July 4, 2021

Aurelia is handling chemotherapy really well. She has not experienced any side effects thus far, so we will wait and see how things progress for her. Her port area is still a little sore from surgery, but things improve each day.

During the week the days are quite busy with daily visits from doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, social workers, alternative healing doctors, nutritionists, etc. It is a whirlwind of information and we have a notebook to write important things as Rory and I switch places at the hospital every 24 hours. Covid/oncology restrictions prevent us from being here at the same time and prohibit visitors.

The weekends are more relaxed as it is just the doctors and nurses. We do yoga videos for cancer patients, call friends and family for a chat, play cards and board games, listen to books, and do art projects. By the late afternoon her energy fades a bit so we often watch a movie before dinner and sleep.

We have all moved to a large flat about 15 minutes from the hospital and that is making life a bit easier. We will stay there for July and August and then see how Aurelia is reacting to the chemo. We may have to continue to stay in or very near Barcelona for the entire year, or we may be allowed to go back to Girona and then return to Barcelona for her maintenance chemo.

Eston is doing okay. We have been honest with both children and explained the entire situation to them so there is no confusion or secrets. He knows she will be okay when this is all over, but he misses her a lot. Being in Barcelona has helped as it is a complete change of scenery. It was hard for him to be at home without her. 

Thank you again for the supportive messages. Aurelia feels so special having so many people across the globe cheering for her. 





Comments

  1. Sherry ArmstrongJuly 4, 2021 at 4:26 AM

    Thank you for these updates, as we think about Aurelia and your family daily. Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joan SwainJuly 4, 2021 at 4:44 AM

    Thanks for the update Cheynna. Go Aurelia! Could you send us a mailing address for cards? Thinking of all of you! j xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elena (Arnau Palou)July 8, 2021 at 5:36 AM

    Quiero mandaros un abrazo muy fuerte desde Girona a toda la família y en especial para Aurelia con mucha fuerza , por ser tan valiente, simpática, alegre y fuerte.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

July 13, 2021

Image
I arrived at the hospital a few hours ago (aurelia is having her snack and watching master chef) and we have great news from the oncology team. When Aurelia was first diagnosed her sample cells were 92% cancer and now that number is 1%. There is a long road of treatment ahead (approximately two years), but these numbers give everyone a huge boost and so much hope. Aurelia is not the least bit surprised as “she knew she was killing the cancer.” So there you have it. Aurelia is working really hard with the physio to start walking again. She does several sessions a day and we are trying to get her inflamed nerves back to where they need to be so she can start walking. Now that her blood is healing itself, we hope her bones and nerves will follow. A few people have asked me about sending cards or postcards. Aurelia loves getting postcards! The best place to send them is to Federal, our restaurant in Girona.  Aurelia Sutherland Federal Café Girona C/Forca, 9 Girona 17004 Spain 
Read more

November 4, 2022

Image
 Aurelia continues to fight and win! This long phase is called maintenance and her medical team tries to keep her counts within a certain range and the chemotherapy is adjusted according to her blood counts. Too low is too much chemotherapy and too high is not enough, so they look for a certain range in every visit. The last month Aurelia’s bloods have been incredibly good…but this also means they give her more chemotherapy to bring the counts back into the range. I know it sounds odd, but this is the protocol that has proved successful for decades so we continue our fight. I know it’s hard for Aurelia to hear that we have to increase chemotherapy because her counts are so good, but I present it in a way so she knows she is stronger than the disease and a step ahead of it. Sometimes it works and other times she rolls her eyes at me. 😊 We continue to notice gains with her stability and strength. She gets frustrated, but she keeps going with her physiotherapy and running and riding....
Read more

August 19, 2022

Image
 Today is a big day: Aurelia’s final lumbar puncture! For the past year Aurelia has had monthly intrathecal chemotherapy. This is when she is out under general anesthesia and chemotherapy is injected into the fluid around her spinal column. As you can imagine, it’s not her favorite treatment, so she is thrilled that today is the last spinal! We were able to go on our road trip to France, which was amazing since we haven’t traveled much between COVID and cancer. It was a lot of energy, but Aurelia did her best. We ended our trip a day early as she wasn’t feeling that well and we didn’t want to push things too much. It was easier to leave the race and just drive home so she could rest, so that’s what we did. Aurelia was thrilled to wear all of the special jerseys given to her the past year. She had a different jersey for each day we were there. ❤️ We have been trying to have as normal of a summer as possible between hospital appointments and chemotherapy. Beach days, bike rides, shor...
Read more