This is a photo Mark sent me of Jimmy back in his office. Knowing Jimmy this would have been a very emotional moment for him. Bellville look after him xx
2015/04/22
Wednesday, 22nd April
I couldn't resist sharing this photo of Jimmy this morning just before he left for work. It felt a bit like when you children start their first day at big school. 17h00 and he is still not home so I can only think it went well.
2015/04/21
Tuesday, 21st April
A year has come and gone...
It was a year last Wednesday to the day that Jimmy was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I have been toying with the idea of doing a recap of the year celebrating what we have overcome, remembering the high lights and special occasions and being reminded of how thankful I am for the blessings that have been handed to me during this time. My head, unfortunately, just had not been in the right space. I'm not sure if its because I am just so happy that it is past or whether my brain is being kind and it will not let me remember....I seem to sit here with a blank. It must be writers block ha ha. I am really keen so think I will start by going back in the blog so watch this space.
Jimmy had his bone marrow biopsy today. From the sound of things I think it was a bit eina. He will admit is was a bit sore but never just how bad and unfortunately the stronger his bones get, the more painful they become. If everything goes according to some good results then hopefully he will only have to have one 2 or 3 times a year. We should get the results of the bone marrow biopsy in about 5 to 7 working days so we have an appointment to see Prof Novitzky on Monday the 4th of May to discuss the results of the bone marrow biopsy and the pathology report with the M-protein results.
They did full blood counts today too and Jimmy's bloods have come down a little more again. White blood cell count is 2.7 (this was 5.1), haemoglobin is 10.3 (this was 10.9), neutrophils are 1.26 (this was 1.57) and his platelets have now dropped to 36. They've dropped from 135 to 66 and today they are 36. We need to go back on Thursday to do more bloods just to check on his platelets again as this could result in bleeding. If they are still low then he will have a platelet transfusion.
Jimmy asked Prof if he can go back to work and Prof said that if Jimmy feels he is ready then he should give it a shot. Jimmy will have to listen to his body and take things easy. So tomorrow morning my man is going to get up and go to work...one year and exactly 1 week since he was diagnosed. This is such a huge big step and I am so happy for Jimmy. Jimmy's white blood cell count is a bit low but we'll keep an eye on his neutrophils and see how this goes. We will also have to see how he feels tomorrow evening. We discussed him working mornings but we both think that alternate days might be better for the first while. He has only been driving for the last week and it is quite a distance to Bellville and back which I am sure is going to tire him. The day to rest in between while he can still work from home on this day would probably be better than getting home each day at 3 feeling totally washed out and not having time to recover. He is still building up his strength and tires quite quickly. We went to friends for a braai on Sunday and Jimmy relaxed in a chair in the shade. We were there for about 4 hours and when he got home he passed out in his chair till about 9pm. He had his first beer in ages and has had gout for 2 days too.
Since last I blogged the school holidays have come to an end. It was lovely having the children here, I really miss the hustle and bustle and a million activities going on all at once. Endless chatter and lots of happiness and laughter. We also celebrated Megan's 22nd birthday on the 11th. I never quite imagined myself with children this old! So special that she is home and we got to spend the day together. Memories I will treasure when she leaves next month again.
Well done Emma on taking part in the Impi Challenge again this year. Much fitter and better prepared than last year. They completed 12km of cross country running and some tough muddy obstacles in 2h45min.
Last Sunday was my niece Shannon's 21st birthday celebration at Perdekloof in Scarborough. She works on super yachts in the USA and is home for 3 weeks so Stan and Michelle organised a surprise get together with all her friends and family. It was such a lovely day out in the fresh air, braaing in the forest.
On Thursday evening Megan had her graduation which was held at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Shannon and I went to share in a very proud moment with her and this was another beautiful evening. It has been lovely to have Shannon home at the same time as Megan, thanks girls for such a fun evening. I'm not looking forward to when you both leave again.
So, as you can see, the better Jimmy gets the more our lives are getting back to normal.
It was a year last Wednesday to the day that Jimmy was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. I have been toying with the idea of doing a recap of the year celebrating what we have overcome, remembering the high lights and special occasions and being reminded of how thankful I am for the blessings that have been handed to me during this time. My head, unfortunately, just had not been in the right space. I'm not sure if its because I am just so happy that it is past or whether my brain is being kind and it will not let me remember....I seem to sit here with a blank. It must be writers block ha ha. I am really keen so think I will start by going back in the blog so watch this space.
Jimmy had his bone marrow biopsy today. From the sound of things I think it was a bit eina. He will admit is was a bit sore but never just how bad and unfortunately the stronger his bones get, the more painful they become. If everything goes according to some good results then hopefully he will only have to have one 2 or 3 times a year. We should get the results of the bone marrow biopsy in about 5 to 7 working days so we have an appointment to see Prof Novitzky on Monday the 4th of May to discuss the results of the bone marrow biopsy and the pathology report with the M-protein results.
They did full blood counts today too and Jimmy's bloods have come down a little more again. White blood cell count is 2.7 (this was 5.1), haemoglobin is 10.3 (this was 10.9), neutrophils are 1.26 (this was 1.57) and his platelets have now dropped to 36. They've dropped from 135 to 66 and today they are 36. We need to go back on Thursday to do more bloods just to check on his platelets again as this could result in bleeding. If they are still low then he will have a platelet transfusion.
Jimmy asked Prof if he can go back to work and Prof said that if Jimmy feels he is ready then he should give it a shot. Jimmy will have to listen to his body and take things easy. So tomorrow morning my man is going to get up and go to work...one year and exactly 1 week since he was diagnosed. This is such a huge big step and I am so happy for Jimmy. Jimmy's white blood cell count is a bit low but we'll keep an eye on his neutrophils and see how this goes. We will also have to see how he feels tomorrow evening. We discussed him working mornings but we both think that alternate days might be better for the first while. He has only been driving for the last week and it is quite a distance to Bellville and back which I am sure is going to tire him. The day to rest in between while he can still work from home on this day would probably be better than getting home each day at 3 feeling totally washed out and not having time to recover. He is still building up his strength and tires quite quickly. We went to friends for a braai on Sunday and Jimmy relaxed in a chair in the shade. We were there for about 4 hours and when he got home he passed out in his chair till about 9pm. He had his first beer in ages and has had gout for 2 days too.
Since last I blogged the school holidays have come to an end. It was lovely having the children here, I really miss the hustle and bustle and a million activities going on all at once. Endless chatter and lots of happiness and laughter. We also celebrated Megan's 22nd birthday on the 11th. I never quite imagined myself with children this old! So special that she is home and we got to spend the day together. Memories I will treasure when she leaves next month again.
Well done Emma on taking part in the Impi Challenge again this year. Much fitter and better prepared than last year. They completed 12km of cross country running and some tough muddy obstacles in 2h45min.
Last Sunday was my niece Shannon's 21st birthday celebration at Perdekloof in Scarborough. She works on super yachts in the USA and is home for 3 weeks so Stan and Michelle organised a surprise get together with all her friends and family. It was such a lovely day out in the fresh air, braaing in the forest.
 |
| Jimmy and myself, my parents and my 2 brothers with their wives and children |
On Thursday evening Megan had her graduation which was held at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Shannon and I went to share in a very proud moment with her and this was another beautiful evening. It has been lovely to have Shannon home at the same time as Megan, thanks girls for such a fun evening. I'm not looking forward to when you both leave again.
So, as you can see, the better Jimmy gets the more our lives are getting back to normal.
2015/04/09
Wednesday, 8th April
Jimmy was due to have his stitches out on Friday but on Thursday we remembered that Friday was a public holiday so we went through to the chemo clinic today to have them removed. They also did bloods again, which we have anxiously been waiting for as we are both suffering from cabin fever now. It's actually worse now that Jimmy is feeling better because all we want to do is go down to the mall together or out for a bite to eat or visit friends but don't want to take the chance that Jimmy gets sick now when he is so close to going back to work.
His white blood count is coming up nicely, although very slowly. At last reading it was 4.4 and today they are 5.1. His Haemoglobin has dropped slightly from 11.1 to 10.9 and his platelets have dropped from 135 to 66. Going by these I think we have been wise to wait it out and should probably carry on for a while longer until his counts are a bit higher. Dorothy didn't say anything about his platelet count to me but then I also couldn't remember when I was discussing these with her what the last reading was. I'll have to give them a ring tomorrow and find out why they think this is.
I also asked about the Myeloma bloods which they did on the 19th March but no one seems to be able to find these. Ilhaam did send through a pathology report via email once we were home but I can't make head or tail of it.
Other than this life goes on. It has been lovely having all the children here for the holidays......
Okay....so this was me writing the blog at 6:30pm yesterday evening. Let me back track a little.
When I printed the pathology report and had a look at it and couldn't make head or tail of it I thought of phoning Cheryl and Nico and asking her if they could perhaps tell me what it meant. But then I had second thoughts and decided that I would rather phone Dr Fine in the morning. All I can say is in the next hour a miracle happened. Within in the next few minutes my cell phone rang and it was Cheryl saying that they had met up with friends for dinner and were in the valley. She had a present for me and wanted to know if they could quickly pop in for a few minutes to say hello and drop off the present. I explained to her that I couldn't believe she had just phoned because not 7 minutes ago I had wanted to phone her to ask her to look at some results for me. They were here in no time and I convinced them to at least stay for a cup of coffee and then showed Nico the pathology report. He read it and then passed it on the Cheryl and the two of them just looked at each other. The next thing Cheryl was jumping up and down with so much excitement and asked us if we knew what this meant. Jimmy and I were both sitting opposite them with what I am sure was the dumbest look on our faces. The report confirmed that the chemo that Jimmy had prior to stem cell transplant had killed all traces of any Myeloma cells. In other words his M-Spike had dropped from 19 to A BIG FAT ZERO!!
Jimmy and I just looked at each other as this news sank in. He had tears running down his cheeks. It was such a shock....I had been preparing myself for the worst and Prof had on more than one occasion mentioned to us that we must understand that Jimmy's body had not reacted positively to previous chemo. He had even mentioned the possibility of another stem cell transplant....It's very hard to explain how I was feeling. Very much like the day we were told Jimmy had cancer....a dream.
Nico and Cheryl very kindly explained what this all meant and what was involved in the different tests that had been done to ensure that there wasn't the chance that a small M-spike had been missed.
So.....today I feel like I am walking or floating around in a dream. The old cliché of wanting to pinch yourself to make sure you are not dreaming rings very true. I have the constant feeling of butterflies in my stomach, like when you are a child and excitedly awaiting a special surprise, nervous but in the most wonderful way.
Jimmy, I love you so much. This has been one hell of a journey and I so look forward to continuing it at your side on the road to recovery.
His white blood count is coming up nicely, although very slowly. At last reading it was 4.4 and today they are 5.1. His Haemoglobin has dropped slightly from 11.1 to 10.9 and his platelets have dropped from 135 to 66. Going by these I think we have been wise to wait it out and should probably carry on for a while longer until his counts are a bit higher. Dorothy didn't say anything about his platelet count to me but then I also couldn't remember when I was discussing these with her what the last reading was. I'll have to give them a ring tomorrow and find out why they think this is.
I also asked about the Myeloma bloods which they did on the 19th March but no one seems to be able to find these. Ilhaam did send through a pathology report via email once we were home but I can't make head or tail of it.
Other than this life goes on. It has been lovely having all the children here for the holidays......
Okay....so this was me writing the blog at 6:30pm yesterday evening. Let me back track a little.
When I printed the pathology report and had a look at it and couldn't make head or tail of it I thought of phoning Cheryl and Nico and asking her if they could perhaps tell me what it meant. But then I had second thoughts and decided that I would rather phone Dr Fine in the morning. All I can say is in the next hour a miracle happened. Within in the next few minutes my cell phone rang and it was Cheryl saying that they had met up with friends for dinner and were in the valley. She had a present for me and wanted to know if they could quickly pop in for a few minutes to say hello and drop off the present. I explained to her that I couldn't believe she had just phoned because not 7 minutes ago I had wanted to phone her to ask her to look at some results for me. They were here in no time and I convinced them to at least stay for a cup of coffee and then showed Nico the pathology report. He read it and then passed it on the Cheryl and the two of them just looked at each other. The next thing Cheryl was jumping up and down with so much excitement and asked us if we knew what this meant. Jimmy and I were both sitting opposite them with what I am sure was the dumbest look on our faces. The report confirmed that the chemo that Jimmy had prior to stem cell transplant had killed all traces of any Myeloma cells. In other words his M-Spike had dropped from 19 to A BIG FAT ZERO!!
Jimmy and I just looked at each other as this news sank in. He had tears running down his cheeks. It was such a shock....I had been preparing myself for the worst and Prof had on more than one occasion mentioned to us that we must understand that Jimmy's body had not reacted positively to previous chemo. He had even mentioned the possibility of another stem cell transplant....It's very hard to explain how I was feeling. Very much like the day we were told Jimmy had cancer....a dream.
Nico and Cheryl very kindly explained what this all meant and what was involved in the different tests that had been done to ensure that there wasn't the chance that a small M-spike had been missed.
So.....today I feel like I am walking or floating around in a dream. The old cliché of wanting to pinch yourself to make sure you are not dreaming rings very true. I have the constant feeling of butterflies in my stomach, like when you are a child and excitedly awaiting a special surprise, nervous but in the most wonderful way.
Jimmy, I love you so much. This has been one hell of a journey and I so look forward to continuing it at your side on the road to recovery.