Matt's Thanksgiving Service - Saturday 7 January 2012

After Matthew was told that nothing more could be done to make him well, he had a good week at home which he spent with family and saw a few friends. He also wrote down his wishes for a thanksgiving service for his life. His health deteriorated quite rapidly and on Thursday 22nd December he died at home. 

Matt communicated to us that he was not afraid and that he knew all the way that God was with him. Matthew was not in pain. Matt will be much missed but he is now more alive than ever in the immediate presence of his Lord and Saviour.

We would like to invite everyone reading this blog to join us in celebrating Matthew's life in a thanksgiving service on Saturday 7th January 2012 at 12 o'clock in St Mary's church Frinton-on-sea. Please check www.stmarysfrinton.org for directions. We would be so pleased if you could attend.

Matthew requested that if possible, black should not be worn.

Thank you for your support and interest during the past year.

We are looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible .

David and Gisa (Matt's parents)

One of the last posts

On Friday night I had really painful back spasms which woke me up. I mentioned them to the doctor on the following day and she prescribed some codeine for the pain. I took two tablets and in the evening was sick. On Sunday I got the news that my neutrophills had come up to 0.6 meaning I could go home! I was still being sick and was feeling really tired and exhausted. I told the doctor this and she said it was probably down to the codeine (even though I'd only taken two tablets).

On Monday I wasn't any better and wasn't keeping any food down so on Tuesday I texted my clinical nurse in Bart's who said I should go to Colchester hospital for a check up which I did.
I had a bag of blood and the doctor I saw there wanted me to stay over night so they could give me some fluids.

Yesterday morning he came and saw me telling me that I would have an MRI scan and a bone marrow biopsy (to check things were going in the right direction) and then could hopefully go home in the evening.

I had the bone marrow biopsy in the morning and then early afternoon the consultant I'd been seeing in Colchester came and saw me. I found out that the biopsy was actually done because the day previously the doctor thought my blood counts looked a bit weird. After looking at the biopsy they could see that the counts were indeed odd and that I'd relapsed. The last load of chemo I had didn't work and there was little they could do for me now. I was told that there's some experimental treatment happening and that if I was interested she would find out some more information for me and see if I fit the criteria. Other than that they would try and keep me as well as they can for as long as they can. This could be weeks or months.

I then had the MRI late afternoon and didn't get the results - they might come out today.

It wasn't really the kind of news I was expecting to hear but I knew it was a possibility that that might be the outcome since the second relapse.

I'm now planning to enjoy Christmas and enjoy my time at home. Although this wasn't the desired news I know where I'm going and that God's in control and that it's part of His plan, even though I may not understand it this side of eternity.

One week later

A week has passed since the last update and there's not a huge lot new.
My walking (still not perfect after the op) is improving quite a bit and I'm a lot less wobbly!

At the moment I'm neutropenic and pop over to the day unit every morning and afternoon for observations, blood test and check by a doctor. Two things have happened since I've been here. Firstly, I wasn't religious enough with my mouth washes and I got a soar mouth for which I was given more mouth washes and morphine, which I haven't had to use so will save it for a 'special time' (Not really - will hang on to it incase it ever comes in handy) and secondly I put my thumb in my pocket stabbing a key or something up my nail which has since got inflamed. I was worried that the infection might get really bad as I don't have anything to fight it with, but it hasn't got worse and am hoping it will stay that way.

I've had a couple of blood and platelet transfusions and I'm pretty tired, but they only transfuse blood when the Hb is 8 or below. Mine's just creeping down very slowly but is hovering around the 8.3 mark. Low enough for me to be tired but not low enough for a boost. I'm hoping that the cause for it going down so slowly is that my counts may be recovering and will come up soon meaning I can go home.

Apparently I have an irregular heart beat too, although ECG scans show that everything is fine. So at some point I'm going to have a 24 hour ECG to see what's going on.

There's not really any other news right now. Just waiting...