Its been a while

Hi guys

Its been a long time between boobies (drinks!)...and alot has happened.
I got all my superman juice...boy, there was HEAPS of it, seven days straight! I handled it really well though, and only puked once the whole time. We got a 'break' between the end of the chemo and transplant, so that was a pretty casual day.
On Thu 5th June, my new 'mojo' went in. i have attached a movie of our transplant 'story' so far...
My counts were awesome until just last sunday where they came down and i finally became neutropenic. I was doing really well until then, eating small amounts of food, and definitely keeping down all my booby milk which made mum happy!
On the actual transplant day, i was given lots of 'pre-meds' to help me adjust to the new 'mojo', and i was monitored very very closely. It all ran smoothly, and i was awake in my traditional 40minutes, and woke pretty grumpy and wondered what the fuss was all about.
So up until sunday, i had been eating well, and playing and living comfortably on panadol. Yesterday, the pain in my tummy got pretty bad, and i had to start some codeine to help me.
The nurses have said that i will get sick before i get better, so i guess we are in for the 'sick part'. We are surprised that two weeks has gone by already and we are into our third week. Im lucky so far, because my mouth is still in pretty good knick, but i do have some pretty bad tummy cramps, which are likely to get worse.
Basically, the chemo i had was used to get rid of my old 'mojo' and any cootie JMML cells that might be left in my body. The effects of the chemo usually hits around 7-10 days after, which is why im feeling crap now. We are hoping to see signs of my new marrow 'grafting' in the next couple of weeks, but before that happens, im likely to get very crook which is why Im locked up so i dont get any extra bugs from outside. I am definitely not out of the woods yet, in fact my 'hard road' is to come. There are things like veno-occlusive disease which can affect my liver, and graft vs host disease which usually dont show there ugly heads until between 2-4 or 5th week. I have to be honest and say that these things can be fatal in their most severist forms. So while mum has been very good at shielding lots of stuff from you guys and keeping things positive, there are certainly things that can happen through my transplant that could have yukky effects...thats just the way it is...
BUT...on a positive note, im doing really well for now, and they say that babies are very good at coming through procedures like this. Mum and dad still have me doing all the normal baby stuff which i love, reading books, playing on the floor, wrestling with my dad and pulling mums hair - OUCH!
Mum reckons her eyes look like 'pissholes in the snow' - sorry for swearing!, and dad is doing a great job looking after me at night so mums milk can keep brewing. Im so proud of my dad and mum. They are doing so well and being so strong. Even though i feel yuk at times, they can still bring a smile/laugh to my face.
Anyways...mum promises i will be able to get on the blog and update it a bit sooner next time, but only if im feeling well.
Thanks so much to the mothers group in bairnsdale for the gorgeous flowers...they are just beautiful. And thanks to our friends Kylie and Mel (and all their friends) for lending me 'new' toys to play with...i love the drum and the books...And dad says thanks for the cooking!
Like always, thanks so much for all your encouraging words. We think about it all the time.
Our love also goes to ninny in sale...there is not a day goes by without us thinking about you.
We would also like to say a MASSIVE congratulations to great poppa in Deniliquin who was awarded a OAM yesterday...absolutely fantastic and we are just so proud of you!
Please keep your stories coming from the 'real' world...it helps us forget about ours, even if its just for a little while.
lots and lots of love and hugs (and bloody rain)
ELI
xox