More Good News

We had an appointment with our consultant today, to get the results from last weeks MRI and it was good news, the scan is still clear... We are hugely relieved. Things are looking so much more positive than they were one year ago - we are delighted. We will post again soon with some new photos.

We are still here

This was taken today.

As i watched Anouk today on an adventure playground I was reflecting on the fact that one year ago today, we were sitting in St Georges hospital digesting the news about her diagnosis and waiting for her surgery. Today the girls and i (me running behind Anouk on her trike and Neave cycling her bike) travelled for about a mile and then had a great day at a nearby field centre, making dens, and catching up with the cousins who last year lived near St Georges and partly due to Anouk now live up the road in Ewhurst.

What an amazing, awful but also life affirming and life changing year we have had. We feel so lucky to have Anouk and to be able to enjoy normal life together as a family.

One of the big things i have learned is how amazing people are when the chips are down, we have got to know friends and people who a year ago we hardly knew on a completely new level.

People ask how we have got through this year - I want to know how others have got through this year with us, we didn't have a choice but others did and chose to hang around and support us in so many ways - thank you.

We have had a very special summer, enjoying our new house in its fantastic location, chilling our together and reconnecting with Neave after what for her has been a very topsy turvy and stressful year. We had two lovely weeks in France with the family. Now Neave is back at school and this week Anouk goes back to nursery, i have gone back to work and slowly life is returning to normal - it is great.

The girls on Neave's first day back at school - she is now in year 2 in the top class in school.

Anouk occasionally likes to ride her bike without anyone at the helm - this is what tends to happen
There was a bit of this on holiday
but more of this
and lots of dressing up
playing with cousins
and then there was this, our campsite with rather a nice beach attached!

We are doing very well with our fundraising for children's brain tumour research at the Marsden. The village carnival donated £1700, we raised £300 in shaker tins and we have just tipped over £2000 on our just giving site for the Great South Run (10 miles) which i am doing with Julia, Jo Moore, Calie Pitts-Ticker and Sakia Hopson on 24th October. Training is going pretty well, i have been surprised to find that i actually enjoy running what seemed preposterously long distances before i started training. Thank you so much so your donations, we are very grateful.

The link for the just giving site is http://www.justgiving.com/catherinevantriet

Holiday Time

Our holiday continues, we are off to France on Sunday for camping and then a week with Mum and Dad and Ben, Julia and family in a house- we are all very excited.

The holiday has been great for us. We spend a few days with my Aunt Margaret and Neil in Dorset which was lovely. Most of the rest of the time has been spent sorting house and garden and spending time together.

Anouk's highlight has been getting her new trike - it is an incredible machine, she can pedal it independently but the steering is a bit haywire and so we also have control with a steering handle and brake attached to the back - we were incredibly lucky to stumble across a very generous charity called "cyclists fighting cancer" who funded it. She has been out on it at least once a day since - it is very handy for walking the dog and beats a pram as a means of transport hands down.

The fitting for the new trike.

A den in the hedge at the bottom of the garden.

Our climbing tree.

Our Summer

We are having a lovely summer

And for the record - Anouks' colouring won a first, Neave's garden won a third and my scones got a second (behind my mother!) and the redcurrants a first (in front of my father's!) - the cucumber wasn't long enough or thick enough to win anything...

A beautiful new dress - thanks Sonia and Stuart...

Long hair - styled by cousin Flora

Anouk swam without us for the first time today - with a little assistance from a few bouyancy aids

Richard returned from Aus on Friday morning - he enjoyed catching up with old friends and spending time with Fred and Sue. Fred is recovering well from his op and we are hoping that he will get home on Monday.

The girls and i have had a good couple of weeks, we spent a weekend with a few families from school camping in a field a whole mile away! Neave and Anouk loved it - they didn't want to leave. We have been doing the usual end of term things - sports days, open evenings, school fair, parties and the highlight of the fortnight - yesterdays village carnival and horticultural fair - Richard was the announcer and is fast becoming "the voice of Ewhurst!!".

"Absolutely Nothing There"

Richard as the announcer at the school fair - with assistant

New house - new colour!
Ju in running gear


The three muscateers
Dancing to next doors band -
Maypole dancing in fancy dress at the school fair

We got the results of Anouk's scan today and our consultant greeted us with "its good news". He is very happy with the way Anouk has dealt with and responded to treatment and the fantastic result is that there is no sign of any tumour.

Anouk will have her Hickman line or "wiggly's" out on Thursday and we will then have a long happy summer until the next scan in September.

Anouk is not out of the woods and so please keep her in your thoughts and prayers - we will continue to have regular scans every 3 - 4 months for the next 2 years - but the fact that she has done so well so far has given us a huge lift and has helped us to go into the summer with a really optimistic view of our future.

We consider ourselves incredibly blessed to have had the support that we have had from our friends and family, thank you all for your love and generosity of spirit, we are very lucky.

Anouk has continued to get stronger and is enjoying nursery two mornings a week, this will increase to two mornings and one long day in September and "Rainbows End Nursery" are very happy with the way she has settled in, she has had one to one support since starting, but they feel that she is managing so well that there is no need to continue with this level of input. She loves ballet and her singing group on a Tuesday and we are looking forward to watching week at ballet this week when we will see her dance.

I am planning to go back to work in September, we have a holiday in France to look forward to in August and Richard will be at home for most of the summer. We have lots of plans for our house and garden.

Meanwhile, myself and my lovely sister, Ben's sister Saskia Aveyard and our dear friend Jo Moore who has been so supportive of us are trying to get our lardy bodies into some shape to run the Great South Run (10 long miles!) to raise some money for the Marsden's Research into children's brain tumours, we are unfit and none of us have ever run near this distance before. This cause is of course very close to our hearts and and it is a very important cause, as brain tumour research does not receive the funding that other areas of cancer research receives, despite the poor outcomes for many children who have this type of cancer. We have set up a just giving page which you can find at:

www.justgiving.com/catherinevantriet

Thank you so much for your support, we are very grateful.

Our Holiday

Home again now and enjoying our new home. Anouk started playschool on Monday, took it all in her stride. She went to ballet on Wednesday and there was incessant 'when am i going to ballet??" after lunch - "can we have lunch now??" that continued from first thing in the morning until she finally got to ballet at 2.00 pm - she loved it.

We have finished treatment, moved house and gone on holiday

I am writing this update from our lovely friends holiday home in an idyllic part of Devon - we are having a wonderful family holiday, with superb weather. I have lost count of how many crabs we have caught from the pontoon and how many ice creams we have eaten and can't really think what else we have done other than potter about on the river... Richard and I arrived feeling completely exhausted and are slowly feeling recharged.

Anouk's treatment has finished and follow up will start at the end of June with a scan, Anouk will then have scans every three months. We were warned that the end of treatment would be an emotionally challenging time and the team at the Marsden were right, we have both had wobbles, but I'm sure that things will get easier with time and as life gets back to normal.

On a very positive note, Anouk and Neave are both on really good form and are loving being together, Anouk is well, putting on weight and growing hair - at least on the front of her head, she has two large patches of no hair behind each ear where the radiotherapy beams went in and out, these bits will also grow back in time.

And we have moved house.... the packing seemed to go on for ever but the day of the move went incredibly smoothly, largely due to the amount of help we had - it was incredible. And we are very happy in our new home - there is lots to do but it feels like a very positive move.

Anouk will start nursery on Monday and will go twice a week she is also going to start ballet - she is really looking forward to both and the nursery has been fantastic in preparing for her to start.

midnight May 13 2010

As you can tell we have been getting back to normal life as is evident in the fact we haven't been updating the blog as often. So apologies but as we all know 'normal' day to day life can get rather busy!

Anouk's Radiation treatment is going very well & will be finished on Wed May 19. There have been no major side effects so far but the Radiation can continue to work for some months after the treatment is finished. At 1000 On a daily basis we head to the marsbar & return about 4 hrs later. Anouk has been very happy to have a 'magic sleep' everyday. She either goes to sleep counting to about 10 or singing a song. She then wakes up about 30 - 45 mins later & is very hungry as she hasn't been able to eat since the night before or have a drink since 0900 on each day. She actually has breakfast at about 7pm most nights!

This is the moulded mask that Anouk wears during the Radiation treatment. The markings are were the beams are fired in.

Weight wise things are getting better & today she weighed in at around 14.4kg..so she has put on a kg in the last few weeks & has been eating normally for the rest of the day...finally!

Neavey has been brilliant as a big sister as Anouk is a classic 3yo & has plenty of turns & is very clingy at times. Anouk will be going back to Nursery 2 days a week at the start of June for a couple of months before the summer holidays begin.

Anouk's hair has started to grow back....even though it looks fairly dirty she has had a wash & hopefully in a few months it will look less like a bad rug & more like normal hair! The other welcomed addition to the setup has been 'Zebra' the hearing aid. Her left ear is the only one that works & Anouk struggles to hear high frequencies. The hearing aid is great & she has no problem with wearing it...we haven't lost it....yet!

The family had a day out at daddy's work...Neavey took over the lighting Directors desk & Anouk was with daddy bossing everyone around!

We're having a meeting next Monday to find out when Anouk will be scanned next...when her Hickman line can come out & what the schedule of MRI scans will be in the future.

We promise to have another update when the Radiation treatment is finished next Wednesday.