Little Leo

He's been such a sweetie today; after a lot of heartache as parents this week, to see him excited about being back at the hospital in Bristol, gave us feelings which make us both happy and sad. Happy that he's okay about being at the hospital but sad that he even has to be feeling like that in the first place.

Leo and I had lots of fun today in the playroom on the ward and he was running the place after an hour or so; bossing around older children and telling them what's what! He was in a good place today and was cute to the doctor who examined him to make sure he was fit for chemo. This is his fifth cycle so that's over halfway for this protocol so three cheers for more chemo! The more he has, the closer Leo is to the end of this protocol.

There have been many emails and calls of support this week and they're all so welcome. Leo is one lucky little chap to have so many people rooting for him and PJ and I know we have lots of support too. We have found it difficult at times but are trying to keep things together and keep our emotions in check so as Leo does not feed off of any negativity. He and we all need positive vibes and indeed, Cylla, the Clic Sargent Social Worker, gave me some interesting info about how happy feelings significantly contribute towards why children respond well to treatment.

Leo's best friend from school is coming across in just over a week's time to see us and so that will help as it'll be Leo's first week of radiotherapy. If yesterday's visit to the Marsden and the general anaesthetic is anything to go by, then this six weeks of treatment is likely to be very tough on Leo and all of us. We thought we were all coping pretty well and that Leo was doing well with the chemo but this next stage will be a real test.

Maybe we've been blind to this part of the protocol / treatment but now it's here, we're all quite scared about it including Leo who was asking me yesterday 'what are they going to do to me?' and shaking when we took him in to the CT scanning room prior to the general anaesthetic. But then with people around to help and support, we can and will get through this for Leo's sake. He's too precious to think of life without him and so there's no option but to have to sign the consent for the daily general anaesthetics for six weeks and the radiotherapy treatment, despite all the scary effects and late effects of such a treatment for a boy of his age.

Thank you again for you support and please know that if your emails reach us, we always respond so if you've not had a response, it's likely because they've not arrived; so here are our personal email addresses (by the way, the comments function is now not in operation due to the nature of the personal messages being sent to us via the blog which we felt best suited to keep private);
helenwingrove@yahoo.com
pjsanders67@googlemail.com

Feel free to use these if you'd like to touch base and we will always respond. And once again, thank you with all I have for your support, prayers and phone calls this week. They've been appreciated more than ever.