Rest in love
29 March 2019
Sarah passed peacefully at 11.44pm on the 28th March.
Rest in love my beautiful sister
0 comments
|
Login to leave a comment
Help Sarah see her girls grow up.
-
-
Sarah
19 March 2019Sarah is currently in Mercy Hospice where she has been since leaving hospital on Wednesday 13th March having completed the last of 10 whole brain radiation sessions. She has gone downhill drastically over the weekend and doctors have advised us they believe she has days to live.
I stayed with her Friday night and then since Sunday night and her daughter Aniwa and I are staying again tonight so that she always has one of us with her. Today our whole family and her best friend Alvie has been by her side to hold her hand, reassure her and to let her know how much she is loved.
To say this is overwhelming would be an understatement but her confusion, pain and fear of the last few days has given way to calmness thanks to the amazing help and support of the Mercy Hospice Team who are balancing ensuring she’s not distressed, in pain and fearful with allowing us time to have some beautiful moments with her.
I’m so thankful to the love and support of family, friends and both West Auckland and Mercy Hospice during this part of the journey.
I would trade places with her in a heartbeat so she didn’t have to go through this anymore but since I can’t do that I’m just being here and hoping she knows she’s not going through this alone.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Hospital update
16 February 2019On Tuesday 12th February we got the results of Sarah’s MRI which showed that an existing benign legion in the site of her previous brain tumour had grown in size and that they’d found new cancerous spots in the area of the brain that affects balance and where fluid drains. Not great news but we were greatful to have some explanation as to what was causing the nausea and vomiting that she’s now had for going on 2 months.
On Friday 15th we found out that Sarah has Leptomeningeal Disease in the lining of her brain which will likely spread to her spinal cord. We’ll find out from radiology on Monday what her options are.
She has also seen ENT and they are waiting for her to gain strength to be able to laser off sections of her vocal chords to assist with breathing as they are both paralysed from the mass on her chest.
Despite all this she is fighting and taking it day by day. Her strength is truely amazing. Today she was allowed to go home for a few hours and although it was a mission she was able to hold down some of mum’s cooking, see family and feel a little bit of of sunshine.
Day by day, that’s all you can do. Nothing but love and admiration for her.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Back in Hospital
7 February 2019We got the call that we needed to get Sarah to hospital on Waitangi Day morning after not being able to keep food down for 3 days and being in pain. She could only manage to lie in the back seat and she was unresponsive for most of the drive in. We got her into ED where they put a line in and hooked her up to IV fluids and put in morphine and anti nausea.
Previously when theyve put her on the IV she’s started to perk up a bit but she could barely talk and mostly communicated with hand signals. After about an hour or so we were moved to the clinical decision unit and it wasn’t until we’d been in there for a couple of hours that I noticed the fluids had barely moved. I asked the nurse to check and the line hadn’t been in properly so nothing had been happening.
They re did the line through her port and that worked better.
Being this sick for over a month and half is really taking a toll and it feels like 1 step forward and 5 steps back. This morning she was feeling a bit better so tried to eat but when I went in this afternoon she was nauseated, constantly retching and could barely talk.
She had X-rays yesterday which came back all clear and she will go for another brain scan tomorrow.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
11th Jan update
11 January 2019I took Sarah into Acutes at Auckland Hospital this morning as she hasn’t been able to keep food or medication down since she was discharged 2 weeks ago down and is the sickest I’ve seen her. She has been admitted and we’re waiting on the results of X-rays which will hopefully shed some light.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Family
11 January 2019Sometimes it’s the simple things that mean the most and the realisation that she is too sick and lacks the strength to physically hold our great niece (Isla) who is visiting from London was heartbreaking for Sarah. We found a compromise and this bundle of joy with her beautiful smile lightened the load on a day when loss of friend and the frustration at losing the ability to do the simplest of things was overwhelming.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
7th Jan Update
11 January 2019After having lymph nodes removed from her left side during her mastectomy surgery and suffering from lymphoma, Sarah is only having about 50% drainage occurring in her body which physio believe may be the cause for swelling. One of the many side affects of what Sarah’s going through, the swelling causeses pain, light headededness and contributes to breathing issues. Physio on Monday at Waitakere Hospital taught us some new techniques to encourage fluid to travel to alternative lymph node sites in her body and taping to encourage the flow naturally.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Hospital update
29 December 2018After 6 days in hospital Sarah finally was discharged yesterday afternoon. Good news that no new tumours were found! Doctors weren’t able to determine what is causing issues with breathing and shortness of breath but she did learn some new tricks that will help with digestion (The tumour in her chest is paralysing one side of her vocal chords). While it’s disappointing not to have any definative answers, Sarah is much better than where she was this time last week.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Hospital for Christmas
23 December 2018Sarah called me to take her to hospital Saturday morning after 3 days of vomiting following on from a blood nose, chest pain, swelling of clavical lymph nodes and face, headaches and difficulty breathing. After blood tests, EKG, X-ray she had blood thinners and CT of chest as concern was there may be a clot in the lung. Scan showed swelling of lung and some fluid. Waiting on a CT of head as concern the brain tumour may have returned. Not where she wanted to be for Christmas but working on a plan b for Christmas Day so we can still celebrate even if it’s in a hospital room.
0 comments | Login to leave a comment -
Dissapointing outcome from Pharmac
19 December 2018An update on progress of the petition to have the drugs Ibrance and Kadcyla funded by Pharmac was shared today on the Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition website. While funding is being recommended by the committee, Sarah is in the group that would be excluded for both drugs based on type of cancer and prior treatments. We knew it was likely to be the case but it’s still disappointing and quite a few tears shed today.
https://www.breastcancer.org.nz/content/women-who-petitioned-parliament-get-nothing-pharmac-s-santa
0 comments | Login to leave a comment
