Saturday, 28th June

I am getting messages from friends saying that I am very quiet and should they be worried but I am sitting here wondering what interesting news there is to share but afraid to say there isn't much.  When the going gets good the reporting gets quiet.

Jimmy is still doing very well.  He seems to have reached a plateau and staying there.  His white blood cell counts are still much better than they were but by no means what they should be.  He is feeling so good that we have to remind ourselves that he can't just go out into crowded spaces etc where there is the chance of picking up a germ and getting a cold or an infection.  He has been complaining that his back is feeling stiff and uncomfortable (not painful) but I think this is because he is doing a bit more than usual and he gets tired very quickly.  He definitely doesn't do standing around very well.

I had a sore gland in my neck and scratchy throat for 3 days and thought I was coming down with something.  My stomach was also feeling a bit queasy and I was wondering how we were going to cope if I get sick, apart from the fact that I can pass it on to Jimmy, but I am happy to say this old body put up a fight and I am feeling much better today.  It's now two and half months since I have done any running and exercising and I am starting to feel it.  Each weekend I convince myself that I am going to start on Monday again but, I am just not in that frame of mind.  I don't know why, because I know it will be very good for me.
 
We were supposed to be in Port Elizabeth this weekend to watch the Springboks vs Scotland game (Rob and Arlene...we thinking of you!!).  This one has some serious family rivalry as Jimmy is Scottish.   Jimmy's folks live in a cottage on our grounds and although his father doesn't really follow rugby, he usually does show an interest in this game.  It was all quiet on their side and the more tries we scored the less chance I thought there was of them popping over.

This is who came to visit as soon as the game ended!

Jimmy's Dad, Ewen

And I think there was method in his madness because we completely forget to rub in that he had lost 55-6.  Thanks Rohan and Patsy for a lovely evening.  There is nothing like inviting your friends over for a braai and rugby and they have to braai :)

Wednesday, 25th June

Wednesday.... and that means my girls are here for the night.  What a blessing, the house even feels warmer when they are here :)

It's been a busy week so far, work wise, for both of us.  Jimmy in his chair with his laptop and telephone, his side table is starting to look like a regular desk, and me at my desk in my office which is in a corner of the room.  I am loving working together like this.  Not many of you can say you love your colleague! (sticking my tongue out).  I have a big import which cleared customs in CT this morning and will be delivered tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing the new releases of some of the models I sell.  Apart from, of course, the fact that I am now Jimmy PA 24/7.  Next he'll have me answering his phone!

We had our friends the Mortimer's around for dinner this evening, a sort of end of exams celebration and a  catch-up with Clive before he leaves again.  It's lovely to hear Jimmy laughing and he managed to sit at the dining room table for an entire meal, including desert.  Amazing how we measure our blessings these days.  Go babes!!!

I am sure from this you can gather that everything is good on this side and the last signs of nausea have now also dissipated.  Strange how in spite of this I felt quite down yesterday.  The over analyser that I am, I tried to think this one through.  I thought it might be the bump back to reality after such a nice two days away but have to say that as nice as it was, it was just long enough and I actually looked forward to coming home.  This is now our safe place.  I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I am just too scared that it is too good to be true at the moment.  Monday we see Prof for Jimmy's pre-start-of-a-new-cycle appointment and if everything is going to schedule then we start the 4th cycle of chemo on Tuesday.  We will also have a clearer picture on Monday of how things are going and I am sure Prof will have some idea of whether he will go with 4 or 6 cycles of chemo in total, although a definite decision will only be made after blood works at the end of the 4th cycle.  This of course also means that the stem cell transplant is looming closer....the new unknown.  Just like chemotherapy was in the beginning but has now become a way of life.  I am 'poep bang' and worry that I will be able to cope and be strong enough for Jimmy.  But I do remind myself that I have to look at the bigger picture and it definitely will all be worth it in the end.

And I know now that together we can do anything.

Monday, 23rd June

Wow, it feels like a month has gone by since I blogged on here....and this can only mean that the weekend away worked like a dream.

On Friday evening we were toying with the  idea of sneaking off for a night or two.  Jimmy has been feeling so well, the weather is definitely a bit milder and the thought of a lost chance just wasn't worth the gamble.  Some time away and more than anything, a break from the home routine and a change in scenery sounded like something the doctor had ordered.  So on Saturday morning we were on our respective computers, surfing the net.  Jimmy chose The Whale Coast Hotel in Hermanus for Saturday night and my choice for Sunday night was The Houw Hoek Inn Hotel.  We phoned my Mom and Dad and asked them if they wanted to join us and meet us at lunch time on Sunday at the Houw Hoek Inn and sleep the night to which they were eager beavers.

And what a lovely, relaxing and very chilled weekend we enjoyed.  We had a delicious meal out on Saturday evening at the Harbour Rock Restaurant and slept in on Sunday morning.  We checked out and had coffee and a muffin for breakfast at a little place around the corner from the hotel and then went for a short walk at the old harbour.  I drove through to The Houw Hoek Inn as Jimmy was feeling a bit nauseous.  We met my parents there for lunch and then checked in and had an afternoon snooze.  Jimmy wasn't feeling too well so he relaxed in the room, which was lovely and warm and cosy thanks to a roaring fireplace, while we went for a lovely walk around the establishment and my parents treated me to scones and cream for afternoon tea.  Dinner was super, sitting right next to the lovely warm fire place.  This morning we slept in again, had a late breakfast and left to come home at lunch time.  Last night we were the only quests in the hotel and were made to feel very special with allot of personal attention during dinner and breakfast.

Tomorrow is the last day of exams....yay!!!!  And also last chemo treatment, so the end of cycle 3 which means we have Friday to look forward to with no chemo.  Our next appointment with Prof Novitzky is on Monday and I am looking forward to seeing what Jimmy's M spike is (the presence of monoclonal proteins (M proteins) - referred to as an M spike - in his blood.  I truly believe that this must have come down as he is so much better and not experiencing half the pain he did in the beginning.  Knowing the blood results for the presence of protein and the results of a bone marrow biopsy are the best ways of knowing how Jimmy is reacting to the chemo as Prof will compare these results to the first ones he did.

Jimmy is still a bit nauseous today but a little better than yesterday.  Amazing to think that he has almost come through the orange chemo this time with hardly any side effects.

Dinner on Saturday night at The Houw Hoek Inn

Standing in front of the entrance to the pub, built in 1762,  at The Houw Hoek Inn with my Mom and Dad

PS  I have added an album of our weekend under 'Things We Do' on the left hand side of the blog.

Friday, 20th June

And this about sums everything up!

I spent Wednesday sort of waiting for the nausea to set in after Tuesday's chemo but staying as positive as possible at the same time.  By bedtime on Wednesday night all was still good.  It's quite difficult to balance your feelings and I know by now I should not be expecting good or bad days but rather just taking the days as they come but this is easier said than done.  I went to bed with an exited feeling backed up by 'but it might start tomorrow so don't let your guard down'.

Jimmy mentioned a couple of times on Tuesday and Wednesday that he might go into work on Thursday.  We discussed it again on Wednesday night and decided we would see how he felt on Thursday morning before making a final decision.  The girls slept over on Wednesday night and I got up to take Emma to school and when I got home Jimmy was showered and dressed in his work clothes all by himself.  I didn't even have to ask....he left at 8:15 am for the drive to Bellville.

 I had quite a busy day planned with Megan; we had to go to the bank to sort out her accounts and back to Capago (the Italian Consulate) to sort out her schengen visa application.  This also went very well.  We had felt so despondent last time when the lady that helped us said that unless we had certain paperwork she would not even accept the application.  I tried to get as many of the documents that she asked for as I could and wrote down explanations for the ones I could not get as quoted by NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines).  We were lucky enough to be helped by Dominick who is so friendly and helpful.  He didn't even look at my explanations page and said that none of these things were necessary for the visa application because Megan was employed by NCL and would be looked after by them with regards to transport to and from the ship, a return flight and medical insurance etc.

Jimmy got home at 3:15 pm, we had an early supper and he was snoozing in his chair in front of the tv in no time, quite exhausted.  He said the day went fairly well, he did find that he was very tired and his back got very painful towards the end.  But I believe he is feeling very chuffed with himself and I think it has also done him so much good being able to touch base with everyone at the office and see his staff again.

Chemo went well today too.  They had to abort the cortisone injection half way as this was just too painful for Jimmy today.  Funny how the tingling in his hands and fingers, which was a side effect of the Velcade, has gone but now he gets tingling, shooting pains up and down his spine and down his legs as they are administering the cortisone.  Sister Olivia says that Prof will more than likely half the dose to try and alleviate Jimmy's pain.  We had mentioned it to him when we last saw him and he said that it had to be administered much slower but Olivia says that it does need to be slow but if is too slow it will 'bung' everything up.  Sounds like there is quite a knack to this.  Jimmy's bloods were also okay today.  White blood cell and haemaglobin counts were both down and not as good as Tuesday but this is be expected from the orange chemo.

Jimmy having his chemo administered

It looks like it is going to be another cold wintry weekend and we are toying with the idea of sneaking off for a night or two.  We don't have the children this weekend and from next weekend it is school holidays, and in any case, we only have to be back for chemo next Tuesday ;) Somewhere cozy with a log fire sounds very inviting.

Tuesday, 17th June

We really are revelling in the good days...

Chemotherapy went well today.  A little bit longer than normal but that is because Jimmy had the extra orange chemo and this treatment is done with a drip, quite a few actually.

His white blood cell count is up to 4.5, quite amazing.  From 1.2 to 2.8 and today 4.5!  A little bloods education:  A normal white blood cell count (immunity) is between 4 and 11.  A normal red blood cell count or haemoglobin (anaemia) is between 13 and 18 for men and Jimmy's is 9.6.  Normal platelets is between 150 and 400 and Jimmy's is 268.  He also still has no back pain although he did wake up with a bit of gout this morning but it's all good now.  It is after 8pm and no signs of any side effects from the orange chemo he had today....in fact I can't stop smiling.

Jimmy is feeling so good that he has even started talking about having a party for his 50th in September.  He will probably be in isolation on his birthday but he is planning on celebrating at the end of September.

My blessings today.....we are so blessed.

Monday, 16th June

Just  a quick long weekend update....

We've been taking Jimmy's temperature every couple of hours the whole weekend and although he still has a cold he's temperature never went above 36. 1 and by this afternoon he was feeling much better so I think we are safely out of the woods..

Some more very good news is that he hasn't taken any pain killers, Coxflam or nausea tablets for two days.  This is a definitely a  sign that the site of the tumour in  his spine is decreasing.  Obviously the Myelome  is our biggest concern but Jimmy's pain is what was mostly affecting his quality of life and chemotherapy is making a huge difference now.

Tomorrow we have chemo again and if his white blood count is down then the treatment will be done with a drip and he'll also have the extra orange chemo. We are holding thumbs he has no side effects this time around and hopefully we can go away for the weekend next weekend.  Jimmy is looking forward to a bit of  a change in scenery.

We spent a quiet Father's Day at home, I made lunch and Jimmy's parents joined us.  We had a terrible storm here on Saturday night and the wind was so strong that it blew our solar panels off our roof and they landed in our neighbour's garden.

Wishing you all a good week, a short one!  And thinking of our children writing exams, one week closer to the end of the term.

Saturday, 14th June

Friday was the first chemotherapy treatment of cycle 3 and I can't believe how far we have come already.

Jimmy usually gets the extra 'orange chemo' at the start of a new cycle but his white blood cell count is still too low, so to give him some recovery time he only had the normal chemo and will have the extra one on Tuesday. This was good news for the children as it meant there wouldn't be the posibility that he is sick over the weekend while they are all here.  This weekend is the best that they have seen him since February.  Jimmy is doing so well at the moment and feeling very positive.  Apart from feeling a little tired this evening we are keeping an eye on a runny nose and taking his temperature every two hours just to make certain he is not in any danger of infection.

We realised again last night that the kids are all getting big as in spite of an on weekend, we were the only two at home last night and mom's taxi was clocking the miles.  Tonight is one of those rare occasions when all 5 of them are here.  Boy, the house is busy.  Lunch and one round of tea and the dishwasher is almost full.

Selfie Saturday

My blessings are a thank you to Kathi for taking me out for a birthday lunch and bubbles on Friday and for the lovely Moussaka she made for us on Thursday.  I really have been spoilt this year with my birthday lasting the whole week!

Thursday, 12th June

It's all just good news this week :)

Jimmy's appointment went very well with Prof Novitzsky last night.  Prof is very happy with the mobility improvement in Jimmy's back as well as a significant decrease in pain.  He says we have the chemo to thank for this and it is a good sign that those lovely cocktails are killing off the cancer.  He did not have any of the recent blood tests in the file so couldn't comment on the protein levels which is the best indicator of how Jimmy is doing.  Hopefully Sister Olivia will have these tomorrow and she will be able to tell us.  They did bloods last night and Jimmy's white blood cell count was up from 1.2 to 2.8 (3.5 to 10.0 is normal).  This means he is not out of the woods yet but at least he can go out again.  Prof has given the go-ahead to start the third cycle of chemo tomorrow.

Of course this is the yucky one on the drip, which takes longer and what we call the orange chemo is added.  It will be interesting to see if Jimmy has any side effects again because then we will definitely know it is the orange one causing the trouble.

We also discussed whether Prof had any idea yet whether Jimmy would have 4 or 6 cycles of chemo in total and he said it is too early to tell.  At the end of 4 cycles he will check protein levels and if he is happy with them then he does another bone marrow biopsy which will tell us if Jimmy is in remission.  If he is not happy with the proteins then they will do the extra 2 cycles as he can't do another 2 bone marrow biopsy's.  He also explained that Jimmy would probably need about a month to recover from the chemotherapy treatment before they do the stem cell transplant and he would use this recovery period to fill in all the forms and do the motivation for medical aid purposes.

The only problem Jimmy has at the moment is bowel movement.  It is over 10 days since he last went and we have been using a number of meds which have not helped.  Prof says his calcium levels are not too bad and this is now being caused by all the pain killers Jimmy is taking.  Today he had an enema.  I have to laugh at how pathetic men can be.  You would have sworn Jimmy was giving birth.  I actually said to him afterwards that this is nothing...imagine if he still had to look forward to giving birth after this and explained that this is what women have before they give natural birth.  You would have enjoyed being a fly on the wall, just to see the look on his face!

We decided to make hay while the sun shines today and went birthday shopping and had lunch at the Blue Route Mall and tomorrow is Friday and we have a full house to look forward to with all our chickens here for the weekend.

PS Have a look under 'pages' on the blog - I have added some more literature about Multiple Myeloma.

Wednesday, 11th June

Aaah....how nice to be sitting at my desk and blogging with the warm winter sun baking on my back on what is another icy cold day in the Mother City.  We measured 4 degrees at 7am.

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to report that Jimmy is doing so well.  He had a good week last week and so far this week, it is even better.  We see Prof Novitzky at 5:30pm for our pre-new cycle of chemo appointment, the new cycle starts on Friday.  We are also holding thumbs that Jimmy's white blood cell count is up so that we can go and do something while he is feeling so good.  Amazing to think that we are half way through a possible 4 cycles already (he booked 6 but is hoping 4 will suffice).  Thinking ahead to the stem cell transplant and what is looming almost makes me want to hang around at this stage in limbo but I won't go there and spoil the moment we are in.

A big thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes.  I was very spoilt with an awesome Nescafe Dulce Gusto Coffee machine and some money to buy something special <3  Maureen, Kate and Sheila took me out for dinner on Monday night and I am looking forward to using the very thoughtful voucher from them for a head, back and neck massage.  My parents came down from Bredasdorp to spend the afternoon with me and my girls also surprised me and slept over last night.  The best present I could ever have asked for was that Jimmy had his best day yesterday since February.  My day was very special indeed and I felt just as special, what with all the messages, phone calls, visits, presents and flowers. What more could I ask for?

Our kids are now all in the throes of mid year exams and although they will all be with us this weekend, I suspect it will be a quiet one with lots of studying.

Sunday, 8th June

A cold wintry Sunday and all that is missing is a blazing fire and as I type this the rain is coming down again.

We've had such a lovely weekend.  Not going to work alters ones whole outlook on the week days and weekends and for a while, at times, they have just rolled into each other.  To such an extent that sometimes I have even lost track of the days.  But this weekend has definitely felt like a weekend and for a brief moment I had that little down feeling one gets when you realise that it is Sunday and all is back to normal on Monday.  But then I remembered that our Monday is not like your Monday anymore.

On Friday night we were glued to the TV screen and watched 4 episodes of Game of Thrones.  We only went to bed just after midnight and Jimmy slept right through and woke up at 9:15am!  The weather, although still cold, was clear and the sun was out on Saturday morning so I decided to carry out the surprise that I had wanted to give Jimmy, what I think is 2 weeks back already.  Just shows how long the weather has been so miserable.  I got him dressed all warm and snug with a beanie and a lap blanket (a Springbok one) and off to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens we went.  I had phoned to enquire about wheel chair access for Boomslang, which is their Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway, and was told that it is wheelchair friendly.  There must obviously be a difference between wheelchair access and wheelchair friendly.  Friendly must mean you have to built like Popeye!  I have to tell you, I nearly died pushing Jimmy up the pathways.  It felt like I was doing the Argus Cycle Tour.  So much so, that I was huffing and puffing and panting and the sweat was running down my back.  Every now and then Jimmy would say "are you alright darling?" and I would answer him in my 'answering the phone voice' "yes thanks love".  The gruelling task must have been evident from the look on my face because two youngsters aged about 10 came up to me and asked if they could help.  I was so out of breath I could hardly answer but I gladly handed the wheelchair over to them.  And of course now I have to mention...it took BOTH of them to run Jimmy up the hill.  Bless them, I don't think I would have made it.  But it was definitely worth it.  The Canopy Walk is spectacular and the views are amazing.  It does wobble quite a bit and is very high off the ground so not for the faint hearted and you wouldn't make it up there in a wheelchair if the persont can't get out and walk in parts.  There are also some steps.  On the way back walking through the gardens is also quite a steep downhill so I suggested Jimmy get out and walk as I had visions of the wheelchair and Jimmy running the gauntlet down the pathway, out of control.  We stopped for a coffee at the coffee shop there which was also very nice as it has an open air balcony which meant we could sit there as Jimmy is not allowed in spaces with lots of people at the moment, due to his low white blood cell count.  And he drove home!  It felt very good to be chauffeured for a change.

On Saturday evening Rohan and Patsy and Jimmy's parents came around for rugby and dinner.  Jimmy was thrilled that the Bokke won.  What a wonderful ending to a lovely day.

And today has been a day filled with lots of special visitors.  Steff, Ant and Kathi popped in this morning.  Thanks to Steff and Sally for the lovely birthday plant :)  We had a visit from our dear friends Abel and Marietha from Pretoria.  We truly hope that next time you are down we will join you in the box for some rugby.  A big thank you too, to Gert and Cheryl who also came to visit from Namibia.  You are both such an inspiration to us.  We also had a visit from Harry, thanks for dropping off the the back brace and to Guppy for organising this.

I've been taking Jimmy's temperature every couple of hours since Friday and have strict instructions that if it gets to 38 we need to phone the hospital, who will get hold of Prof.  So far so good and we see Prof Novitzky on Wednesday again, when they will take more bloods and hopefully by then his white blood cells count will be up.  It really makes the load allot easier to carry when Jimmy is feeling well so I am looking forward to this week.  My girlfriends are taking me out for supper on Monday evening, to celebrate my birthday on Tuesday and my folks are specially driving down to spend the day with me on Tuesday too.

My blessings today are each and every one of you who has touched us in some way or the other.  I could never travel this road alone and I am so grateful to you.

Friday, 6th June

Gosh, I can't believe it's already Friday and boy, has it been cold.  We've had the heater on for 3 days solid.  I must admit to being a little lazy when it comes to the blog but we are officially hooked to Game of Thrones and already half way through the second season.  I am sure you all know though, that it generally is a little quiet on our side when things are good.

And good they have been.  Apart from some backache, Jimmy has been so well.  He has been sleeping very well at night too which means he has been rested during the day and managed to do quite a bit of work from home this week.  On Wednesday my girls spent the night, always the highlight of my week!!  On Thursday morning I told Jimmy that I need to renew the rental on the wheelchair, get dog food and I also wanted to pop through to go and buy another filing shelf for my office.  I was indeed smiling from ear to ear when he said he would come with.  On the way home we stopped off for some lunch and for the moment it actually felt like we where both on leave and spending the day out together.  I hope for many more of these.

We left quite late this morning for chemo and only got to the clinic at 10:30....we are really stretching it these days.  I was dreading the clinic being full but there was no one else there today except for Jimmy.  His TBC (total blood count) came back this morning and Jimmy's white blood cells are very low but they went ahead with chemo anyway.  We had made plans to go and watch the rugby at the box tomorrow evening but have been told that is definitely a big NO as it is too many people in a confined place.  Jimmy is very disappointed but he did say he would rather miss a rugby game than spend another week in hospital with an infection. We flew through the whole process and we were out there in 2 hours.  And no problems from the pharmacy today either....I never did complain.  It was so nice having sister Olivia to ourselves too as we were able to ask her all about the stem cell transplant and a hundred other questions.  She truly is an angel.

My blessings today...I just think I am totally blessed that each day I have all these blessings to be thankful for!  Thank you Colleen for the delicious Bean Stew.  We had such an amazing telephone call from Dirk and Muriel, thanks so much you guys for reminding me, not to stop and smell the roses but, to slow down and consider all the positivity around me.

I am being summoned to come and watch Game of Thrones so I best get finished here.  We finished the 2nd cycle today so Tuesday is 'no chemo Tuesday' and my birthday - how's that for luck!, and third cycle starts next Friday.

Have a great weekend and GO BOKKE!!

Tuesday, 3rd June

Jimmy had a good day today and so did I.

He had a good night's sleep last night and when we got home from chemo he was in full work mode.  It's lovely to have him chatty and talking to me about stuff.  He was so quiet and withdrawn over the weekend.  I had a very sore throat yesterday and dosed myself up to ward off any other symptoms of a cold and they were all gone today.  My stye is also feeling allot better and it doesn't feel like my eyelashes are stabbing my eyeball anymore ;)

We had a hectic drive to chemo this morning.  I was driving behind a flatbed truck that had some workers sitting on the back and some building equipment and a gust of the strong wind that we are experiencing blew a wheelbarrow right off the back of the truck and into the air. I never knew I could drive like Michael Schumacher but you should have seen me dodge that wheelbarrow.  I couldn't change lanes because there was a car in the fast lane alongside me so I braked and went left, braked and went right then left again and by the time the wheelbarrow was just about to hit the ground, the car had gone passed and I accelerated and pulled into the fast lane.  If I have to say so myself, anyone watching would have thought I do this sort of thing everyday.  Poor Jimmy was hanging onto the seat and the dashboard but not a word came out his mouth.....and to think he is usually such a backseat driver!

Chemo went without any complications.  They were very busy, it took about 3 hours.  And I can't believe I am going to say this again....it was nice to see our Tuesday friends.....hard to believe another week has passed.  Jimmy suggested taking his new walker with him and he used it to walk from the car to the clinic and back.

I have decided that I am going to officially make a complaint about the pharmacy at the UCTPAH.  I believe it is privately run.  Everyone that works at UCTPAH in unbelievable, right down to the porters and the cleaning staff.  They have 4 or 5 people working on reception and each time we go we have to have a file opened for Jimmy and they are so friendly and helpful.  But the pharmacy staff are something else.  I think I have mentioned before that I take the script there myself now because when the clinic was dropping it off for me to collect on our way out, the script was never done.  This afternoon I handed it in and we sat for about 15 minutes waiting.  I then remembered that they owed us 5 pills from Friday's script so I went to the window and asked to speak to the person doing Jimmy's script.  The guy just would not oblige.  But they did spend 4 minutes picking up every piece of paper that was laying around looking for the script.  I explained that the script would not by laying anywhere as I had handed it in 15 minutes ago and that we were sitting on the chairs right next to the window waiting for the medication.  And believe it or not, it was indeed laying on the counter.  The person I gave it to just put it down.  And it's not to say that they were busy, we were the only ones waiting for a script.  The service is so bad and Jimmy cannot stand or sit for very long while we wait for them to do things in their own time.  I had to ask him 3 times to speak to the pharmacist.  Eventually she came to the window because she heard me moaning at him.

That's enough moaning for one day!  I spoke to the girls earlier and they seem okay.  Megan is a bit peeved because she waited the whole day for the fingerprint people to come and no one pitched. Poor Loren had hockey practise in spite of this storm.  She only gets home after 7pm from Hartleyvale and she must have been sopping wet and freezing cold.  Speaking of which....2cm of snow has been forecast for Table Mountain tomorrow night.

I hope you all have a good evening.  Stay warm and sleep tight.

Monday, 2nd June

I am starting to understand the true meaning of the phrase 'ups and downs'.  Literally up high and then down there and it changes just like that.

After such a terrible weekend I asked Jimmy if he was ready for a shower this morning and did he want to get dressed or back into bed?  I have to find out all these things because everything has to be ready for when he gets out the shower or he gets too cold.  I even put his deodorant and hairbrush out so that I don't have to waste time getting it out the cupboard while he is standing holding onto me and the handbasin.  The toothbrush is also always ready and armed with toothpaste waiting for him.  I lay his clothes out it order of dressing so that we can work as quickly as is possible because by the time he has showered he is quite out of breath and on bad days he gets weak very quickly.  Once dressed he used the walker to come through to the lounge and I got his chair ready with his blanket and pillow.  He was much more talkative this morning and as soon as he was settled he was on his laptop answering emails and on the phone a couple of times too.  I can't believe the difference in him.  No more nausea and bearable backache.  Whew...

I dropped the kids at school this morning and this afternoon when they got back to Mike's house after school I received a frantic telephone call from Loren and Emma to say the house had been broken into.  Jimmy and I were out here like a flash (well as flash as Jimmy could be) to go and help them.  Not very nice at all as they have only been living there just over a month.  I was just so grateful that Jimmy was feeling better today and could come with me.

As I type it is storming outside, it's hard to believe the sound of the rain as it is a huge downpour. And this makes me realise that tomorrow is Tuesday and this is why it is raining.  It has rained every Tuesday since Jimmy has been having chemo. I know, because we have to dodge the puddles outside the hospital entrance haha.  Rohan and Patsy popped in for a visit this evening and I'm sure they are glad they made it home before this storm.

My blessings today....a very big blessing indeed is that the burglars had left by the time Loren and Emma got home.  I am also so thankful that Jimmy is feeling better today.  Thank you to Kathi and Antony for another lovely meal and to my mom and dad for the spiffy zimmer frame which they brought for Jimmy.

It even has a basket for beer and biltong!

Sunday, 1st June

This has to be the hardest thing I have ever been faced with.  This weekend I have asked too many times why and I wonder if I will ever know the answer.

Jimmy has been in bed since Friday.  The nausea seems to have got better but his back is terribly sore.  It's in a completely different place to before and we are honestly wondering if there isn't a problem with another vertebra. He is so down that it kills me.

I'm just so grateful for having the kids here this weekend although not fun for them. I never thought it was possible to miss my girls so much. My mom and dad where also down for 2 quick visits and they're hoping to be able to come down again for 2 days on the 9th.  I was torn between duties on Saturday but had promised Loren I would watch her play hockey so managed to stay for the first half and left my father-in-law in charge of Jimmy.

I wish I could go to sleep and wake up and this was all a bad dream...