Thursday night and Friday my mum went to jeanswest for me to get some new wardrobe items as I am self cleansing that in that area too and they had 30% off and I still had a voucher to spend from Christmas! Yahoo… new clothes are always awesome. But sending your mum shopping for you is hard so she got more than I asked and we returned what wasn’t me and she went to two shops to get my sizes… thanks mum!

We had a lazy day friday watching kids tv with Dominic and then having joes parents over for dinner. I was still coughing and not great cold wise but was ok. I also baked dads cake ready for decorate on Saturday. Love the smell in the house when you bake!

Saturday I was woken up quickly do Bianca’s hair before Joe took her to dance and then after he went to the ballet shop to get her tights for her competitions while they also had a 30% off sale… poor Joe what an experience for him! He said he was the only bloke in the shop with all these other women who knew what the were doing and wanted!

While they were gone I decorated my dads cake, I didn’t make a complex cake but still I found that I was able to decorate it faster and with clearer thinking and better dexterity than before my treatment. I can not say whether its the steroids or an improvement as a result but either way I’m happy and so was he. We had my first visitors besides the parents, my brothers and Tarryn. They came for dad’s birthday afternoon where I cooked a curry and a stroganoff and had an early dinner before all the boys went to the footy! Mum stayed and helped me with the kids, I’m glad she did as I hit a wall after they left. I only needed a 30 min rest till I had more energy, but its probably one of the first times I’ve felt I needed the rest after a busy day. It was nice to see my brothers!

Sunday has quite often been pancake day in our house and today I made them for my kidlets while Joe had a sleep in and we all enjoyed them. I had missed making them and eating them all together. After lunch Joe took the kids to his parents for a while so I could sleep I don’t know if he watched tv or slept too lol but after he picked them up he went to Paul and Kirra’s to give their boys their Birthday presents. I really wish I could go out with them… oh well but soon I will be able to I hope. While they were gone I bit the bullet a veeted my legs… I figured the hair wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry, just thinning out more everyday so I gave it a helping hand. Will be interesting now to see if it grows back!

My cough was not chesty anymore it had turned to being a bit more blocked in my nasel passages. I am definitely feeling a lot more tired this week. Not running around and buzzing getting things done like last week thats for sure.

Monday I had finished my antibiotic and I am not seeing my haemotologist till Wednesday so when Joe went to the chemist he asked if he could get a few more tablets to last me till then and came home with a whole box. Love our pharmacist! Then he brought his parents spare bed to our house as they got the kids singles now so we will see how this one is as we have had mine since my 18th birthday!! Once Bianca was home from school we all went to the park. This was soooo nice to get out of the house and see the kids having fun kicking the footy with their dad and riding their bikes so well! I just sat on the swing and watched. When we got back from this I crashed out on the lounge!

My first outing to where others would be present was to the Doctor’s, just my GP to get the script for the antibiotics the chemist dispensed yesterday which required an authority!!! Also I asked him to order some basic bloods ready for my appointment with the haemotologist tomorrow. He was hesitant but did it. And I survived the appointment with my mask on and after getting my bloods done (without feeling the needle prick here either) we headed straight home afterwards. Dom and I had an afternoon nap before they headed off to swimming.

Wednesday was a big day for us, Joseph and the kids were off to the races and I was finally seeing the my haemotologist who would be monitoring me now I am home. I am seeing Dr Ian Lewis at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and I was very pleased with how my appointment went. I didn’t have to wait too long (with everyone in the waiting room) at all and once I was in he asked me all about what I was eating, how I was managing, if I had any pain etc, he checked me over and was pleased with everything and how it went. He performs HSCT for patients with leukemia here and is well aware of how this treatment and how to look after me now. He was happy to take the time to explain the chemo effects on my blood levels for my mum. He organised bloods for the next 2 and 4 weeks, a script to continue my antiviral medications and then a appointment to go back next thursday to have an antibiotic called pentamidine which is an oral inhaler. This is instead of having bactrim as I am alergic to sulphur drugs. So every month I will go in for an hour or so, have this inhaler until I am post 12 months from transplant. He told me I can get rid of the mask except in public/crowded places or if someone is sick. He has also given me permission to leave the house and start doing more things, he says I can relax a bit more and just to exercise common sense when it comes to doing things and going places. This will make things easier and will mean a bit more normality for the kids and me! My bloods levels are back in the normals ranges and are…
Hemoglobin 111
Leukocytes 8.1 million
Platelets 227
Lymphocytes 1.0
(This Lymphocytes level is lower then when I left moscow but is normal and is because of the chemo which will be in my system for around 5 or so more months)

When we left there I went back to the gp to have my income protection forms competed… yesterday he asked me to come back for this. Hopefully I can get this lodged and it gets approved asap. My godmother is here from Newcastle for a couple of days before she is off to England with her mum who lives here, so we had dinner together and a lovely catch up! I wish they lived here but it does make the times we catch up so much more special.

My cold is on the tail end now which is good, I have a really swollen face and chin still and my knees are soo freakin stiff when I bend down or have been standing too long. I also found out that my little miniture hump back is also from the steriods and is completely normal. I don’t think I am walking with such a noticeable limp anymore and I dont have a stronger weird feeling in my leg like my body knew I had the treatment at the moment. Whether this is steriods or a result of treatment, only time will tell but thats how I am this week. The last couple of days I haven’t been as tired as at the beginning of this 2nd week. It is now 1 month since my transplant and so far things are looking good!!!