Not Good News

I don't have anything particularly positive to tell you about Liz at the moment.  On Wednesday she was taken to hospital because she was having trouble breathing.  She was also coughing a lot and in a lot of pain.

They took lots of x-rays and scans of her chest and initially they thought she had a clot on her lung but now they believe she has pneumonia.

So she is hospital getting lots of meds to help her with the pneumonia and also pain meds and anti-nausea meds.  She hasn't been eating or drinking enough and they need to get her better nourished so that she has a chance of fighting off all these nasty side effects.

She has had a few visitors over the last few days but she is finding it exhausting.  As much as it pains us, we need to respect the fact that Liz is too tired to see us just now.  She is trying to get better so that she can face the chemo that is coming up.  Hopefully now that she is in hospital and getting nutrition and hydration and lots of good medication she will start to get well soon.

Please please please keep sending love and strength her way.  Liz appreciates all your thoughts and prayers.

Peace and happiness
Yvette
xxx

Cancer Sucks

I would think that everyone shares the sentiment of this blog post title.  It's something that I hear quite a lot because cancer has affected every family that I know in some way.  Knowing how prevalent it is doesn't actually make it easier to deal with when it hits someone you love, or when it affects you personally.  How can it be easy?  There is so much waiting, testing, treatment, sickness, exhaustion and so many other things that are horrible.  So it is anything but easy. 

There are so many people who love Liz and are willing to help out wherever it is needed.  I know some people feel like they don't know how they can help.  I know, because I am in that position too!  I guess it comes down to the fact that we all like to 'fix' things and when there is no chance of being able to fix anything we feel pretty helpless.  Liz can now only rely on the doctors who have her best interest at heart to get her through this.  I do know that my feelings of helplessness and anger and sadness are my things that I need to work through. My stuff.  And Liz has her stuff.  And everyone has their own stuff.  Sometimes all this stuff makes us feel like we are walking alone in this journey.  So how can we make sure that we link together and support each other?  Well the way in which I have done it is by writing this blog.  It makes me feel like I am helping in some small way.  Spending time with Liz and just hanging out makes me feel better and hopefully it makes Liz feel a bit happier too.  I just hope that Liz doesn't feel lonely.  I know that she has to go through this alone as no-one can take her place, but going through something alone and going through it being lonely is very different.

Liz has been feeling quite poorly lately.  She spent some time in hospital to try and feel better.  She was unable to see anyone during this time which frankly was torture for those of us who just wanted to be there!  But we respected what she needed and let her catch up on the rest that she needed.  She's home now and I was privileged enough to spend some time with her and her lovely kids on Saturday.  She said that so many people have commented on how well she is looking.  She was surprised I think only because she felt so horrible!  However, I have been thinking about it and I think what they were saying was that Liz's radiance is still there and her lovely smile is still there showering us with joy whenever it turns our way.

So after that enormous ramble (sorry about that!) I guess I should update you on where everything is at.  I mentioned that Liz was in hospital but is now home again.  In my last post I said that she was hoping to start the chemo next week.  It looks like it might be a couple of weeks away yet.  She needs to continue getting healthier and feeling better before starting the chemo.  At this stage there is no date but once there is I will let you all know.

Apologies for the self indulgent post.  I don't have a huge amount to update you on but I know that there are lots of people out there who are struggling with this and I just want to let you know that you are not alone.  We can support each other and we can support Liz.  I know that Liz feels all the love pouring her way but I don't think we can take it as permission to stop sending the love.  So send all the love and positive thoughts and anything else you can Liz's way.  She needs it and this is what we can do to help.  Oh, and it is something that IS easy.

Peace and happiness
Yvette
xxxx