Jimmy was discharged on Tuesday the 28th of June and he went back to work on Monday the 4th of July. He really battled with gout. Emma and I had to assist him getting around at home but by the Saturday he was hobbling around on his own. He has been back at work for a week already and still limping as his right foot/ankle is still painful. I always find it quite difficult to get out of Jimmy what kind of pain he is experiencing. Even when his vertebra was completely compressed he would say his back is stiff! I keep telling him that I find it difficult to believe that he can have gout for, what by yesterday was, 2 weeks. I did some research on Thalidomide and it turns out that one of the possible side effects is pain in the hands and feet.
Jimmy had his follow up appointment with Prof last Monday and he is happy with Jimmy's recovery. I did not go with him but made him promise me he would tell Prof that he still can't put all his weight on his foot and is still in pain. I know Jimmy....he would have grimaced and taken the pain to walk in there as if there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. Prof doesn't feel that it is a side effect of the Thalidomide which is a good thing but still doesn't explain the continued pain. They did a full blood count at the chemo clinic prior to his appointment and all his blood counts have come up nicely as well as his platelets which are now standing at 178. This is the highest they have been in a long time and very positive news as this means that the Thalidomide is not supressing his platelets which was Prof's biggest fear of putting him on Thalidomide in the first place.
It's funny how things go....it's always the side effects that we are most concerned about that end up being plain sailing but then something small will catch us unawares. But I'm not complaining a we too have weathered this storm. Oh and for anyone that bumps into Jimmy he will explain that he wasn't as bad as everyone thought he was and they only kept him in high care as a precautionary measure.
So much has happened since we raced back from the Kgalagadi and Jimmy's Mom passed away that I never even got to tell you about the amazing animal sightings we had. Unfortunately there is something wrong with the memory card that I used and have not been able to download any of the photos but I have a few memories using my cell phone - apologies for the poor quality.
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For my overseas friends to show where the Kgalagadi is in relation to
Cape Town
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Our overnight stop on the banks of the Orange River, Kanoneiland.
We didn't even unhook the van for an early morning departure.
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View of the sunset over the Orange River
from our site
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| Our home for the next 8 nights |
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Lion on a Giraffe kill
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Hunting and eating is an exhausting business
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| One of our favourite breakfast stops |
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| An inquisitive little visitor |
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| This perfectly captures the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park |
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| One of many magnificent Weaver's nests |
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The day of our famous breakfast stop...Jimmy had just started skotteling the
bacon and eggs when we spotted a lion lying just to the right of the closest tree in
the background.
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