HOME TIME!

It's a lovely Sunday morning here in London! The weather forecast is good and it should be another day for shorts and flip-flops! But even better than all that, is that today is the day that it's all over!
I was diagnosed on the 15th December 2010, admitted to St Bart's on the 16th, and can today, 10th April 2011, come home for good! All that's left now are my monthly bone marrow biopsy's. Check ups will be cut down each year until in five years time I get the all clear.

It's been a rough ride and my body's taken a beating! But I'm alive and well! Had I got the illness 60 years ago (before chemotherapy was used as it is today) I wouldn't have seen Christmas; but, thanks to the medical care I've received and the prayers and support from you guys I'm still here today! And will continue to be for a long while yet!

Yesterday they removed my PICC line, (below is a photo of it before it was removed) which was used for infusions, transfusions and taking blood. It's nice to be able to have a shower without having a bag tied round my arm!

What will happen to the blog I don't know. Perhaps I'll update it after check-ups, or if there's any other news. I have no idea yet. But feel free to keep an eye on it.

The last four months have been a huge learning journey for me. Discovering what's important in life and what isn't, how short life is and how we need to make the most of it, how to live with an eternal perspective and most significantly the beauty in suffering. The amount of good things that have come out of this amaze me! I can say now, at the end of it all that it was a worthwhile experience - but I don't want to go through it again! :D

Thank you to everyone who has gone through this with me. Thank you for your encouragements along the way. The text messages for me to 'keep my chin up', the cards and letters, the visits - thank you all so much!

I've been blessed with a hugely supportive family too. Everyday that I've been in hospital one or both of my parents have visited me. They've stayed many hours, putting up with me being spaced out on morphine, being asleep, sick, grumpy and all the rest of it. I couldn't ask for better parents.

And finally, I would not have got through this as positively as I did - perhaps not at all - without God's strength sustaining me, His love and mercy allowing me to trust Him and His promises and ultimate goodness giving me hope that whatever happens is part of a bigger plan that is for His glory. GOD HAS BEEN SO SO SO SO GOOD TO ME!

Guys, thanks again for everything! It's time to go home!

My peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line) The blue tube travelled in through the vain, up the arm, to just above my heart. It has served me very, very well!