All systems go. The last 2 weeks have been surreal and a real mixture of highs and lows. Joe started his first cycle of chemo (ECF) on friday at Cheltenham. What a lovely hospital, the nurses are fantastic and the consultant Dr Reed is kind, caring and positive. They have a tranquil garden by the Oncology unit and I sat out there while Joe was having a chest xray to check his PICC line. I felt something on my shoulder and it was a young robin, he just sat there for several minutes looking intently at me as if to say "its ok youre not alone" and that somehow made the whole weekend so much more bearable. Joes doing really well, no side effects other than fatigue at the moment and he even went to a friends for a beer last night. Hes steadily gaining weight and now looks better than he has done for months.
Joe has been referred to the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital to see Dr Liz Thompson, hes started taking Iscador (mistletoe) drops and will have a constitutional remedy prescribed when we visit on the 28th Sept. Joe has always responded well to homeopathy and the research on Iscador is very encouraging so Im really praying it does what it says on the tin!
We have been searching for Joes biological father, Mark (my husband adopted him when he was 7). I always hoped that they would meet one day and that Mark would be able to make things right between them (long and painful story). To cut a long story short the police informed me that Mark died in January of pancreatic cancer. Words cant really express how we feel right now but gutted probably comes close. The positives - we now know that this cancer is probably paternally inherited so that is some relief to my sisters and their children and Joe has met his paternal Grandma, they got on fantastically well and the rest of the family want to be part of his life and support us through this.
Love and strength to you all,
Zoe x
