Sunday 19th February

It seems like a long time since my last post but I do want to thank those of you who have been supporting us in prayers and with calls, emails and texts. These are really encouraging to Sonja so please continue to feel free to share any encouragement you have.


The day of my last "blog" was when I finally persuaded Sonja that maybe she needed to be seen by a doctor at hospital for that sore stomach and all that went with it. She is never keen to go to hospital at all so this was a mini miracle in itself!


We had great doctors and nurses who recommended that an urgent CT scan was required to see if they could pinpoint the cause of the pain. This meant admission to Auckland Hospital. By this point the doctors had the picture that Sonja wasn't keen on this plan as it meant admission to hospital. So a deal was struck which meant staying during the day, getting fluids and some drugs and monitoring, but being able to go home at night to sleep at home. I was amazed at this and how it all worked out so everyone got the required result.


The CT scan was done and initially showed no real change as far as disease goes since the scan which brought us bad news in December. This was not unusual as the chemotherapies haven't had enough time to show any measurable change yet. However after the full reading of the scan a blood clot was discovered near Sonja's liver. This is obviously not good but treatable and the fact that it was spotted so early is good. The CT scan was not planned so soon, and was only done as a result of the mysterious sore stomach. So the sore stomach did bring about something good.


The treatment for the blood clot is a daily injection of something called "Clexane". I have had a crash course in administering an injection and seem to have landed the job permanently. Seems like this will go on for 6 months and then revisited by the hospital.


Sonja had a follow up assessment with the oncologist last Wednesday. He was quite positive. He thinks the sore stomach was not the result of the "Tykerb Lapatinib" and Sonja is back on those on a slightly reduced dose. She also had her intravenous chemotherapy last Friday.
He thinks overall she is responding the treatment and is happy for her to continue.


The past few weeks have been hard, and confusing at times but I am amazed at the strength of Sonja and how she is able to face every day with determination to win this thing and there is not a day when she doesn't have a smile for something. She is no doubt the bravest and strongest person I know!


Things to pray for are:
• Sonja to regain strength from the ordeal of the past weeks
• No return of the sore stomach
• Side effects of all treatments to be minimal
• All treatments to work even better than expected.
• Denis to get the injection in with no pain
• Wisdom for the medical people as we go forward to make great decisions


Thank you all once again for your support, initially your financial help, but now it's moral support, prayer support and encouragement. This is so valued and you will never really know how important it is to us.


Denis.