Going along nicely

Well it has been nearly a month since I updated my Blogg and believe it or not I am on holidays at Caloundra again!! My nunna (Maltese for grandmother) came up from Sydney on Sunday and today, Nunna, mum, Tiernan, Arielle and I came up to Caloundra. The kids and I are staying until Thursday morning and mum and Nunna are staying until Friday. Unfortunately the weather is still a little chilly for November but Tiernan and I have already made use of the heated spa tonight and we should still be able to go to the beach tomorrow. I'll take some photos tomorrow and update the blogg as I just realised that I have no recent photos to put up.

Well healthwise the past month has been ok. At the end of October I landed a sinus and respiratory tract infection but luckily they were managed with a tonne of antibiotics. Then last week I managed to land myself in hospital for 3 days. Little miss A caught a tummy bug and managed to pass it onto dad and I. Unfortunately I faired much worse than Arielle did and could not keep anything (including water) down for 36 hours. So once Kerry found that out, he admitted me and put me on IV fluids for a few days. I felt so much better so quickly so I was glad I was admitted. When I had the respiratory tract infection I had a CT and thankfully it showed up all clear. There was still some scar tissue left but no cancer. I saw Kerry again today and all my blood tests were good so I now get two whole weeks with no doctors appointments and no tests. He said going forward I will have CTs every two months and then once they are clear for awhile we can move to every 3 and then 6 months. I feel like I am finally on the mend!!

As most of you know by now, Cam and I separated a little while ago. Our separation was very amicable so hopefully it will not be too hard on the kids. We each have the kids 50% of the time and that is working well for both the kids and Cam and I. I have moved out of the house and now live with mum and dad. I will be staying with them until January and then I will move into a rented house with the munchkins as Tiernan will be starting Kindy 3 days per week. I have purchased a block of land and will be starting to build a house on it in January. It is only about 3 minutes from Cam's place so it will be easy with the kids going between the houses. Since separating I am in a much better place emotionally and am getting happier by the day. I am back to socialising with friends and really starting to enjoy life again. Between that and feeling stronger physically each day, life is pretty good at the moment (first time I have been able to say that for a long time).

Well that is all to report for the moment. I'll write again tomorrow.

A lovely break

Here are a few holiday snaps. Mum, dad, Tiernan, Arielle and I spent a week at Kings Beach (Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast). Our apartment looked directly over the beach and it was just lovely. The kids had a ball. Tiernan absolutely loved the beach - he went fishing and swimming and played in the sand and had so much fun. Arielle found the water a little too cool for her liking however she was happy playing in the sand. I had a really relaxing break and being in the fresh ocean air gave me a lot of time to think about life and reassess where I was going. Just before I went away, I spoke with my doctor about survival rates. I had read studies that quoted 5 year survival rates of around 30% post stem cell transplants. I thought it was a little low so wanted to clarify it. Unfortunately the numbers were correct and the 5 year survival is only 30% (I stand a reasonable chance of getting the cancer back again and I have already been exposed to all but 2 of the drugs they can use to treat Hodgkins). I am not letting it get me down though as the cancer only wins when it stops me living and right now I am trying to live my life with my two gorgeous kids to the fullest. I think it will just make me more aware of how precious our time on this earth really is.

I have changed email addresses - my old one will stop working on Nov 10 - if you have not got my new email address sent an email to dette @ beeconsulting.com.au and I will send you the new address

All good news

Well all my treatment is now finished!! Yippee!! I still have to see the heamatologist (weekly) and cardiologist (quarterly) but at least there is no more treatment to attend. We had a little scare last week. My blood test results weren't so good and there was a concern that perhaps there was a new tumour. I had a CT on Thursday and not only did it show there were no new tumours but it also showed the mass that was showing on the last CT was even smaller and the shadowing that was showing on my lungs and liver last time was no longer there at all. So basically it was even better than we were hoping for. I'll have a few more blood tests on Tuesday to help work out what is going on but at least it is not the cancer. My red blood cells are down a bit and not recovering so I may be up for a blood transfusion but I dont mind that as I always feel so great afterwards. My immunity is not picking up so well so I also may have to have monthly transfusions of something called Intragam which will give my immune system a little help until it works out how to recover on it's own. Basically at present I have the immune system of a 2 month old baby without the benefit of getting a mother's immunity from breast milk. It is all quite fascinating really (I'd find it more fascinating and less scary if it wasn't happening to me!!).

Energy wise I am feeling better each day. I am waking before 10am most days now which is a big improvement on my 11am to 1pm waking time of only a few weeks ago. Slowly I am eating more although my weight is still dropping a little (43.5kg at the moment - my doctor is not too happy with me). I am spending quite a bit of time at mum and dad's and that is really helping with both the resting and the eating side of things. They are both great cooks and they really look after me - I couldn't ask for better parents.

We are looking forward to next week. Mum, dad, Tiernan, Arielle and I are going away to Kings Beach (Sunshine Coast) for the week. We are staying in a unit opposite the beach and it will be great fun. They are off water restrictions up there and there are some fantastic water play features at the beach which Tiernan will just love. There are lots of rock pools and beautiful sandy beaches as well as a great kids sea water pool which is all under shade sails. There are also jettys that you can fish from. It is going to be a lovely holiday and we cannot wait. Tiernan keeps telling dad to remember to bring his fishing line as he wants to go fishing and catch a snapper!!

Well not much else to report. As usual I have posted some photos of my two adorable children. The first is of Tiernan and I at Seaworld (mum, Tiernan, Arielle and I went last week) and the second is of Arielle balancing her bowl on her head (and being very proud of her trick).

Things here are going quite well. On Wednesday I finish radiation and hopefully that will be the end of my cancer! The radiation has been a walk in the park compared to chemo - the biggest hassle is having to go into the Mater each day. So far I have had no skin damage and no sore throat although they said the side effects will peak 5 - 10 days after treatment finishes. As for tiredness, I am always tired anyway so I haven't noticed much of a difference!

The kids are going well. Arielle and Tiernan are the best of friends and it is so lovely to see them playing together. Arielle is pulling herself up to standing on anything that will sit still for a minute. She loves reaching up on things and then throwing whatever she can reach.

Not much else to report - I hope you enjoy the photos and video of the kids.

Arielle's Birthday

Hi

Our darling little Arielle turned 1 on Wednesday. I think she knew it was her special day as she was in a super smiley mood all day. She got some lovely presents for her birthday and she loved trying to eat her birthday cards (I did type that correctly – for some reason she likes trying to eat cards). She also ate a little bit of her birthday cake. Tiernan was a fantastic big brother and helped her open presents and blow out her candle. He was not at all jealous and was even more excited than Arielle was. We got her a Fisher Price dolls house and her and Tiernan just love playing with it together. Last Sunday a tooth appeared so she was not a gummy bear for her first birthday!

Not much news

Well there is not much news to report which is a good thing really. I saw Kerry today and apart from my neutrophils being a little down everything else was good. I had to have two blood tests today. The first one was the normal one which I have to have every time I see him and the second one was to check my serology. Arielle is due to have her 1 year old vaccinations which includes some live vaccinations. Before she has the injections we need to know what my immunity to these diseases is and then they can determine if I can be near Arielle after she has the vaccinations – nothing is easy when you have cancer!!

I start my radiation on August 27. I am not looking forward to having to trek into the Mater each day but it is only for a month and then hopefully my visits to the Mater will be infrequent!

Well not much else to report so I shall sign off for today.

Good results

Well it is nice to be able to report good results from my PET scan. The PET scan showed no active tumours!!! Yippee!! That means no more chemo. There is still a small area of something but they are confident that if it is any left over cancer cells that it will be treated with radiation. The radiation starts at the end of August and goes for a month and after that all I need to do is go for regular CT scans. My heart is still giving me a bit of trouble. The cardiologist would like to increase my heart medication as it is still beating too fast and working too hard (I still find it strange that this is called heart failure) and the medication slows it all down but unfortunately my already low blood pressure has been lowered by the dose of medication I am on, so he cannot increase the dose any more. We will just have to wait and see if it gets better on its own.

So that will be it from me for awhile. I will write again once radiation is underway. Bye for now!