Another busy week!

Well, here we are at the end of another very busy week, it's all go at the moment and we are hardly getting time to draw breath!

On Monday we decided to take the boys to the zoo. The weather looked a bit dull and wet but we went anyway. We took Adam's wheelchair but he walked most of the way up the hill and down! I think we were more exhausted than he was. The sky turned blue and it got pretty hot, we saw every animal in the place and had a great time, took about 500 pictures again so I wont bore you with them - you all know what animals look like! Here are a couple of the boys though....

On Tuesday Adam had his MRI scan, this was to give everyone an indication of how he was, how his tumour was behaving and what effect the radiotherapy had had on the tumour. We were in the hospital all day as Adam had to be put to sleep for it to make sure he lay still for the scan. We got home about half past 6, he had been very good in hospital, it was a long day for us, sitting around waiting .

On wednesday Spike and I went back up to the hospital ourselves for the scan results, I had been feeling sick all night and all morning. In one respect I was desperate to know what it had to reveal and in another I was dreading knowing. Well the news is pretty good as far are we are concerned. In the thirteen weeks since diagnosis the tumour has not grown, this means that the radiotherapy has done some good. It is not any smaller though although the edges of the tumour now have little fluid filled pockets (cysts) which is what appens when cells die - they disolve into fluid - so that is great news for us. Adam is also still very well clinically and this is great as it means we are definately looking at a picture a little brighter in terms of length of time. To be honest it is much better than I expected to hear so we are very, very happy with this result. He restarts chemo tomorrow (monday 4th) for 3 monthly cycles of 3 weeks on and 1 week off. Afteer these 3 cycles we may get another scan done to see if chemo having any effect. We need to remember that this type of tumour doesn't respond well to chemo and his chemo is a trial so may have no effect, in which case it may be withdrawn and let nature take it's course but that is for future thought. At the moment we are delighted!

On Thursday it was the official opening of the Cclasp Respite Cottage in Muthill, Perth with Adam being VIP and cutting the ribbon. We were stopped at the entrance to the village by the police and Adam and I got to ride in the police car, with an escort, flasshing bllue lights and siren to the cottage. Adam was given a police hat to keep, he loved it! The cottage was opened by Adam and Gavin Hastings. It was a beautiful day, loads of sunshine and we had a nice time, chatting to other parents and meeting other kids with similar conditions to Adam. The boys enjoyed themselves too and we are going up to stay there in a week or two for a break before the schools go back. The village is lovely, very quite a real retreat. It really is a lovely spot to "ge t away from it all". The cottage has been gifted to Cclasp for 50 years by a very generous Edinburgh business man.

Ok, on to Friday, what did we do...... loads of running around! Then a well earned rest as we went to our friends Dode and Sharon's new house for our dinner. It was lovely, the boys were out playing with their grandson Lewis while we grown ups were chatting, it was a lovely relaxed evening - thank you!

Saturday Adam was mascot at Easter Road for Hibernian v Middlesborough game. We were given complimentary tickets for all of us and again we had a fab day (even Spike enjoyed himself - being a jambo as he is!) We were really looked after and got to meet players, managers, tour of changing rooms, photographs and autographs, comfy seats to watch the game........ it was just great! Adam became a little upset leading up to it so Scott was drafted in too, so they both got to do it! Just a shame that hibs lost their 2-0 lead and ended up getting beat 2-3 but it was only a friendly!!!!

Today we were at Cclasp's annual picnic - well Adam, Scott and I were. Granny Val and Auntie Celia came with us. Spike had a golf outing with the 32 club and David took Paul and Marc to Sunderland v Ajax game at the Stadium of Light. So we were scattered all over today.

The weather wasn't very kind to us at all, although we did have bright sunny spells throughout the afternoon. We all had fun anyway - hopefully next year we can all go!