Zoe: On the day we reached over 100,000 hits

The transfer deadline day is always a bit strange. Nothing quite goes to plan and there's always a flurry of activity towards the close of play. Today was no exception.

08.30: Ring the Whittington and say we are on our way. (Sonny was due to have a routine infusion of immunoglobulin which takes hours and hours and hours and hours
09.00: The bag of amusing things to do and munch was packed and ready so we set off hoping to be out of there in time to pick Ruby up from school
09.15:  Sonny was at home in bed having puked in the car at the end of the road.
09.30: Ring GOSH for advice
10.30: Sonny comes downstairs feeling a bit ropey but he seems to be ok
13.30: Sonny asks for pasta and pesto (phew)
14.00: Community nurse arrives to change dressing, check blood pressure and take bloods
16.00: Ruby arrives home (thanks Jo)
16.05: GOSH return call and they think he may have a virus
17.30: Text message from community nurse with blood results - he needs to drink more
18.00: Whittington call. GOSH have requested that we go to the Whittington immediately for further blood tests, ECG, Xray and ultra sound
18.10: Sonny gets dressed but asks why we can't just do all this tomorrow
18.15: GOSH agree to everything being done in the morning on the understanding if he's sick again or anything changes that we take him straight to the Whittington
18.50: Sonny shouts up a fish finger sandwich
19.50: Sonny wins Top Gear Top Trumps
20.45: Sonny goes to bed
22.30: Gavin delighted, Arsenal have signed both Torres and Andy Carroll and there's still half and hour to go.

Zoe: Paranoid Parenting

Sonny is sick of me asking him how he is feeling.  Gavin and I scrutinise his every waking move for signs of the dreaded disease returning. He's very tired today and was also tired yesterday. He left a corner off a hot cross bun this morning at breakfast and he hasn't wanted to eat any lunch. This can all be attributed to the steroid dose being reduced of course and I need to calm down or I'll drive everyone mental.

Zoe: We're on our way... we're on our way

The mighty Arsenal are going to Wembley and so are we - yippee. Thanks to my brother who appears to lead some sort of secret playboy life he's managed to stop skiing for a few minutes, pull a few strings, see a man about a dog and lovely jubbly Paul's your uncle. Voila!  First class, top notch corporate box fumigated for Sonny - must remember to tell them he can't eat prawn sandwiches.

Gavin: Butch Cassidy and the Sonshine Kid

Sonny has started to develop a rash on his arms and feet that the consultants today at clinic have said is Stage I GVHD. This (we reckon) is good, as it's what we've always been after, a visual indication that the cells are fighting. Of course, as with all good news there's a flip side which is let's not hope it goes to Stage II or... well, you get the idea.
While there, Zoe inquired about a residential summer camp in Ireland, founded by Paul Newman, for kids that are seriously ill. Turns out that GOSH are heavily involved in putting forward the most deserving cases (obviously) and we have now started the process of enrolling him for August. It looks unbelievable, with fully paid up flights from Heathrow and resident Oncologists and nurses there to change dressings and offer 24hr care. We can go as a family, but Sonny is insistent that he does ten days on his own, feeling that this is his chance to get back his confidence and be away from his fussing parents.
Just imagine how difficult it will be saying goodbye to him at departures and then managing to get all the way back to the check-in desk so we don't miss our flight to Dublin or wherever it is half an hour away.

Zoe: Dowager Countess of Grantham

Everyday's a weekend for me and Sonny. Today was spent munching popcorn at the cinema watching Green Hornet. Terrible but great fun in a what the heck its Monday afternoon and everyone else is at work   kinda way. Sorry folks but we're busy enjoying ourselves.

Zoe: Morning!

Yesterday was spent getting over the excess of Gav's birthday. It was a celebration in itself for being able to physically go out and mark the event. Now its Saturday morning and Sonny has gone out with Gav to pick up Ruby from kick-boxing with a spring in his step. He was up before us this morning and texted me to see if I wanted a boiled egg for breakfast (cute).  Eggcellent (sorry).

Zoe: Ears something else to think about

Really long day today but the good outweighed the bad. We went to clinic at GOSH where we discussed how good Sonny's PET scan was and began reducing his steroids to allow the DLI to keep working. Then Sonny had a hearing test which wasn't so good. We've been worried about his hearing for a few weeks but now we're at home we've noticed its becoming a bit of a problem for him and the test confirmed this. We were warned that the chemo might do this but all his hearing tests during chemo were normal so this may have happened after the seizure or because of the huge amounts of antibiotics hes just had or the DLI doing strange as well as magical things. We'll find out more soon as the doctor only had his results to look at and needs to spend a bit of time going through his medical history before jumping to any conclusions but basically it could get better, it could get worse or it could stay the same - that's all the boxes ticked then doc...   Luckily, we got home in time to see Arsenal finally thrash Leeds.

Zoe: Chirpy Chappy

Today was a good day. The best day I've had with Sonny since being home actually. Its amazing how a new idea grabs hold of him and the new twitter thing really pulled him out of the doldrums. Thank you so much to everybody who signed up to follow him today. He was chuffed to bits and its really helped lift his spirits which were worrying me. It was a day of achievements too. I'd tentatively agreed for the teacher to visit. As well as being concerned about how much he'd be able to concentrate I was also concerned about the fatigue he'd feel by simply sitting in a chair at a table. It was a nice gentle lesson and he managed at least an hour and a half which was much, much more than I expected him to cope with. The physio also came round to help him get back on his feet. She'd been following the blog and was pleasantly surprised with the strength he had (she's seen him much worse). His physical repair has been like a never ending game of snakes and ladders. For now we are on the bottom rung but lets hope its one of the long ladders.

Gavin: Tweet to who?

As there's only so much football on telly, finding things to keep Sonny amused while he's cooped up for most of the day isn't easy. So, I floated the idea of a Twitter account and he's off. Please, please, please be your usual amazing selves and click here to follow him. He was delighted to get so much activity on his blog (unfortunately now out of favour despite how good he was at it) that if he can see similar levels on Twitter he may well carry it on. If you don't, you may well miss out on such gems as 'off to bed now'.

http://twitter.com/sonnyvanpersie

Gavin: Strike

We haven't blogged for a couple of days but rest assured, everything's alright. He's tired and a bit fed up of feeling like he can't do much but watching football in HD on the big telly soon cheers him up. It's Ruby's 10th party today where about 398 kids are bowling followed by a disco. Sonny asked me to stay with him so Zo has drafted in lots of chaperones. I'm gutted, not just because I'm missing the party but I reckon I could have won.