Radiotherapy OVER!!!!

This is it, Niamh had her last radiotherapy treatment this morning. Before her treatment, the anaesthetists asked her to sit down on one of the sofas and brought her a lovely present. She had hardly opened it that the radiotherapists arrived with more presents nicely wrapped up in 'Peppa Pig' paper. There was definitely a 'Peppa Pig' theme amongst the presents. They have all got to know her well over the last seven weeks. She was also given a lovely laminated 'Peppa Pig' Certificate for being a very brave little girl for the radiotherapy treatments. She was a little overwhelmed but really enjoyed it. They have all been extremely thoughtful and even gave a present for Emilie. A truly fantastic team!

I am sure she will miss them all as they have been so kind to her, but I doubt she will miss the general anaesthetic every morning.

Her blood counts today were a little disappointing:

HB: 10.8 (fine).
WCC: 2.2 (ok, but a bit low).
Platelets: 48 (grrrr, too low again).
Neut: 1.4 (okish but a bit low really).

During treatment her haemoglobin level needed to be maintained above 10. Now that treatment is finished it needs to be maintained above 8. She will hopefully be requiring less blood transfusions.
Platelets however still need to be above 50. I am waiting to hear from the Consultant whether she will have a transfusion today or whether he wants to do another test in a couple of days.

What's next?

Niamh will have a MRI scan in about 6 weeks. No date has yet been confirmed but likely to be around her 3rd birthday.
She will most likely be seen by the Oncology Consultant once a week (Tuesdays most likely) in Clinic. They will also continue to test her blood every week. We, in the meantime, will continue to investigate alternative treatments to increase Niamh's chances of long term survival.

We are hoping to have some quality family time this summer, a few days out and even possibly a holiday. Since Frederic's visit on Tuesday, both girls want to go to France so they can see their cousins and grandparents and go to the beach. Emilie would like to move to France and take her school and friends along with her.

All in all, we are hoping the second half of 2011 will be kinder to Niamh and us all (family and friends). We realise that Niamh's diagnosis nine months ago and her long treatment have caused a lot of pain and sadness to many around us, grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, friends and even friends of friends. We thank you all again for your wonderful support and prayers. We would like to ask you to keep Niamh is your prayers as unfortunately her fight is not over yet.