Wednesday, 8th April

Jimmy was due to have his stitches out on Friday but on Thursday we remembered that Friday was a public holiday so we went through to the chemo clinic today to have them removed.  They also did bloods again, which we have anxiously been waiting for as we are both suffering from cabin fever now.  It's actually worse now that Jimmy is feeling better because all we want to do is go down to the mall together or out for a bite to eat or visit friends but don't want to take the chance that Jimmy gets sick now when he is so close to going back to work.

His white blood count is coming up nicely, although very slowly.  At last reading it was 4.4 and today they are 5.1.  His Haemoglobin has dropped slightly from 11.1 to 10.9 and his platelets have dropped from 135 to 66.  Going by these I think we have been wise to wait it out and should probably carry on for a while longer until his counts are a bit higher.  Dorothy didn't say anything about his platelet count to me but then I also couldn't remember when I was discussing these with her what the last reading was.  I'll have to give them a ring tomorrow and find out why they think this is.

I also asked about the Myeloma bloods which they did on the 19th March but no one seems to be able to find these.  Ilhaam did send through a pathology report via email once we were home but I can't make head or tail of it.

Other than this life goes on.  It has been lovely having all the children here for the holidays......

Okay....so this was me writing the blog at 6:30pm yesterday evening.  Let me back track a little.

When I printed the pathology report and had a look at it and couldn't make head or tail of it I thought of phoning Cheryl and Nico and asking her if they could perhaps tell me what it meant.  But then I had second thoughts and decided that I would rather phone Dr Fine in the morning.  All I can say is in the next hour a miracle happened. Within in the next few minutes my cell phone rang and it was Cheryl saying that they had met up with friends for dinner and were in the valley.  She had a present for me and wanted to know if they could quickly pop in for a few minutes to say hello and drop off the present.  I explained to her that I couldn't believe she had just phoned because not 7 minutes ago I had wanted to phone her to ask her to look at some results for me.  They were here in no time and I convinced them to at least stay for a cup of coffee and then showed Nico the pathology report.  He read it and then passed it on the Cheryl and the two of them just looked at each other.  The next thing Cheryl was jumping up and down with so much excitement and asked us if we knew what this meant.  Jimmy and I were both sitting opposite them with what I am sure was the dumbest look on our faces.  The report confirmed that the chemo that Jimmy had prior to stem cell transplant had killed all traces of any Myeloma cells.  In other words his M-Spike had dropped from 19 to A BIG FAT ZERO!!

Jimmy and I just looked at each other as this news sank in.  He had tears running down his cheeks.  It was such a shock....I had been preparing myself for the worst and Prof had on more than one occasion mentioned to us that we must understand that Jimmy's body had not reacted positively to previous chemo.  He had even mentioned the possibility of another stem cell transplant....It's very hard to explain how I was feeling.  Very much like the day we were told Jimmy had cancer....a dream.

Nico and Cheryl very kindly explained what this all meant and what was involved in the different tests that had been done to ensure that there wasn't the chance that a small M-spike had been missed. 

So.....today I feel like I am walking or floating around in a dream.  The old cliché of wanting to pinch yourself to make sure you are not dreaming rings very true. I have the constant feeling of butterflies in my stomach, like when you are a child and excitedly awaiting a special surprise, nervous but in the most wonderful way.

Jimmy, I love you so much.  This has been one hell of a journey and I so look forward to continuing it at your side on the road to recovery.