Today has been a good day - Tabby came home this afternoon.

You can see by the picture that she was ready and packed to go by mid-morning. As ever the team on ward 2 were very thorough going over the many medicines she has come home with - mainly her steroids and all the other drugs that are needed to counter-act the side-effects of her steroids. Hopefully between us we can work out her doses and timings.

I plan to get one of those tabards that ward nurses now wear when they are doing the drug rounds to stop them being distracted etc. and give it to Clinical Nurse Manager Donella! (not sure how well it will go down - I'll let you know)

While on the ward, Tabby looks and behaves like most of the other children there. It's only when she's back home do you realise how much the last fortnight has taken out of her. At the moment, she looks so tired and pale. She has slept most of this afternoon and has just woken up hopefully to have her first home cooking of mince and tatties.

It's so good to have her back home. Similarly, I am sure Donella won't miss the ward fold-down bed she has slept in for the last 2 weeks. I doubt Ewan or Olivia will miss my cooking either.

We go back to ward 2 on Tuesday for another bash of vincristine chemotherapy and should be home later that day. On Thursday we are back in again for the day - this time the intra-muscular injection of asparaginase. It's really a sore one and one that Tabby is all too aware of. Anyway, that's next week.

You probably will not see any of us at the Hogmanay Princes Street party tomorrow. We look forward to a quiet family New Year - at home with Tabby.

Have a great New Year and a Happy 2012

The Lawson

Well, a day of mixed fortunes.

At the start of the week, there was the faint glimmer that Tabby could be home today. Yesterday, however, she had a sore tummy all day, couldn't eat and developed a temperature again. This was after her porta-cath venous line was changed. We were concerned it was possibly infected. Tabby was started on antibiotics once more so no coming home today.

Today tummy pains were almost gone. She had a repeat lumbar puncture and intra-thecal chemotherapy and another bone marrow test. After all that we watched a Barbie Farytopia DVD. I think the Barbie DVD was probably the most painful of the lot. Despite all this excitement today, Tabby's temperature has stayed down. We hope this means her central line is not infected.

Lastly, just before I left one of the haematology consultants came to give me the initial report on Tabby's bone marrow. The aim of the chemoRx is to get rid of the leukaemic cells and those cells in the bone marrow producing them. I am pleased to say that there has been a significant reduction in the leukaemic and blast cell (baby leukaemic cell) population. Obviously the chemoRx also has pretty major effects on her own white cell population which combat infection. After 10 days of treatment her bone marrow result is encouraging. We do, however, have a long, long way to go.

Many thanks to all of you who take the time to read and repond to this blog.

- keep in touch,

The Lawsons

Q. How do you entertain Tabby in hospital

A. Get Ewan to dress as a monkey and eat a banana

Well, we've just spent Christmas Day @ The Sick Kids. We've opened lots of presents and gifts. Some were ours, some were Santa's and just as many from charitable donations. Olivia and Ewan, Donella and myself all received gifts from various charities. It's really quite humbling.

Tabby's best gift arrived yesterday when she was told she no longer needed a constant IV infusion. We were able to get rid of her drip stand named "Wall-e" and she now has much more freedom to move around the ward. Wall-e's wheels were like your worst supermarket trolley!

Tabby continues to look and feel better on a daily basis - so far. She is on high dose steroids as part of her chemo and we are warned that she may have mood swings, tantrums or general brattish behaviour. So far all she has is the "munchies" - mostly for spicey savoury foods and certainly not sweets! She is doing very well, undoubtedly gets tired easily and still looks pretty pale but is quite matter of fact about taking her tablets or discussing her temperature or blood pressure when they are taken. Even blood samples from her central line are ok as long as the nurse does not get in the way of the telly.

Anyway, we had a charity lunch this afternoon a sort of rolling buffet Christmas lunch prepared by parents and siblings of the ward patients. We are still the new kids on the block and it was a good chance to relax and speak to other parents and childeren on the ward. Everyone's story seems so harrowing yet we all use the words "adjust", "adapt" and "get on with it". All impossible without the staff of ward 2 @ "Sick Kids".

Happy Christmas,

The Lawsons

Dear Friends,

After being "poorly" for a week or two, our youngest, six year old Tabitha, was diagnosed with Leukaemia. That evening (16th December) she was admitted to the "Sick Kids" Hospital in Edinburgh and the following day had a transfusion for anaemia. On Monday she had a lumbar puncture and intrathecal chemotherapy, a bone marrow biopsy and an indwelling central line. On Tuesday she started steroids and chemotherapy followed by fish and chips for tea. Yesterday (Wednesday) she had the ward Christmas party, with Santa, Face Painting, a Magician and Clown Doctors (in some places I have worked, they would have gone un-noticed!).

You will see, an awful lot has happened in a very short space of time. An express train on a roller coaster is the best way to describe it.

Tabby had been feeling generally tired, sore and lethargic but the diagnosis was a horrible thing to consider. Almost immediately after her transfusion, however, she perked up and was much brighter. The ward and staff at "Sick Kids" have been wonderful - compassionate and professional - generating complete faith and trust in their abilities. For Tabby there is, however, fear of her situation, the pain of IV lines, injections, sore bones and the dragging malaise of leukaemia which we can only imagine. She is, as you know, a determined wee thing - and stoical. I have still to beat her at "Monopoly"

Lastly, I would like to sign off by thanking all of you who have contacted us to offer help, support and good wishes. For everyone who has asked us to keep them informed of Tabby's progress, I hope to continue this blog on a regular basis - until she is better.

Best wishes to all, and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The Lawsons