Monday 13 June

We've seen Winter arrive since last I blogged....today especially is freezing and we're hoping the heavy rains that have been forecast will make their appearance as our dam levels are so low.  Snow has been reported in the Western and Eastern Cape as well as KZN and the Free State today.  Actually.....I think it's going to storm later because Jimmy fixed the kitchen light last week!

Jimmy has been travelling quite a bit, Monday to Friday, and only been home 1 week in the last 4 but he is good spirits.  We had our monthly appointment with Prof Novitzky on the 30th.  Jimmy still had the rash on his chest area and under his arms and after ruling our allergies Prof is convinced that it has to do with his auto immune disease which developed as a result of the stem cell transplant.  He doesn't want to put Jimmy on any more cortisone as he believes this had a big roll to play in Jimmy getting Pneumonia last year as a result of extended use of cortisone.  We are monitoring it at the moment and it does look like it has calmed down a bit.  He is also still battling with repeat eye infections but in the bigger picture it's not serious.  I have to share with you that Jimmy put the dog's eye drops in his eye on Saturday...thankfully we had no side effects like cocking his leg on the lounge suite ;)  We also got back some results - his platelets are sitting at 111 which is below the normal range again but this is to be expected as he is now completely off cortisone as well as the NPlate injections.  The only thing of significance with the liver function test results was that his immunoglobulins are low (these are your antibodies).  We are going to see how strong Jimmy is with winter here now and if he is too susceptible to infections then he will have a monthly infusion of antibodies.  The swelling in his legs and feet is much better and his body doesn't seem as stiff anymore either.  We also got back the M-protein results and these are still between 0% and 5% which is classed as remission.

The good news is that Jimmy has at long last started his Thalidomide maintenance treatment.  We are going into the 3rd week already and so far so good as he hasn't presented with any side effects.  He has even had a cold which did not develop into anything worse, which was a big relief.  I just have to keep reminding him to take his temperature once a day!  We see Prof on the 4th again for a routine checkup which won't be any great shakes.

And apart from this life has gone back pretty much to normal.  Emma is nearly finished writing her midyear exams, the last one being on Wednesday and I have also been helping out at the high school with some exam facilitating.  It was my birthday on Friday (21yrs + VAT) and we had a lovely family meal out.  Emma and I are going away for a few days on a girlie road trip and I am really looking forward to this.  I was very spoilt and got a Polar A360 fitness tracker for my birthday. 

And then tomorrow Ewen, Jimmy's Dad, leaves for the UK for 4 months.  He is going to spend some time with young Ewen who lives in Bourton-on-the-Water as well as take Isabel's ashes back to Scotland and go and visit their families.  I am really going to miss him xx