Rambling

Hi,
just checking in for a little bit of a ramble. It has been a while since I posted anything so here I go.
Bridget and I have had a few trips down to UCLH for her lumbar punctures. Tiring for me and I am only doing the driving. Bridget gets all the treatments - chemotherapy etc. A couple of times she has had to stay in which meant my going home alone and returning the next day to collect her. The time cannot pass quick enough.
I have had to complain about the blood they have been giving her at the hospitals! It shouldn't happen these days with safety measures in place. Well she was a vegetarian when she went in and now she is a meat eater again. I remember at the beginning asking them to make sure that they only gave her vegetarian's blood €:~) .
Having said that the blood must be pretty good because whenever they try to take some back Bridget closes down all her veins and they have quite a fight on their hands to get any out of her. I find it hard to understand everything and as such I have started taking self taught lessons from the net about her condition. I find it helps. }:~)
I am not getting to see much of our Great capital but I am getting used to the route and Bridget and I are becoming quite familiar with the layout of shops and roads. I am looking forward to another journey to the British Museum soon! when Bridget is up to it.
Things are getting me down at the moment, but then people have always said that I should get down of my high horse from time to time. I can accept that, but I did not expect it to be such a painful fall when it did happen.
We have started a charity to help other teenagers with leukaemia and have had a great response from the people in the Manningtree and Lawford area, with every thing from donated items to people buying some of those items. Thank you all for all and any help. A big thank you to Mr. Terry Farthing who has kindly helped me out with everything from the loan of a car to the use of free space in his Manningtree High street shop to display the items for sale along with the first donation jar, which when emptied after the first month raised over £30.
Well enough rambling for now thank you for reading this. See you soon?

Thug

London Trip

Well my last post, which was supposed to be a short one, Was short! Compared with the time it took me to get to London to pick up Bridget. I left at 2.30pm hoping to be there by about 4.30 or 5pm at the latest! But I did not get there until 7.30. Five hours ?? where it normally takes less than two. Never mind! I went into the ward to get Bridget only to be told she couldn't wait to get home. Huh! not even time for a cup of coffee for her poor old Dad. Well the journey home was less eventful and we were home by 10.30 dispite the Satnav not finding a signal for the first few minutes or so.
Since then we have been back for some more chemotherapy on Saturday. Nice drive in and out of London but what should have taken no more than an hour for treatment ended up taking about 10 hours! Bridget was in need of some blood and this took 6 hours alone.
Bridget is not so keen on giving it back though, they always have problems getting blood out of her. She tends to hold onto what is hers, come what may.

Just a Quick Note

Just a short note before I shoot off down to London to collect  Bridget. 

We spent the day at UCLH yesterday Tuesday 11th November. Bridget and I were both shattered. If you have read Bridget's blog you will know that she has found a new appetite and as she had not eaten since approx. 8.45 the previous evening she was getting hungrier by the second. Well she went down to theatre in the afternoon and came out sometime after 3pm so by now she was shall we say a bit peckish. Well it had only been about 18 hours with no food or drink! Anyone would have thought we had starved her.

Anyway, she soon tucked into a bit of food and ending up feeling a bit bloated and tired! Then she blamed the treatment, I ask you, some teenagers? Just before I left her last night she said she was still hungry could I pop across the road to a certain takeaway and get her a large meal and a large extra portion of chips

Well the time had come for me to disappear and leave her to a good nights sleep, before another visit to the theatre this morning. Getting to be a right little theatre goer is our Bridget, cannot complain that she never goes out now can she? Bridget is having a port inserted today to make life a little easier with taking blood and giving medication. Without going into detail, this will be a great help.

Bridget was started on a new block of chemotherapy yesterday, which still means that we will be travelling down to London every week. Which thanks to a gentleman I know who lends me his car each time will not be a problem. Must get the parking sorted next. I use a great car park but it cost me £25 yesterday, money we cannot afford to use in this way.

So much for a short note.

P.S.

Just another short note. I thought why wait until after the treatment to say this so here it is.

As Bridget's dad, I would like say thank you to everyone who has, to date, been involved with helping us through this past month. There are, have been and I am sure will be, many people involved and I would like to thank you all. This means everyone directly or indirectly, whether you have met Bridget, treated Bridget, spoken to Bridget, smiled at Bridget, cleaned up after or before her, brought her meals, visited her, sent a card, donated to her charity,helped with travel, transport, fiances or helped in any way not mentioned here. Thank you from myself and all of her family.

Meet My Daughters Rachel and Bridget.

I took myself back off to London to revisit the British Museum. I didn't get much time last time I was down there, so off I went. Don't you find it annoying when you get into your car and it is full of hitchhikers! Well it happened to me. I thought that a quiet day in the city, go round the BM., you know just relax. But oh no, one young lady jumped in said she had to visit some shop to return some clothes. Blooming cheek if you ask me.

Then some young bloke jumped in, he fell asleep within minutes, leaving me to chat to his lady friend on the left here..who jumped in the front. She said she had to go to some Hospital to "Get Cool" well if she was that keen to Get Cool she should buy a table fan. So much for my quiet day. Never mind, had a great time in the museum. Still got a lot to see next time I go, which will be soon I am sure.

I would show you some pictures but the second girl, you know the one in the front. Yeh her, the one who's friend helped me stay awake by snoring behind me! Well she disappeared with my camera and gave it back to me, only to then have the cheek to ask me to download 'her' pictures and send them to her via email.

p.s. got 2 pictures I hope they are in the right order for you to see Rachel is the one with the giggle on her face because some twit was belting her with a hammer. The other is Bridget doing her bit to "Get Cool"

life goes on

I'm back..

A few weeks down the line. Bridget has had 3 lots of Chemotherapy and she has been losing hair for a while now. I am not allowed to show pictures of her with out permission, nor am I allowed to to shave my head.

Apparently I look like a thug with a bald head and big ears. But what are Dads for if not to embarrassing their children. My next entry will include a couple of pictures if I do not get caught first €:~0 . So watch this space. lol

We have started a charity and already I have started making a collection at work, along with some donations of items for sale. More details will be posted, along with pictures of our fund raising events.

I cannot imagine how tired Bridget is with all her treatment especially with more to come, but I am shattered. Hard work being a dad and I thought it got easier as they got older. Oh well ever forward. A busy week ahead for Bridget, a flu jab Monday, blood tests Tuesday and Thursday back to UCHL for some more tests which means .... Ah, peace and quiet for a while. Seriously Bridget has to have some bone marrow removed for testing, along with a lumber punch. Which is the removal of some fluid from around the spine and another test.
I look forward to spending he day with her but not only that, the breakfast is quite good at the hospital. Sorry Bridget... you cannot eat after midnight. Although I will wait until you go in for your tests before I go down to breakfast. };-)

What, How , Why

Hi the 3 words in the title were all questions that I asked myself. When, after my daughter Bridget, asked me to take her to the Local Hospital for the results of her blood test for anemia, we were sat down and told she had leukaemia. I think she stopped crying first and that was when I knew I didn't have to be so brave for her! More the other way around.
Although it was only a short while ago that she was diagnosed it seems like only yesterday.
I have never felt no useless and I can tell you I have been pretty useless in my time.
Where do we go from here?
I took Bridget down, with her mother and sister Rachel to the teenage cancer ward at the UCHL or University College Hospital London. Where they picked on me straight away. Yes they did, I mean fancy putting the ward on the 12th floor with windows down to the floor. You walk out of the list turn the wrong way and you are facing the whole of London, and me I'm scared absolutely of heights.
Once I got over the shock and remembered why we were there! We did what had to be done and went through everything with the staff on the ward. It was great I don't think we had ever met so many people in such a short time. New people kept popping in to say who they were , what they did etc. It was very reassuring to know that Bridget was going to be looked after. We spent as long as we could with her before starting the drive back to Colchester. Leaving my little girl behind.
I did not think of doing a blog because I had other things on my mind, as did we all. But I will update on a regular basis and fill in a few missing details as we go along. Take care and thank you for looking.