Proton planning starts on Monday

The last few days Eloise has been at home and has had such a fantastic time!  It’s been a joy to see Eloise love ‘normal things’ such as going to feed the horses up the road, see the ducks, play in the garden and just enjoy being at home.  She is doing utterly amazingly – running around, eating a bit more each day (still having her NG feeds too), and her language is really coming on.  Eloise has also really appreciated seeing some of her family (grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins) in the garden when they have popped by.  But most of all she has just loved playing with her big sister Anna… as always.

We’ve now had it confirmed that Eloise will have Proton Beam Therapy planning next week.  We will travel up to Manchester on Sunday, with the first appointment starting at 7.45am on Monday morning.  We’ve been told to plan to be in Manchester for the week.  Eloise’s blood counts were good yesterday, and she will have more blood tests tomorrow – we hope these results show that she won’t require any transfusions tomorrow, so we don’t need to spend more time in hospital. Either way – we can still go up for proton planning on Monday (yay!).

How do we feel?

• Really grateful that Eloise’s proton planning has been confirmed and booked for next week.  It’s great to have it confirmed and not feel anxious about continued delays.
• Grateful and happy to have some family days at home (interspersed with community nurse visits, CPR training, telephone appointments etc).  It’s lovely to see Eloise doing so unbelievably well and see her character blossom again.  She’s still got a sense of humour….

For those that pray:

• Pray that nothing causes any delay from Eloise starting proton planning, and ultimately proton therapy.  For things to go smoothly over the next few weeks – for no infections, for blood results to be stable etc.
• Pray for protection against any growth/relapse.  Eloise will have an MRI on Tuesday (for proton planning purposes) – please pray this shows no growth/relapse, and that any ‘post-operative changes/scarring’ from surgery are the same and even improving!
• Pray that Eloise continues to grow strong, love life and keep fighting on!
• Please also pray for another family in the USA that we have come to know.  Savannah (Savannah be Strong) is one month younger than Eloise and also has an ETMR and her tumour is in a very, very similar location to Eloise’s.  Savannah is currently undergoing surgery to remove the tumour.  Please pray for this surgery!  All the prayer points that we’ve said before for us, also stand for this little girl and her family too.