Enjoying the Sunshine...

Hi Everyone,

Hope this next installment of Phoebe's journey finds you all well and enjoying this much anticipated sunshine, what a difference it makes to our outlook and mood for the day!

Thanks for all the positive encouragement and patience once again to write the next update, it has been a busy old time with working and has helped to me realise the importance of keeping the work/life balance in check.

Phoebe continues on her miraculous recovery from her second bone marrow transplant and is embarking on her next stage of her journey, enjoying time out in the real world. Although we are able to relax a little now regarding the semi-isolation, however, it's still important to be aware and avoid unnecessary crowds whilst also being mindful of steering clear of chicken pox for which Phoebe would require immediate treatment.

We continue our regular visits to The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital although our appointments are now every three weeks, blood tests remain steady which is super. Keeping our feet on the ground and fingers crossed with continued optimism, we are enjoying simple life at home and just 'being' without too much planning.

Phoebe is remarkably well and is most definitely ready to take her next big steps in beginning her school life. Jo, our specialist nurse will be contacting the schools in the next couple of weeks to discuss Phoebe visiting for brief periods before starting full time in September.

During the past few weeks since our last visit to Manchester, Phoebe has taken every opportunity to head outside and enjoy the sunshine. We have to take extra care protecting Phoebe's skin with high factor sun cream as chemotherapy treatment has left Phoebe's skin very sensitive. Phoebe's hair is now growing back nicely and she has unexpected curls, her scalp is still quite dry, we have seen a real change over the last few weeks that things are really starting to settle down now.

For Phoebe, being with friends and just spending time out in the sunshine is a great way of helping her during her recovery. The winter was rather challenging with the fact that we were still in semi-isolation and avoiding the cold temperatures whilst Phoebe was watching the TV constantly, it was a battle to tear her away and taught us some very valuable lessons in the art of negotiation, Phoebe has got this off to a fine art bless her and believe me Phoebe teaches us something new every day especially reminding us to make sure have a little fun each day.

It has been a great few weeks for us with a trip to Wembley for the FA Cup Semi- Final to see Stoke gain a whopping victory against Bolton, it was nice for Ade and I to have some time out with some our dear friends.

It's rather unbelievable that May is already upon us and last weekend we took the opportunity to take our caravan out on an umpromptu trip. We with a little divine help found a great family owned campsite site in Abergele, North Wales. A real gem of a site and is a working farm with horses, Phoebe was in her element watching the horses exercising in the morning. Our dear friend Estelle joined us for her first visit in the caravan and Phoebe was so excited by it all, bless her. Gwen and Geoff popped over and we took in Llandudno beach taking time to build a few sandcastles and relax in the sunshine.

The Royal Wedding was a great occasion bringing another opportunity to spend time with friends and actually include Phoebe, something we have dearly missed over the last few months. It was lovely to be able to share the day with Phoebe and explain everything going on...it brought a tremendous positive and happy energy with street parties and celebrations...loved it!!

We spent time with Andrea and Rob over at their pad and were joined by our other dear friends The Whitehursts and The Sprostons....Amy Sproston has also celebrated her 7th Birthday this week too, Happy Birthday sweetheart. A few weeks ago we were delighted to hear of Amy's recent news. Amy has a great interest in Muskateers and has been so taken with the whole role of protecting the Queen, she decided to write a letter to Her Majesty explaining that when she grows up she would like to become a muskateer and to serve and protect the her. Amy was hopeful for a reply although I think Jo and Rob explained how busy the Queen was... remaining realistic!! To Amy's surprise, she received a letter back from the Palace thanking her for the letter and being so noble as to want to protect the Queen...it was amazing to read and I know Amy is extremely proud of it...as we all are and especially proud of you too Amy!!

The recent bank holiday's have been a real blessing and have reminded us to take a little time out from work and enjoy the sunshine. Phoebe was thrilled with her first day out taking her friend Macie with her to The West Midlands Safari Park. The day was eventful particularly when we saw a man getting out of his car in the Lion enclosure, only to have a little root in his boot for his lunch!!!
The girls loved it and after seeing the animals they pretty much ran around the whole day going from ride to ride in the park, hence to say we had two very tired little girls in the car on the way home!!

Back to clinic this Friday for another round of bloods and to find out the results regarding Phoebe's blood donor stem cell percentage. Rob our Consultant says they are looking good and we of course remain hopeful that this graft will stay this time.

As always, I endeavour to write the blog as often as possible although time runs away with us and before we know it, another week has gone by! I will be responding to everyone's e-mails too, thanks everyone. xx

Please pop back later this week for a gallery of images we would like to share of Phoebe from the past few months.

For now dear friends as its getting late...
Rest easy and look forward to catching up later in the week.
All our love
Lynn, Ade, Phoebe and Spirit Eleanor xxxx