Finally I am writing in my blogg

Yes finally I am writing on my blogg - it won't be a long one as my hands still shake a fair bit. The past few weeks have been extremely difficult but the end result that the cancer has shrunk so much is so wonderful. My tummy troubles have eased now and I am now just waiting for my body to make a full recovery. Today my haemoglobin level was 98 (above 115 is normal - I am having a blood transfusion today), my white cell count was 1.8 (4.5 or above is normal) and my neutrophils are 1.2 (above 1.5 is normal). The reason they have all dropped is that I am off the daily injections to boost everything and now my body has taken over cell production. Once all of my counts are normal then I will be allowed home. Hopefully that will be sometime soon. Then they will start the next round of chemo once I am strong enough to cope with it but they do not want to wait too long so it will likely be around the 29th of May still.

On another note altogether there is something I would like to tell everyone about - I will write another blogg later on with the full details however right now I am just going to blurt it out. This will be hard for some to believe but there was a nun called Catherine McAuley that started the Sisters of Mercy (an Order of Catholic nuns). The Vatican is going through the process of making her a saint (beatification). In order to become a saint she needs to perform 3 miracles - she has already performed 2. There are many people around the world being prayed for for the third miracle and I am one of those people being prayed for (pretty exciting). Obviously hearing all of this has restored my faith in God and a few other things that I will explain later also have led me to believe in heaven and reincarnation.

Anyway I would like to ask all of you who feel comfortable in praying to say the following prayers -

Prayer for Beatification of Catherine
Loving God, you chose Catherine McAuley for the service of your peoplewho are poor, sick and uneducated. You inspired her to found the Sisters of Mercy so that these good works might endure. Give to each of us a portion of her compassionate spirit and an ardent desire to serve your suffering people. Bless all our undertakings and grant that union and charity may always thrive among us.Graciously hear our prayer for Catherine, and by granting the favours we ask through her intercession, hasten the day when her sanctity will be celebrated by all the church.Amen


Prayer for a Sick Person (that would be me!)
O beloved Catherine, through the power of my most compassionate Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I humbly beseech you to look with love and pity on Bernadette who is ill at this time. Stir up in me the same passion that impelled you to respond to the needs of your time. Bless me with the sure knowledge of your presence and with a complete trust in your providence. Use once again your spirit of compassion and your ardent desire to alleviate suffering and to restore her/him to full health if it is God's holy will. I ask this in the name of Jesus who lives and reigns with the Father in unity of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Thankyou everyone for your love and support.

Love Bernadette

Scan results are in - Good news we have shrinkage

Hi Everyone,
its Natalie here Bernies (Bernadette to everyone else) little sister in london, playing PA again.. The results of the latest scan are in – its good news – the cancer has shrunk. Mass 1 (the original cancer) in the last scan was 47mm X 47mm this one has now shrunk to 12mm X 25mm. Mass 2 (the second cancer they found in Feb) in the last scan was 26mm X 26mm and this one has shrunk to 12mm X 18mm. During this round, she did get rather sick, and needed to spend a few days in intensive care as she got a few infections which she caught from her own body. But her determined fighting attitude and the wonder of modern medicine, she is now feeling much much better (she has started bossing us all around again and giving us orders) and is recovering well. She still has a few tummy problems but hopefully they will also get better soon. Mum has been at the hospital at lot helping take care of her.

They are planning on starting round 2 (her 2nd stem cell transplant process) on around the 29th May (as long as she has recovered enough by then otherwise it might be slightly delayed). She will start by having 6 days of high dose chemo called BEAM, and then she will get given some of her stem cells back at day 7 and then she will need to rest and recover. We hope she will recover in the same speedy time as she has for round 1 (the doctors have been impressed with her quick recovery). Then she will have about 1 month to recover and then they will start a month of radiation treatment, and (cross our fingers) she will be cancer free (in remission).. BUT, if at the end of all of this, if that stubborn cancer is still there, the doctors now know of a few other types of high dose treatments that can be used. And she will still have enough stem cells for at least another 2 stem cell transplants (if that cancer thinks it can win, it doesn’t really know who it is fighting, my sister is more stubborn and will fight stronger than anything, so if it knows what is best for it, it should just give up now).

Bernie requests, that if everyone can pray to Catherine McAuley for her to make a complete healing.

Bye for now - Nat