Isita came home from GOSH on Wednesday night but her recovery is far from over. She is still in a bit of pain and is a bit wobbly. She has lost some weight and although she is hungry, she can’t eat properly yet. All the chicken broth she drank on Thursday evening came out again before she went to bed and again this morning, so Marta had to take her to St Mary’s Paddington. Luckily they did not find any fundamental problem (for instance a blockage in her bowels). They think she has a stomach bug. The answer is to take things slow and easy. Regular sips of water or diluted juice and then some light food when she is ready. 

While we are concerned about this – and the immediate concern always trumps every other feeling – we also have good cause to be as happy as possible. As soon as Isita is right, we have some remarkable news to celebrate with her. On Thursday midday Isita’s consultant Giuseppe gave Marta the results of the laboratory analysis of the tumour. Most of it was dead, he said. The small part that was still alive had differentiated. This is the term used to describe cancer cells that have converted back into something more like regular cells as a result of the treatment. In other words, even before the surgery took place and while the tumour was still in place Isita was free of cancer. She had a lump but not a cancerous one. There could hardly have been a better result. We still have to complete the treatment. So radiotherapy will start in the next week or so and go on until early in the new year. Then there will then be a series of end of treatment tests and further tests every three months to make sure the cancer has not returned. But for now, and possibly for some time already it has been entirely absent. This is a truly marvellous thing to know.