Sunday, 21st December

Day 20 - Stem Cell Transplant (going to stop counting from today and resume mid Jan when the next part of the transplant starts)

It's the countdown to Christmas and it's awesome.  There is a fabulous vibe in the house.  The kids all have friends over and there are six of them baking Christmas biscuits and icing them.  The smell wafting through the house is to die for and all this to the sound of Christmas carols.

The biscuit bakers

Our dear friends Matthew and Cameron are on holiday in Fish Hoek from Johannesburg and it has been lovely to see them again.  Ray and Bernadette are also in SA on holiday from the UK and it was wonderful having them and Melanie for a visit.  And then we were also treated to a visit from Tim, thanks so much Tim and come back soon.  We were sorry to miss out on a mini reunion at the Toad the other night.  It would have been nice for Jimmy to see some of his classmates and beautiful Kelly who is in SA on holiday but he was pretty exhausted after stem cell harvest on Friday.  The girls and I had a nice afternoon tea with Maureen, Kate and Sheila and our daughters as a very late celebration for Sheila's birthday at the end of November.  Lovely Champagne and too many sweet things to eat.....just perfect.

Jimmy has been feeling mostly fine.  I shaved his hair yesterday as it is now falling out in huge chunks.  On Friday he showered and scrubbed his head to try and get rid of some of the lose hair and ended up throwing away 2 handfuls of hair.  He is almost completely balled now.  He has been very tired and didn't sleep at all for 3 nights and couldn't sleep during the day so I think it got to the stage that he was overtired and then he would get into bed at night and it became a mental thing....the harder you try to fall asleep the further this possibility becomes reality.  And then his back started getting sore which I think was coming from the tossing and turning during the night.  Of course if Jimmy can't sleep then I don't get much shut eye either.   So last night I phoned Kate, our resident nurse, and went down to fetch some sleeping tablets from her and Jimmy slept like a baby last night.  He only woke up at 9am and already his back is feeling much better.

My almost bald hero

After thinking that we were going to have the worst Christmas ever with Jimmy in F4 Isolation we are now all eagerly awaiting Christmas Day and celebrating it together as a family.  There is only one person missing and that is Megan.  My brother Guy and his family are coming to visit on Christmas Eve afternoon.  We are going to have a family Christmas lunch at home and Jimmy's folks will join us.  And then we are hoping that Rohan and Patsy will visit in the afternoon as well as Matthew and Cameron.  My presents are all wrapped and the shopping is all done.

Megan on duty and in the Christmas spirit
on the Norwegian Cruise Liner - Jade

The children go to spend their second half of the holidays with their Mother and Father on Boxing Day so I am going to stock up the caravan and then on the 27th we are going to go up to Bredasdorp to spend 2 nights with my parents.  From there we'll go up to Graaff-Reinet and meet up with Stan and Michelle (watch this space for some hectic rainfall - they are cursed) at Camdeboo National Park and then we are going to play it by ear.  If Jimmy is up to spending some time with them and camping we'll go to Addo Elephant Park and then Natures Valley but the plan is if he wants to come home we'll just turn around and come back.

I'm not sure if I will blog again before Christmas so would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas.  Thanks for all your lovely emails and messages that we have received over the last few days.   It is truly is a blessing that stem cell harvest went so well.  A special thank you to Sakkie and Noeleen for the beautiful book you sent Jimmy, we received it on Saturday, thank you so much.

I am super excited - we are 6 page views away from 20 000!!

God Bless you all and please travel safe and take care.