Evening update - September 4

The first post was written before we saw Marika on Thursday morning. She was still in Emergency - a really dark room in isolation, no windows...not good for our outdoors-loving birder. (That said, the staff were amazing.) She was not very responsive this morning, being quite drugged out. The nurse did say that she had made excellent improvement on the thrush (not the bird variety) that had been plaguing her mouth and throat.

Vicky arrived midday and when we went to the hospital, Mum had been moved to the Cancer Hospice. She has her own room, and it has a window from which you can see trees and sky. She lit up when Vicky walked in, and was able to communicate despite her overall grogginess. She asked about world events and what was going on in our lives. "I'm in a right pickle," she stated - clearly her sense of humour is still working despite all the medication. Vicky virtually gave her a spa treatment, spraying her face with a water-spray bottle the nurses had given us, applying lotion to her back, hands, and feet...she could have been a Florence Nightingale if she hadn't gone into the wine business. It didn't take long for mum to get quite tired, though, but she was fortunately more lucid than in the past couple of days.

When face-to-face with someone in this state, it is hard to imagine someone getting better, but this is apparently what the old days of chemo were like, and that's where this treatment took her. Unfortunately, the overall prognosis is still not good - the cancer has spread, though right now the main challenge seems to be the tough physical state she's in from the treatment one week ago.

Feel free to leave us messages on this page by clicking the 'comments' button below this posting, not the email button. Emails sent to Marika might occasionally be checked but this is the best way to reach us all. We very much appreciate your concern and best wishes.