The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The good news today is that the stitches have been removed - without pain according to Jini. In addition, Jini is to leave hospital tomorrow, Friday 31st. As you can imagine she is rather pleased about that!

The bad news, and hence my recent hesitation in writing to the blog, is that another 'solid mass' has been discovered in her 'mediastinal area'. OK, I'm not one for anatomy but apparently this is the part of the chest between the sternum and the spinal column. It contains the oesophagus, the heart, trachea and other important stuctures. Naturally, although she remains in high spirits she is disappointed about this news. She now has another MRI scan to attend in Coimbra tomorrow Friday 31st March. Cuimbra is some 2 hours drive from Castello Branco. It was last Tuesday morning that the surgeon, Dr. João, whilst in the corridor came to Jini and said 'I have some bad news for you' and Dr. Manuela shortly after said that Jini had been 'unlucky'. Of course, Jini was amused at the way the news was delivered. She is now left thinking that they are the 'masters of understatement':-)).

So, I guess we move to a new phase of treatment in the near future. Any further treatment would take place at Coimbra since they specialise in Cardio-vascular. Over the next week the results of the MRI and various tissue samples should be available and should enable an accurate diagnosis to be made. We all remain hopeful that the two 'tumours' are not connected - Jini recalls that over the past 20 or so years she has had minor breathing problems and this may be the result of an 'enlarged' Thymus gland. We wait. In the meantime Jini will be returning home and that is good news for her.

Friends, to many to mention here, continue to be extremely supportive in whatever way they can. Phone calls, visits, offers of direct help - we really do appreciate them. Thanks.

Yesterday, one of Jini's 'old' friends, Yana, flew in from Zurich to see her. Yana has family here in CB. It was good to see them together. Staff at the hospital also continue to be very supportive.