21st October to 3rd November - MAINTENANCE - Weeks 40 & 41

21st October to 3rd November

I started back at school on Monday and came home with some bruises, Mummy kept an eye on me and on Tuesday it was the same. So when i went to the hospital on Wednesday Mummy asked if they could do a blood count because I wasn't very well, I wasn't supposed to have one.

It was all a bit surprising to find out that everything was low and that I'd need a blood transfusion. We had to wait for my blood to come from England because of something special and I couldn't go back to school. 

On Friday I had the transfusion and felt so much better AND it was the start of half term so even Joe was happy!

I liked half term because Joe stayed at home with me everyday and we did exciting things. On Monday we went on a boat trip in the

bay and saw the dolphins. On Tuesday and Friday Joe had a friend over to play on Wednesday I had to go to the hospital and have my monthly chemotherapy in my wigglies. When they did my blood test it wasn't completely better so I don't have to take my brown medicine every day which means I can eat late! 

Thursday it was Halloween and both Joe and I went to parties!

I've never been to a Halloween party and I liked it a lot I wore my snow white fancy dress which is my best favourite one and my Cousins came too. We had food, but I didn't really want to eat and then we played games. The lady who arranged to party made us dance and do silly things. They made my Mummy wrap a lady up in toilet paper like a mummy. But she wasn't very good at it.

Best and most special of all they gave me a prize, a silver trophy, for being a brave girl and taking my medicines nicely and going to hospital and being good. I was feeling very tired but getting the prize was so special I didn't feel sad or tired any more!

Joe and Daddy liked my prize a lot. I can't wait to go to school and tell them about my week off I am feeling so much better. 


Mum Says: It has been a bit up and down for us. Alice was getting quite low and when her bruises started appearing we thought, here we go again. It wasn't quite as we thought in as much as she didn't need platelets but she was very anaemic and needed blood so we had an afternoon on the ward hooked up or caught as Alice likes to say. I think we spend too much time at the hospital at the moment and hope that this last unexpected trip for some time. We want only scheduled trips to the Hospital for a while at least. Having said that the blood seemed to have done Alice nothing but good, she isn't napping in the day and is bright and interested. She is also off her daily chemotherapy which also helps to perk her up and she is making the most of late snacks before bed and milky drinks. The Dolphins should have been the highlight of our week how many people can pop out for an afternoon and a boat and see dolphins? But the Halloween party trumped it all. Alice was so thrilled with the prize and having her photo taken with the lady that organised they party. I don't think they will every know how happy Alice was (and still is) to be singled out in a positive way after the year she's had she really does deserve a prize!

7th - 20th October - MAINTENANCE - Weeks 38 & 39

 7th - 20th October

I spent a week going in and out of hospital in the day I was at home and at night I had to stay at the hospital to sleep and have my medicine. but when they took more blood cultures nothing seemed to grow again.

Being at home can be a bit boring so Mummy made me play-Dough, but it didn't stop me from doing silly things like getting in the bath and covering myself in Sun cream. Mummy did laugh ... eventually.

On Friday I didn't have to sleep at the hospital I went for my medicine at 8pm and then went home!

Having managed a weekend at home Mummy and I had to pack up and go to England to see the Doctors at Leeds.

I was very a lot excited about going to England on the aeroplane and then the train and then in Grandad's car to Nana's house!

In England I got to see my little cousin and go to Ducklings and I stayed at my Aunties house for a night because we were going to hospital very early. It was especially fun because I got to stay up late with my big cousin and watch cooking on telly!

When I went to the Hospital they were all surprised to see how much i had grown and how long my hair is  getting. my friend the receptionist had been given little cuddly puppies by a charity and she had saved one especially for me. I felt very special.

In England I have my blood taken as a finger prick which is much quicker and easier than from my wigglies but I still had to have them in so they could give me magic milk to sleep and to do something to the line because of the maybe infection I might maybe have had in the line. And they weren't happy with the blood test results so they took it AGAIN!

After the hospital Mummy and I met up with my other cousin who is at Leeds university. We had a drink and Mummy chatted to her.  It was raining a lot a lot and Mummy and my cousin got very wet. I wasn't feeling very well after my injection and my sleep and was grumpy and not very nice to my cousin. I felt sad afterwards when I felt better.

We were hoping to fly home on Friday after seeing the Doctor on Wednesday but when Mummy called for flights there weren't any so I got to stay in England until Sunday! It meant that Nana and Grandad cooked all my favourite foods but I had a sore mouth so I didn't eat as many as I wanted to.

On Saturday At Nana' s house I caught a ladybird, I kept her in a Jar beside my bed and then in the morning I let her go in the garden before I went home, I wouldn't have had my ladybird friend Abigail if I'd gone home on Friday!

It was very exciting coming home ans I made friends with lots of people on the aeroplane and Daddy and Joe were waiting for me at the airport! 

Mum Says: We felt as if we'd just escaped one hospital when we were off to another. It was great to be in England and to see all my family. It was a lot less stressful being there knowing we were coming straight home and not having the uncertainty we had before. I say that but after all the problems (possible infection) with her port and line we weren't sure if we were going to be staying on the have it removed and refitted. fortunately all was well as we'd hoped. Her bloods weren't really that great, we were hoping for better results but after all the illness she'd just go over it wasn't particularly surprising she was low and it didn't stop her having her lumber puncture. Poor Alice wasn't particularly well after the treatment but in comparison to a few moths ago ... well there is no comparison.

23rd September to 6th October - MAINTENANCE - Weeks 36 & 37

23rd September to 6th October

I have been feeling quite ill and have been in hospital for 7 days having IV antibiotics.

On Monday when the Dr came and listened to my chest he said he could hear a little rattle so I had to go for a chest x-ray.

The x-ray showed something not very good and the Doctors in Leeds want me treated for a type of pneumonia called PCP for short. I have to take antibiotics every Monday and Tuesday to try and stop me from getting it. It is caused by something everybody has in their bodies but when you have chemotherapy it makes it hard to fight and makes you sick.

I didn't have any oxygen but did get to stay in the room we call the goldfish bowl because the nurses can look in a big window and see me all the time!

I have been quite happy on Rainbow Ward and I have got out of bed and played everyday! I am having some pink horrible steroid and I think Mummy would rather that I didn't get grumpy then excited then hungry then grumpy quite so often but I can't help it.

I love all the nurses who look after me on Rainbow Ward and make my time so much fun! Everyone knows me and Mummy here and everyone wants to come and play in my room because it is the best place in the hospital to be!

My Nana comes to see me everyday so Mummy can go home or to the shops or what ever in the mornings and Daddy comes for lunch with Mummy and me and then he looks after me when he finishes work so that Mummy can go home and look after Joe and cook dinner for them.

I got to go home on Monday when I was well enough but couldn't go to school so Mummy and I made cakes and played and my cousins came to visit and play with me.

The good thing about being sick is that they didn't give me my monthly injection in my wigglies yet so I haven't been as tired as I normally am at the beginning of the month.

On Friday I was feeling much better and wanted to start going back to school but I had to go to the hospital instead to have blood taken from my  wigglie and also from my hand because when they took blood on Sunday the people in the lab grew something and they think I might have an infection in my line.

I have to have IV antibiotics again but because I am so well the Dr lets me go home during the day and I have my medicines at night when I sleep at the hospital. We are waiting to see if anything grows in the blood they have taken.

On Saturday instead of going home from the hospital Mummy, Daddy and I went to town and did the walk for life to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  It was fun and we saw Mummy's friend and they walked together talking all the way! Joe decided he'd rather play basketball then come with us. Next year we are going to make Daddy and hopefully I will be well enough to walk some of it.

Saturday night was also very exciting because Daddy had a sleepover at the hospital with me and Mummy went home instead.

Mum Says: It is very hard to be back in hospital again after such a decent stretch out in the real world. It reminds us all that Alice is still sick and not as well as we would like her to be. 

Being in hospital in Gibraltar is a lot different than being in the UK. I get to go home everyday and spend some time with Joe and to do the washing and generally keep an eye on how the boys are coping at home. We see Gareth everyday before he goes to work, at lunch time and after work! Although Alice has been quite ill she has been happy and alert and playful. Which is a different experience from the last few months when she hasn't really been happy or playful at home. 

The Nurses on Rainbow Ward make you feel like part of the family and keep Alice's spirits up. The little things count like putting a picture up with her name by the bed. It all adds to making the late night dash to the hospital a little less stressful.

Gareth and I tried to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary on the 3rd and it started well but I got a call from the hospital asking me to bring Alice in for blood tests as her blood culture taken on Sunday had grown a bacteria and they were concerned that her line might be infected. So Alice had to start on IV antibiotics and have new cultures taken from the line and from another vein. So the stress and waiting began again!

This time the Dr saw how well Alice is in herself and she is able to come home during the day, having most of the antibiotics at night when she is in the hospital advantage of being 10 minutes away, thank goodness Gibraltar is so small!

We are now starting to try and break Alice of the Mummy habit that she has developed over the last year Gareth stayed with her at the hospital and I got the bed to myself and an unbroken night of sleep!