Monday, 16th May

 Hello 😊

What a day!

Em and I had a last breakfast together at Salt in Kalk Bay this morning.  And then on route to the airport I visited Jimmy.

When I got to Haematology they were still busy with Jimmy's SCT.  But Prof's doctor that looks after his patients, Dr Botha, said I can come in.  Jimmy had 6 bags in total of stem cells (which are mixed with plasma).  Dr Botha said it is more than usual because the volume in the bags wasn't a lot.  Each bag takes 45 minutes and I was there for half of bag 3, bag 4 and half of bag 5.  Dr Botha was with Jimmy the whole time and adjusting the flow according to Jimmy's stats on the monitor.  They monitor his oxygen, blood pressure, pulse and another one (?) to do with the heart rate.  Jimmy's blood pressure was low at 88/62.  And when his oxygen levels dropped they put him on oxygen.  They also gave him some antihistamine meds so that he doesn't have an allergic reaction to the graft.

Jimmy wasn't feeling too good today and battling with nausea.  They've given him quite a bit of nausea medication but in spite of this he's still battling with it.  He didn't eat his breakfast or lunch today but did have something to eat at about 4pm  On the positive, he had a better night's sleep last night with a sleeping tablet.

Of interest is that when I arrived at the main door to the haematology ward I smelt a familiar smell that I remembered from Jimmy's last SCT.  It's a fruity smell, like over ripe pineapple, and Dr Botha explained that it is the preservative they use to preserve the stem cells.  It doesn't get absorbed into the body and patients expel it through their breath, which takes about 2 days.  There are 4 sliding doors and some distance between Jimmy's isolation ward and the main entrance to haematology!

From the hospital we went to the airport.  Emma flies to Frankfurt tonight with a stay over tomorrow night and then on to Amsterdam on Wednesday where she'll join the ship.  It wasn't easy saying goodbye and home is going to be very quiet without her singing in the shower...and the kitchen...and the lounge 😆.

Lots of|love 💗

Dr Botha defrosting stem cells

Jimmy's stem cells

A last wave from Emma