Sunday, 25th January

Day 25 & 26 - Stem Cell Transplant

Saturday
When I got to hospital on Saturday morning I was pleasantly surprised to find Jimmy up and sitting in his lazy boy watching sport of television.  We decided to get the whole shower rig marole over and done with.  All the sticky patches are still on his chest but he is allowed to unclip them now to shower.  Showering is not the easiest of tasks as the shower cubicle is quite small and he is constantly attached to a pole with at least 4 IV bags running into him at a time.  He also can't get his chest wet as this will loosen the covering on the Hickman which could lead to infection.  So I hold the pole and all the tubes in one hand and spray him with the hand held shower.  I then lather up the face cloth, using one hand, and he washes himself and then I spray him off.  A good team effort.

Jimmy is generally in good spirits but because he hasn't had any of the side effects of the chemo yet he is already saying that he doesn't know how he is going to handle being in hospital for 6 weeks.  He is not allowed out his ward and the only people he sees are the staff.  He is bored and I never thought I would ever say this but he is even tired of watching sport.  I took the drifter through for him as he only has 3 DSTV channels but we couldn't get it up and running.  He started reading a book but I think he has too much on his mind to read.  I told him that he mustn't think about the time he has to spend there as he is only 5 days in and rather concentrate on being strong and coming home earlier.  Every time I change position in the chair he thinks I am going to pack up to go home and asks if I am leaving.  We have basically spent the last 9 months together and he told me that he misses me so much it's scary.  When I did eventually say that I need to get home because the girls were coming for the night he asked if I couldn't sleep over.  I think he is very scared about having to deal with the terrible side effects of the chemo.  It is very hard to see Jimmy like this.

Sunday
I only went through to the hospital at 3pm today because the girls were here.  I feel like I am torn in two.  I know Jimmy wants me there as much as possible but I also feel guilty leaving the girls at home.  It really would be so much easier if the hospital was closer then I could pop in a few times a day.  The traffic is a nightmare no matter what time I go through too.

Jimmy has started to feel nauseous so they going to up his anti-nausea meds but from the sound of things this is going to be trial by error as some meds work for some patients and not for others.  The sister did say that they would keep changing it until they find the right one.  He doesn't have much of an appetite and says that anything he puts in his mouth makes him feel like he is going to gag and this includes the mouth rinse that he has to use 5 times a day to try and prevent mouth sores which is another side effect of the chemo.  He has to blow into a plastic tube which has a plastic box on the end with 3 balls in it.  The idea is to take a deep breath and then blow out so that the balls float in the box (much like those floating lottery balls).  He has to do this a couple of times a day for 5 minutes at a time to make sure that he is using the bottom half of his lungs or he could get Pneumonia.  This makes him gag too.  I took a radio through to him today so that he can at least listen to Cape Talk and keep up with the news.  Tomorrow I am going to suggest that we watch one disc of a series each day together as this should give him something to look forward to.

The sister advised me to today that possibly from tomorrow or by Tuesday I will have to wear a mask while I visit him as his various counts have started to drop.  Jimmy's white blood cell count is at 1.3 (normal 4 to 11), this will drop to 0.  His platelets have dropped from 290 to 80 (normal is about 250).  She said that once they get to 30 and below, which they expect to have happen during the next few days, he will have to get platelet transfusions.  I can't remember what his red blood cell or haemoglobin counts are but they are also dropping off.

Jimmy started using sleeping tablets on Friday night so he has finally had 2 nights of better sleep although he says he dreams about stupid things all night and Jimmy never dreams.  I must be honest but I am also dreaming allot at the moment.  Probably our over active minds.  Speaking of which, on Friday morning I was driving through to the hospital and couldn't get over how tired I was feeling.  I nearly fell asleep in the bumper to bumper traffic which was crawling along.  I actually gave myself a pep talk, telling myself that I have to pull myself together as I still have 5 weeks ahead of me of this.  On Friday night I went to take my pills as I was about to get into bed, only to realise that I had taken my night time pills in the morning.  No wonder I was so tired!!  I must make a point of putting my glasses on when I take them in the morning :)

Well....tomorrow is Monday again which means we are almost a week into Jimmy's isolation stay.  The time has gone relatively quickly...I hope the next few weeks fly by.

We have made friends with Ron and Janette who we have come to know at the clinic.  Ron is also in isolation at the moment, in the ward right next to Jimmy's.  Whenever Janette is there and she has seen me then she sends me a text from Ron 'in cell block B' to find out how it's going with Jimmy.  I would like to spare a thought and prayer for Ron tonight as he spiked a temperature of 39 this afternoon.