Wednesday, 11th March

Day 69 - Stem Cell Transplant

After coming out of isolation on Monday Jimmy enjoyed a relaxing day in high care yesterday.  A nice change from being isolated to being able to hear and see the goings on in the ward.  Although his spirits still seemed a bit down he had a nice shower after I got there and did a couple of stints walking from one end of the high care ward to the other.  He is getting out of bed to go to the toilet and he sat sitting up nicely for most of the day.  He enjoyed a deep sleep while I was there too and looked so much more relaxed.

Dr Fine had told us on Monday that if he didn't spike a temperature they would take down his antibiotics yesterday but he did unfortunately get a temperature during the night on Monday and this was stable for yesterday and still fine this morning so they have now taken him off the antibiotics.  He seems to be coping without 2 of the nausea meds too.  If his temperature plays ball today and during the night tonight then he will be DISCHARGED TOMORROW morning.  His temp was fine all morning and then just as I was getting ready to leave at 2pm it did go up slightly so I am keeping everything crossed that it doesn't go any higher.  His weight has also remained the same since Monday afternoon.

Jimmy's appetite is definitely getting better, still not eating as much as he should but he is eating more than he has been.  The food in high care looks far more appetising than in F4 isolation ward and it is also not heated up to death.  He was a bit more talkative today and had another sleep while I was there and he is not staring into nothing as much as he has been.  I asked him this morning if he thinks he is feeling a bit down and he said he is but the biggest problem is that his mind is in over drive and he can't turn it off, he says he just keeps thinking about all things cancer related all the time.  I think coming home and being in a different environment with the normal day to day stuff going on will do him good.

Jimmy's white blood cell count is still at 1.6 which Dr Fine says is fine for if you are in hospital but she went through a couple of the things that we need to know for his home coming.  He will be given an appointment date to see Prof Novitzky on the day of discharge for about a week later and if everything is going well and there have been no problems then he will have his Hickman line removed a day or two later.  His first month at home is vital that he does not get an infection and he is at high risk for this as his white blood cells are still very low and will take a while to come up.  He is not allowed out and only minimal visits from friends and family and anyone that does come and see him cannot have been in contact with anyone that has a cold, sore throat or tummy bug etc.  Or that works in an environment where they are dealing with a lot of public and come into contact with someone who might have been sick without knowing it.  This also goes for people working in jobs such a teachers and creches, doctors reception etc etc.  He is not allowed to come into contact with children.  For the first week he may still not eat anything that has live cultures like Bulgarian yoghurt, mushrooms etc.  He is allowed some fruit and it has to be things like a banana which is inside a peel and he can have an apple but this must be peeled.  Dr Fine says it takes about 3 to 4 months to recover from the chemo and for his body to build itself up again as his stem cells are all still very young but the fantastic news is that Jimmy will see Prof again in about a month and they are quite sure that he will be able to return to work after this appointment.

So....all good, positive news.  The things that Jimmy and I are most looking forward to is the change from being at the hospital every day for the last 51 days and starting Monday morning we will enjoy his morning walk around the block and slowly build this up again, having dinner together in the evenings and just think, I might even be able to moan about the toilet seat being left up again.