Thursday, May 21, 2009

5 years for Mati, 10 for BSW and triple whammy for Bella



Matilde hit the ripe old age of 5 and she has celebrated in style today at school. She trotted off with donuts to share with her class, including her friend Marina - born on the same day in the same hospital!!



At school the much anticipated 10th anniversary celebrations took place. There were various activities including the almost simultaneous release of nearly 500 balloons into the air. The singing of Celebration and Happy Birthday by Key Stage One was very cool. Well done to all.

Isabella and Gregorio have just watched the video of the singing in their hospital suite where they have been all afternoon. Yep this morning's visit revealed a triple whammy - fever, neutropenic and her central line is not working. After numerous attempts to draw blood an x-ray with dye revealed a leaking line. So antibiotics for the virus, two nights as an in-patient for the neutropenia and we're in discussions with surgeon about the timing to replace the line. ...it could be as early as tomorrow, Friday.....




Not exactly how we envisaged Mati's birthday. She has been a trooper I guess all the sugar during the day helped and now she, Bella and Gregorio are watching a movie while eating a packet of crisps. What more could she want?!

Bella does seem better than this morning and will hopefully be home on Saturday. Obviously no chemo today and they have decided to ommit this round and so once she recovers from this virus she is fighting and the surgery to insert a new central line she'll be able to enjoy 3 weeks without chemo.



Gregorio has opted for the hospital sofa tonight, for which I am extremely grateful. Thankfully we have a long weekend ahead of us, and the girls have the whole week off from school.



Love
Emma and Gregorio xxx

Friday, May 15, 2009

Egg and spoon racers


End of another week full of activities. On Sunday Gregorio and the girls spoilt me with adorable mother's day cards and a cup of tea in bed (not quite breakfast but still gratefully received) followed by a lovely family walk in the park. This week Isabella has been busy with the end of year 'quizzes' (don't even get me started on the British educational need to test 7 year olds) and today both girls gave it their all in the school sports day. Verdict: the Impavido girls are good at balance and coordination - egg and spoon race was a doddle, but when it comes to pure running, it seems to be more about unique style rather than speed. Gregorio refused to join me in the parent's 3-legged race. As we now know, he's a serious runner!









Given all this excitement we are having treatment today, on Friday afternoon, so that Isabella could join in all the fun with her friends. The girls are in the art room now, eating cherries and brownies left over from the picnic while we wait for the chemo to be ready. The blood counts are a little low, but not drastically, probably related to the small cold she has. We are still proceeding with chemo. We're hoping there'll be no fever this week-end and all will proceed as 'normal'. We are at round 3 of cycle 3, one more week and then another break. Isabella does seem to be getting stronger and stronger with each week, even her hair is starting to grow back, despite being on treatment. This has pleased her greatly.

We'll take it easy this week-end and hopefully Isabella will be up to all the fun things going on, especially her first piano recital on Sunday. We have been practicing religiously and the stuffed toys, Matilde, Gregorio and I have been duly attending the practice rehearsals in the study.

And next week there seems to be even more going on what with the school's 10th anniversary celebrations and Matilde's 5th birthday. The girls have been learning a celebration song for the school festivities. Isabella insisted on looking something up on the computer, I was having difficulty understanding what she needed, and she certainly put me in my technological place "Oh mother, you don't understand anything about YouTube!" and proceeded to find what she was looking for.
And Gregorio is gearing Isabella up for her Italian end of year test. I think we'll be happy to reach half term at the end of the week. The parent's of Isabella and Matilde's future cousin are coming to stay. Matilde has all the baby stuff ready for it (it isn't due till September). But what we are really looking forward to is the pool opening at the end of next week. So, Mr Weatherman, summer can officially begin please, enough rain.
Love,

Emma & Gregorio. xxx





















Monday, May 4, 2009

We did it!



Despite the pouring rain, Gregorio and I ran 5K on Sunday morning in the Race for Hope fundraising event. This is us at the end of the race. Neither of us are runners and apart from one miserable attempt about a month ago, I don't think I have run since the Gosport Fun Run along Stokes Bay in 1982! Some of you will remember that.


As we crossed the start line on Pennsylvania Avenue at 9 am, the rain was beginning, Gregorio's knees started to rise and he was off and out of site in a flash. At that point I thought I am going to run this all the way. 5K is nothing for many of you but it was an achievement for both of us. It was a pretty good feeling on hearing "Emma from Washington, YOU DID IT!" I can begin to understand what it must be like to run a marathon - maybe that's next!!


The rain got heavier as we went round the course, which only added to the emotion of the morning. There were about 10,000 people participating in the run/walk and prior to setting off all those taking part who were brain cancer survivors paraded past.



We started the race with Federica and Maddalena, pictured here. Later we met up with Team Ecuador. There were also some other people who ran and walked the course, who we didn't find and a number of you who braved the wet weather to cheer us on. We are sorry we missed you but thank you very much for the support.




The kids completed their Fun Run in the pouring rain also and are now the proud wearers of their medals.



Most importantly we have raised a significant amount for the Children's Hospital Team. To date Team Impavido has raised a total of:


$4,860.


Thank you very much for your generosity.



And here's the final picture of the day with Ale and Gigi, without whose support before and after the event we would not have managed.




Emma and Gregorio. xxx


PS yes we are hobbling around today :)