Hi everyone, Katie's dad posting on her behalf, for reasons that will be explained.

With one week to go to her last round of chemo she started having severe pain in her right arm and shoulder. We were quite worried about this but as she had an appointment with her oncologist in a few days time Katie was very reluctant to go to a doctor. Then that night she woke and was having problems with her left arm--it was asleep, and wouldn't wake up. This continued with her left arm being numb and her not being able to tell where it is, while her right arm continues to be very painful. When we saw the doctor we found that this is a known possible side-effect of one of the chemo drugs so this was possibly the cause of the problem. The side-effect is neuropathy (ie nerve damage)--it's temporary but (as Katie says) quite inconvenient (I think that's an understatement). He ordered an immediate x-ray to rule out other causes  and said that the upcoming last round of chemo (which would now be delayed) would not be including the problematic drug. The x-ray was normal so it looks like it's the chemo drug.

This has been "very vexing--physical pain is one thing, but this is damaging my social life!" (her words). It's also affecting her on-line life as she can't type (hence I'm her amanuensis) She still made it to a baby shower and 1 hour of a farewell dinner (which she tells me she enjoyed, despite depending on her friends to cut up her food for her) before going home.

Unfortunately a few days later her legs joined the party (!) and were also extremely painful. She's now back on strong pain-killers (which she hates). The doctor tells us that this side-effect will pass but it's not a good time for her. It was her birthday the other day but we decided to postpone celebrations until she feels up to it but she says "Thanks to the friends that came and saw me on that day and everyone else who sent lovely birthday wishes".

There are some more tests coming up and chemo has been postponed. We'll try to keep the blog updated regularly to let everyone know what's happening.