15th Birthday came and went

Pads' birthday on Wednesday got off to a slow start with there being little chance of his siblings seeing him before they left for school so we reserved celebrations for afterwards. Llŷr wanted to take him to the Hobbit and we hit on the afternoon of the 19th. In fact, ever since it's been on the 'radar', he's been hoping to see it, but when the release dates of the three films (a year apart starting late 2012) were announced it seemed unlikely and we felt a little aggrieved by the delay. We're through his birthday and at least one of the Hobbit mileposts; these events seem so large and real as we're given to approach and experience them, and then they fade into fragments of memory.

Fading is the worldling's pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show:
Solid joys and lasting treasure,
None but Zion's children know.
John Newton

How transient life is! Pads courage has been challenged again this week by starting a new course of chemotherapy designed to give symptomatic relief. There is a slight risk that it will affect his hair. Thankfully he's willing to trust the medics and 'just gets on with it', where 'it' includes swallowing really big tablets that have to be handled wearing a protective glove - the drug is etoposide.
For someone with particular requirements, the best idea for a present for Pads was a new Nintendo 3D games console - he did not know what to say. The chance of having a turn on this might encourage Boaz to work hard at wearing his patch (as he can has only been able to see in two dimensions). Bo's taken the original DS into school of 'toy day' today, his last at primary school! It's been very hard to find the slots and we certainly do not always succeed with that, but there are hints that the vision in his right eye is slightly improved. He's always supposed to be wearing his glasses, but they went missing for the Christmas Service last week. He did a great job of singing and is justifiably proud of the projected picture that he drew, it happened to be up at the same time as his slot on stage.

We've always been pleased that the school tries hard to represent the true meaning of Christmas. So many others we hear of have mini pantomimes about 'the lost star' or 'the lonely Christmas tree' and avoid any reference to the historical and momentous fact of the incarnation.

Hello carboplatin and etoposide

So Pads had a new drug today, etoposide. He also had carboplatin, which he was switched onto after the cisplatin was thought to be affecting his hearing towards the end of treatment in 2009. This time they're going to be less ginger about side effects in order to give as much of the new treatment regime as possible. Once again, having been buoyant in the morning, he wilted at noon, eventually getting it together again by later on in the afternoon. The dip was at and after the meeting with our consultant and so he was in no mood to welcome the thought of daily injections into his skin. These are the stem-cell stimulant. He won't even have a new needle prick every day, the plan is to use a type of cannula. We're grateful that he was fine to have the chemo, which took about 3 hours, or was it 5... anyway, we won't know how he's reacting to the new treatment until after the drugs start to really take effect, sometime next week.
Later on a couple of his dressings were painstakingly removed. The one near his left collar bone has been quite inhibiting so now he feels a lot freer.
He's been getting regular messages via his mobile phone although I dont think his responses are especially inspired :-) Again, just let me know if you want the number.
In other news, Moli completed her series of exams towards a Welsh GCSE, Ash was off school feeling exhausted and Bo was rather sad at having his bike stolen overnight last night. We've already had offers of help with this and he could, of course, use Pads' bike, but it was a shame all the same.