Sunday, 5th October

Jimmy had chemo on Thursday again, the last treatment of the third cycle, so Monday will be his rest day.  He needed Neupogen injections again and this not even after having Doxorubicin.  Again, just confirmation of how low his system is at present.  His body is not managing to recuperate as much as it did before between chemo sessions. 

We have a whole system in place now for getting the injections and we are very thankful to the medical aid, Dischem  Direct and GVI Oncology at Panorama Hospital for all sorting this out for us.  As soon as Dr Fine has done the script Ilhaam emails it through to our medical aid.  They forward it to Dischem Direct who then get in touch with the pharmacy at the Oncology Department at Panorama Hospital, who then get them ready for us to collect.  On Thursday Jimmy hadn't even finished chemo when Panorama phoned to say the injections were on ice and ready for us to collect.

On Friday late afternoon I watched Jimmy get up and walk through to the bedroom supporting his back by holding on to the back of his waist on each side.  I asked him if his back was sore and he said it felt a spit stiff.  We sat down to eat supper at 6pm and he basically had to stand and eat because his back was so sore.  From here it just went downhill.  By 7pm he could not sit, lie on the couch or even stand.  He spent about 40 minutes walking in slow circles around the dining room table and was sweating from pain.  I suggested phoning UCTPAH but he would not hear of it.  By 7:45pm I told him I was going to phone as they would get hold of Prof and then either Prof or the hospital would phone me back and tell us what to do.  I had in the meantime given him 2 of those very strong pain killers he was taking before when his back was so sore but they did not touch sides.  The hospital phoned back with a message from Prof to get Jimmy through to high care asap.  We didn't even pack a bag, I left the girls at home and we left straight away.  Jimmy's back was so sore on the trip through that he was constantly moving and fidgeting in his seat.  His breathing was also very irregular and I had to pull over twice so that he could get out the car to stand for a few minutes to relieve the severe pain.

We got to the hospital just after 8pm and they hooked him straight up to a drip and pumped him full of pain killers.  His blood pressure was 146/126 but the sister said this was a result of the pain.  Prof was on the phone constantly with the sister and she had to keep taking Jimmy's vitals and relaying them to Prof.  Jimmy's pulse is never above 57 and it was 98.  Since his pain wasn't subsiding Prof told the sister to give him Pethidine.  By 10:00pm the pain at long last started to ease and he could actually sit on the edge of the bed.  A little while later he tried to lie down but his body went straight into spasm.  Eventually, at about 10:30pm he was starting to feel light headed and sounded quite groggy and I suggested he try lie down again, which he did and managed to stay there.

They did a whole batch of blood tests and took swabs from every possible place on and in his body.  These were all sent off and came back on Saturday morning showing normal results for everything they tested for.  Prof asked them to do one more blood test and I waited for these results to come in which were also normal and then I went through to fetch him.

Saturday was supposed to be such an exciting day as it was Brad's matric dance and we had been looking forward to going up to the school and at least standing outside for a bit to watch Brad and Jackie arrive.  The girls were in the hall watching the fashion show with a live stream of the cars pulling up to the red carpet outside.  So Jimmy's Dad came to watch Jimmy while his Mom and I quickly popped up to the school to see them.  Brad and Jackie looked absolutely stunning.  I felt very sad that Jimmy had missed out on this occasion but I got some nice photos so he did at least get to see what they looked like.  All the young gentlemen and their ladies looked stunning..

Brad and Jackie arriving at the red carpet.

Well done to Brad who passed mock matric and to Loren and Emma for their brilliant 3rd term reports (we are still waiting for Shannon's results).  These kids have worked very hard and done so well in spite of Jimmy's ups and downs which does put a strain on the whole family.

So now we have a week of school holidays to look forward to which is also a reminder that we should have left this morning for an 11 day holiday in Botswana and on Lake Kariba to celebrate Jimmy's 50th Birthday.

We are enjoying a lazy Sunday and trying to remain as calm as possible knowing that tomorrow we will get Jimmy's M protein results and the big decision as to the way forward with his treatment will be made.