On Sunday I was admitted to Ward 16 Haematology. It seemed like I'd hardly been away. I know all the staff and the ward was full of smiles when I arrived. This definitely put me at ease. I have a room to myself, which is great, and means that the kids (all four of them!) can visit me in hospital when I can't get out to see them.
After having some initial bloods done in the ward, I was allowed out for the rest of the afternoon. Charlie and I took Amber, Megan and Blake on the big wheel at the beach. My life is so sad that I actually got excited when I saw Cameron Stout (from Big Brother and the panto!) getting of the big wheel just before we went on…I really don't get out enough.
They came for me just after nine to fit my Hickman line. I was sedated and..wow…great stuff. In fact, so good that I have no recollection of conversations I had with staff, a meeting with my consultant…in fact I don't even remember getting changed from my gown into my clothes…for all I know I could have done this at the nurses station or the middle of the corridor!
I have been a bit apprehensive about my chemo. Now that my Hickman line had been fitted I was all tooled up to get the chemo. I must say that it was all a bit of an anti-climax – No nurses with lead gowns, no glowing bag of thermonuclear chemotherapy mixture administered over a 48 hour period! No, just one little bag of Irn-Bru coloured stuff which is pumped in in under 20 minutes. I spoke to one of the doctors about how much of an anti-climax it all was and he just said "What did you expect…nurses in rubber suits!"
I've been totally well so far…I've had no sickness but I am on loads of drugs to counteract the side effects…I do think my hair is beginning to thin a little (as is Charlie's although he would deny this!!! 🙂 . I've been getting out on pass from the ward about every other day and I've, so far, had three lots of chemo. As long as my blood counts are good I hope this will continue.
We got a great little package on Wednesday!! Rohan! He's done really well since his little set back and has come on brilliantly. Charlie has been having a great time, especially at night, with his two new charges! Feeds are staggered an hour apart (10pm/11pm, 2am/3am and 6am/7am) and I think he is into a bit of a routine already. He says the boys are no trouble…on the nights when I've been home from hospital, I haven't even been wakened by the feeds…I just blissfully snore through it all :-)
I must thank Jane for baby sitting on Thursday night. I was given a pass out for the evening from hospital so Jane ended up baby sitting and Vanessa sitting too. Charlie was out for a curry with some friends from his work…I think he must be out of practice because he was home before midnight and relatively sober! The pressure must be getting to him!!
Today was Amber's sixth birthday. I was told on Friday that I could go out and return on Sunday morning at 10am. This meant I could get all Amber's birthday cards, presents etc. written and prepared for the morning and be there when she came though. When she got up she had a smile on a mile wide… she said "Mummy, It's my birthday today!" and then we proceeded to do the whole unwrapping of the presents…what a great way to start the day! Amber wanted to go bowling so all of us (including the boys) went down to the beach for a quick game. Needless to say Amber actually won (we're both terrible at bowling!).
To summarise: I feel really well (at the moment) and my chemo is progressing – I still have another bag to go in this session. The boys are coming on great, putting on weight and being as good as gold. Amber and Megan are looking forward to getting back into their own house – sometime early to mid July. And Charlie…I got a bit grumpy with him when he started to fall asleep after the bowling while giving Blake a bottle in Costa Coffee at the beach…he's a bit knackered but won't admit it…he's running between Westhill and Maryculter with the girls, sorting out builders, plumbers, tillers etc for the house and watching over the boys…now he knows what its like to be a full time mum! 😉
Love V xxx
P.S. I did "rather grudgingly" enjoy Star Wars but not so much that I felt like changing the wallpaper on my mobile phone to Darth Vader or changing my ring tone to the Star Wars theme (I'm not talking about anyone specifically here…no really…Darth Love Snr). Everytime he gets a text his phone goes "R2-D2…you should know not to trust strange computers!"