Thursday, 3rd December

A special day for a blog update....

Jimmy, as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary I look back on an amazing 12 years together.  We have travelled many awesome roads, the last two having been a detour that we never chose but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for never giving up.  I love you more than words could say.

Jimmy had been booked off till the 6th but our wonderful news is that he went back to work yesterday.  I expected him to be absolutely bushed but he was fine and didn't even fall asleep in front of the television last night.  It's been full steam ahead here as Jimmy has been working from home and increasing his laps in the driveway twice a day from 12 to 20, which has really helped to build his strength up.

Jimmy popped into the chemo clinic on his way home yesterday to have his bloods done and these are holding out nicely.  His white blood cell count is up to 6.2 (normal 4-10), haemoglobin and red blood cell counts still a little low at 11.7 (normal 13-18) and 3.60 (normal 4.5-6.5) respectively and his platelets have dropped slightly to 49 (normal 150 to 400) but still a way off the dangerous 30.  He needs to go in for the day next Wednesday to have another Polygam infusion, double the dose this time, which will take about 7 to 8 hours to run through and will then receive this on a monthly basis.  Prof and the medical aid are still busy with the motivation for Nplate so he will continue on the cortisone dose of 7 tablets a day to try and maintain his platelet count.  We pray this doesn't affect his immune system in the meantime and continue to take his temperature twice a day to prevent any surprise infections.  Jimmy passed Prof Wilcox, the pulmonary specialist who attended to Jimmy in ICU, in the passage yesterday.  Prof stopped him to congratulate him on how well he is looking and added "our haematology patients who come in with pneumonia and septicaemia usually die".  Quite blunt but it brings home the truth of how blessed we are once again.

And so life goes on.  We have had to do a bit of reshuffling with regards to holiday plans as we had booked to take the caravan up to the Kruger National Park and spend some time travelling up through the park and then 3 nights in the Limpopo National park as we worked our way over to Mozambique for a 7 night stay at Cumbini.    Unfortunately due to the Malaria risk and Jimmy not being able to take prophylactics we have put this all on hold now until 2018.  We have decided to go up the Garden Route and camp at Keurbooms and George.  We'll leave our caravan up there and bring the kids back on the 23rd and then we'll go back up and camp in  Tsitsikamma where we will hook up with Stan and Michelle till just after New Years.  We have also made arrangements for Jimmy to have his bloods done once a week while we are away.  I'm looking forward to some relaxed family time with the kids as I think this will also be the last December camping holiday that we all spend together barring Megan.  With only Emma left in school the older ones are spreading their wings and making their own plans arrangements these days. 

I had a lovely chat with Megan yesterday and caught up on all her news.  Her and Cosmin are very tired and feeling the stress of a 74 hour week at the moment.  The only day they get to go ashore is on a Monday when they are in Cozumel, Mexico as the other 2 ports are charter ports and they have work.  But they have found a lovely resort which they visit each week and spend some special time together away from the hustle and bustle of ship life.

I have one more week of work left so I've been very busy with the books, getting ready for my staff's year end bonuses, doing the VAT return ahead of time which is due at the end of the month etc.  I have also spent 6 hours this week working through medical aid claims that have been rejected due to a hundred reasons, like incorrect ICD 10 codes, and all beyond my control.

I'm not sure if I'll update again before Christmas as we go on holiday next Friday but in case I don't.....

Thank you to each and everyone of you for all your support, encouragement, prayers and help during what has been another difficult year.  From my side this is what has gotten me through some very dark days and made me stronger so that I could be there for Jimmy.  I have truly counted my blessings this year. We are both feeling very positive about next year and it's nice to know that we not starting the year off with a daunting stem cell transplant as was the case this year. 

Jimmy and I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and safe travels if you are going away.