Thanks for all of the kind comments guys and thanks for the link to your friends blog Michael. He has some stunning photos on there.
Toni's illness was a real shock for us, not so much because of the illness, but the speed with which it took hold. Burkitts Lymphoma is a rarer type of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and one of the most aggressive.
To give an idea of time scale, two weeks before Christmas 2012 we were on holiday in Paris with no symptoms at all. Over the Christmas break Toni was complaining a little because her left leg was swollen and had a few hot/cold flushes. She'd been spending a lot of time at the stables with the horses so we just thought she'd been overdoing things a little. After a few days rest things seemed to settle down a bit. Back to work in January and things started to get worse quite rapidly. Dr visits and hospital tests revealed little at that point, but while we were waiting for an appointment for more tests she suddenly became very ill. January 15th 2013 was the day we had some very heavy snow in Norwich. It took me nearly three hours to get from Wymondham (my work) to the centre of Norwich to pick her up from work. I dropped her off an A&E on the way home because we were that concerned. We got a full diagnosis on 26th January and were told that if she hadn't gone in when she had she would have had only days left.
Treatment was effective and staff were brilliant. She had alternate R-Codox-M and R-IVAC-M chemotherapy. She had bad reactions to the Methotrexate, which she also had by lumbar puncture and picked up infection after infection whilst her immune system was down. Of the four or six rounds that were scheduled she had three because the treatment had to be stopped. Too ill to have any further chemo, she had a C diff infection compounded by pancreatitis caused by the chemo. It wasn't until several months later we were told by the consultant she had once again been a very close call. At this point (early June 2013) she couldn't turn, sit or even pick up a glass of water. Treatment had ceased over a month earlier. In July she was transferred to a rehab ward and told if things went really well she'd might be home by mid September.
It's fair to say she's a determined old stick and once she'd started to feel a little stronger just wanted to come home. Big things come from little steps and her little steps amounted to about six in total with the aid of an Arjo to walk across the corridor. From there it became the length of the ward, then length of the ward with a frame followed by being able to do the trip six times with a little rest in between. Gauntlet thrown, I was getting hourly txt messages giving progress updates with the final one being "I'm coming home Friday", Friday being the 15th August 2013. That's when the hard work really began and she never stopped (still hasn't). Back to work in December part time, adding an extra day every two weeks until being back full time by March this year. As a result of using the walking frame she was left with two frozen shoulders, unable to raise her arms past just below horizontal. Initially the physio was very intensive with me having to spend about three hours a day assisting with exercises. Trust me, it's hard work and exhausting, especially on top of a day job too. Now she can walk about two miles without rest and has almost full movement of her arms back. She's still having regular physio and is on strength building exercises, but it's all paying dividends. Initially the milestones were coming thick and fast. Now they've slowed down a bit, but last month we had our first dance and she did her first jump. The next goal is to wear heels (her, not me) and to ride pillion. The scuba diving and horse riding will have to wait a while, but I'm pretty confident she'll get there.
The NHS treatment we had was absolutely first class. The only slight let down was with the physio, which was simply down to staff shortages. Fortunately we're able to have private physio and I'm sure that has had a big impact of Toni's recovery. As I said previously, she's an incredible woman and went through all of the above never once doubting she'd come through and pretty much had a smile on her face the whole time.
Apologies for the lengthy post, but there isn't a quick way to say it.