) and that should be the last IL-2 he has. We can hardly believe it. (Well, I can’t. Quent, of course, was expecting nothing less!)

However, there is a caveat. (There always seems to be a caveat). There is something else on one of Quentin’s lungs, which looks “odd”. (Official term; a nodule in the ingula.) Apparently it doesn’t look like a classic metastases. Looking back over previous CT scans, it has been there throughout Quent’s treatment and has barely changed in size. This suggests it’s not cancer (which would either shrink or grow). However, we can’t be sure.

One (the safest) option is to remove it, surgically - something they could not have considered with several spots on both lungs. The operation would be major surgery, although it would not be complicated, as the nodule is very close to the outside of the lung.

The Prof is going to get a second opinion from the surgeon to see if they think it’s best to operate or not. The operation would probably be in September, once Quentin has recovered from his next round of IL-2.

Meanwhile, we can celebrate the disappearance of the spots. I didn’t know whether to name this post “Who let the spots out”, “Ding, dong the spots are dead” or “I will survive”. So I thought I’d go for a spot (a’hem) of audience participation. In “Sorry, I haven’t got a clue” style, can you please suggest song titles for getting rid of cancer spots?

Our friends in the North

We saw Philip and Sue for lunch yesterday, before Quentin’s scan. (Many of you will remember that Philip was the guy we met during Quent’s first round of treatment. His spots had already gone and he became our IL-2 inspiration). Philip’s scans are still clear – great news, as he has had a persistent cough for several weeks and he was rather worried the cancer might have returned.

Philip knows he’s been mentioned on the blog, so he asked me to say hello to you all and to tell you that he’s still here!

In the evening we went out for dinner with Anita, before cadging another night’s stay in her lovely barn conversion.

All in all, it was a very pleasant day out. I felt a little guilty that others were doing our childcare while we made our way round the restaurants of the north (and, in between time, I sat reading Hello! magazine in the hospital waiting room)!

From van to scan

The last couple of weeks have gone faster than a Chevy van.

Quent and the boys had a great time in Europe. Plenty of stories and plenty of sponsorship. An amazing amount, in fact. They are set to top £22,500. Sadly they lost the van, but otherwise they seem to have pulled off a great holiday for a good cause. For details of their trip, see Ed's excellent blog on http://www.oneweekineurope.blogspot.com/.

Here are the boys arriving home (plus small extra) and the amazing cake Brita made complete with names, dates, the countries they visited and the sponsorship total (at that point of time).


Meanwhile, Oakley and I went to my sister's and then to Jenny's. Oakley had playmates in both places and I had some good girlie time. In fact, if only I had thought to do a sponsored "chat", I could have raised a lot of money.

Last week it was back to school / work, with a slight cloud hanging over Ashbourne Grove. Oakley climbed into bed one morning saying he was sad. "Why are you sad, darling?", I enquired. "Chevy", he replied.

Before we knew it, we were on the road again, as we headed back to Manchester for Quent's latest scan and results.

..but we love holidays even more

We've had a great first week of the Easter holidays. Lots of lazing around in our pyjamas and having breakfast late. Also sledging, a trip to my parents' with Oakley's friend James Wiley, a visit to a steam fair, a family day canoeing etc.

And tonight we went to see off the boys on their big adventure. Oakley cried on the way home because he didn't want Quent to go (or, more to the point, he wanted to go too). I think he's waved Quent off one too many times over the past year.

In spite of themselves, the guys seemed pretty well organised by the time they left. And they looked great in their Christie's t-shirts (ignoring the passing resemblance to "4 poofs and a piano") . Even Cliff Richard's crowd didn't have matching t-shirts.

Since they left, I have done a bit of mental maths. 3000 miles. 7 days. Top speed for the Chevy of 60mph. I make that over 7 hours' driving daily at top speed. Which of course they won't do all the time. So let's say 10 - 12 hours' driving each day, excluding breakdowns (which Quent says are inevitable!). I've just realised this isn't just a good excuse for a boys' holiday, this really is quite a challenge.

Thanks so much to everyone for sponsoring the teams. To follow their progress, see www.oneweekineurope.blogspot.com

We love Microsoft

The boys are off to Europe on Friday and things are hotting up for the trip – see their very funny blog on http://www.oneweekineurope.blogspot.com. It’s much better than mine, but then they got pratting round Europe as a subject and I got cancer. Anyway, thanks to your extreme generosity, they have already raised over £5,000 for Christie’s.

And thanks to Bill Gates’ extreme generosity, we stand to double it. Ed works for Microsoft and they match all money raised by their employees – up to £7,500. How good is that? This trip was all Ed’s idea and most of the hard work has been his (booking tickets, writing the blog, organising the disorganised, not to mention constant tyre chasing). So every £1 raised really is thanks to him.

And if there’s anyone out there who’s not a Microsoft fan (?!), either change your attitude – or sponsor Ed a lot of money to make the software giant pay.

Mixed news

We went out in the snow this morning. Sledging, snowball fights and a mighty fine snowman. Our first snow since our skiing holiday, when the outlook was very different.

One of our “cancer friends” called us last night, with mixed news. Bill was diagnosed with kidney cancer (secondaries in the lung) very early last year – a couple of months after Quent’s own diagnosis. His nephrectomy was successful and at first all seemed well, as his lung spots went into spontaneous regression. Since then, he’s had a much harder time than Quent, however, as further scans have revealed growths on his back and brain. Bill has successfully come through several operations to remove these and is now having to learn to walk again, after the latest surgery. It’s another reminder of how gruelling the fight against cancer can be – and how amazing the medical teams are.

Our thoughts are with Bill at this tough time – we wish him a speedy, total recovery and hope that, this time next year, he too will be out playing in the snow with his wife and son.