I am really sorry that I haven't updated this for a few days. The clinic rang me around 10am on Tuesday to advise me that Cassie's condition had deteriorated again overnight and her abdomen had increased again - this time to 85cm, larger than it had ever been before. The fluids from the drip she was on weren't going to her bladder but were distributing themselves around her body. We were 40 minutes away from the clinic and they needed to do something quickly so said that they could give her diuretics to help rid her body of the excess fluids.

As her red cell blood count was 20 when she was admitted, having gone from 33 at the start of the treatment, she also has to have a blood transfusion. We were praying that this would help her but the prognosis was guarded. We were told that the transfusion would take around 4 hours and we could ring again in the afternoon to see how she was doing. I rang at 3pm and was told that they were still finishing the procedure and would ring back once it was done. When I got the call, I was told that she had started perking up part way into the treatment but, after they gave her the standard drugs to protect her heart and liver, she had gone “flat” again. We were advised to come in to see her as soon as possible and that we would need to make a decision.

When we got there, we were taken into a consulting room and Cassie was wheeled out on a trolley as she was still unable to walk. She was attached to a drip and had a catheter. She had expelled 1kg of fluid after having the diuretics. She seemed pleased to see us and definitely didn’t look as though she were ready to give up the fight yet. They gave us the option of seeing how she went overnight or letting her go.

She had fought to get this far and we thought it only fair to give her another 12 hours to try to turn this around and give the transfusion a chance to work. They said she wasn’t in any pain, just uncomfortable. We didn't want to give up on her yet and, from looking at her, it seemed that she wasn’t ready to give up either. They said that if things got any worse, they would ring us. There would be someone there with her at all times as she was unable to get up at that moment and would need to be turned every so often. We were praying that things would turn around for the better and she would get through this hurdle.