more piccies

Me playing pass the parcel-thanks darcy and amber!!





My present at the end of pass the parcel - a 'moowhistle'..i play with her ALL the time...

me and wamma reading one of her books...how boring..no pictures!


ME and dad having a 'male bonding' moment in the shower...yahooy

Im feeling good...

hi guys

just to let you know, i went and saw Dr Karin yesterday and got a good report card...my platelets have stabilised at 49 (although i did receive a transfusion on monday)...but at least they are not getting used up so quickly now...and hopefully i can start making my own really soon...
My anti-rejection drug is still being tweaked...we havent quite the dose right yet, but i guess we will keep at it...im only on .5 now for my 'roids' - steriod which is pretty cool...cause that gives me hot flushes all the time!! i have also put on a bit of weight again, and crossed over 10kg! I think mum knows all about it! She is the one who has to carry me everywhere! Ive also been feeling heaps better and not crying and grizzling so much...i also surprised mum and wamma by sleeping 40 minutes yesterday arvo...they said they felt heaps more rested...so all is good in the simpson house...
dad is madly looking for a new car for us, and is pretty keen to get home so we can see our animals again...we really cant wait...its going to be so way cool...he said he is enjoying being back at work, but is missing being out in the field...i think we can ALL relate to that!
anyhoo, best fly...nearly time for my morning nap...we are experiencing some technical difficulties with our photos at the moment, so it may be a while yet before you get to see some more piccies of me...but we are trying to work it out!
luv to all, have a great weekend, and i hope that your footy teams win...go cats (and maggies!)
oh yeah...i also hope uncle phil gets better too..he has been a bit crook...
luv and hugs
eli
xox

Dr says....

Hi guys

just an update...went to the dr's on monday and Dr steve said i was doing really well and was ticking all the boxes. I got the results of the special blood test today too...out of 300 cells they counted, 300 were donor cells, yahoooooy! So at this stage, the new mojo is working really really well...im being a bit of a bugger and only sleeping 40 MINUTES in a whole day which is driving mum crazy...20mins in the morning and 20mins in the arvo...i guess i get cranky a fair bit too and give mum a hard time. Its lucky wamma is over at the moment, cause she is looking after me a fair bit to give mum a bit of a break...
my counts have come down again but they are still at a good level...cause im making all my own stuff now. i havent had that needle which makes everything grow for ages, so my counts have done well to stay where they are. Dr Karin says as soon as i make my own platelets, there is a good chance i will be able to head home...i know mum and dad are talking to my new mojo every day...but i guess we ALL know that if something were to go pear-shaped, we are only 10mins from the emergency department, so we are definitely better off up here.
im still sitting up heaps, but not moving too much...just starting to swivel and show mum how clever i am. Sometimes i fall onto my tummy when im trying really hard to reach things...and i still love my dvd's and i still love to dance heaps too.
I made a bit of a mess in the washing basket...mum chucked me in there to have a little play so i could soak up some rays...mum was on the phone, and didnt realise i had done number two's and i kinda got it EVERYWHERE...i could hear mum say 'damn nappies' and wamma say 'damn kid!!' and i completely cracked it with them while they got me clean again...it took mum ages to calm me down and im sure she wanted to put some vodka in my vegies and tuna...although i know she would NEVER do that to me...the washing machine has been going full pelt for half the day...pretty funny really!
anyways...i best fly...and i will hopefully catch up with you all soon...
luv and heaps of hugs
eli
xox

Farewell Ninny...but HELLO TOYS!

HI guys

its been a crazy week this week...im continuing to progress well, and had some more platelets and magnesium on Monday. It was a long day, we were at hospital around 8am and didnt get out until about 4.30! Ninnys funeral took place on Wednesday, so we drove down in the morning. Wamma looked after me and did a great job! We sung old macdonald had a farm, had some fish and chips! MMMM, yummo! Mum and dad said the funeral was beautiful and just the way that ninny would have wanted it. Pa did awesome putting it all together...Mum said she gave a speech for ninny and so did cousin casey, great grand-daughter shivanna and brad. Mum said as sad as it was, it was just ninny and thats all we can ask for!
We came home on wednesday night, and went back to see Dr Karin on Thursday again. My counts were pretty good, and i dont have to have the needle in my leg anymore which is kinda cool. My steriod has also been tapered which is good news, and my platelets and bloods were awesome, and i only had to be in hospital for half the day with a top up of platelets!
Dr karin reckons i should be making my own stuff soon, which means hopefully I wont have to have transfusions so regularly. I guess every appointment now means there is one less we have to worry about and we hopefully can start thinking about coming home!
I just wanted to thank our great mates kyles and mel for organising a 'get well' drive. We came home on monday to a huge envelope of card from all mum and dads work places...the words of love and support were AWESOME from EVERYONE...so THANKYOU SOOOO MUCH...its exactly what we needed after a huge day in hospital.
I would also like to thank my friends darcy and amber for sending me a lolly bag and a pass the parcel...man i had the absolute BEST Fun in the whole world and the paper tasted GREAT! i loved the the little pressies and 'moowhistle' the cow...mum, dad and wamma sure did love the chocolates! So thanks a million...
All of you guys completely ROCK!
The other exciting thing was that the STARLIGHT FOUNDATION delivered a 'wish box' for me to help me keep smiling. Boy, you should have seen all the cool stuff in it! I got trucks, a ball, wiggles stuff, cd's, dvd's and a big storage box to keep it all. We had heaps of fun unwrapping it all! So thanks so much to the sonia from the starlight foundation for making my day. Im sorry i was a bit grumpy, but when i got my mits on the toys, i was heaps happy. Its people like the starlight foundation that help grant wishes to seriously ill children like me to help them feel better! Thanks HEAPS!!!
Mum will try and get some piccies on the blog soon, but i continue to get stronger every day...and hopefully we will get some idea of how my new mojo is doing next week.
Thanks again to all of you for your love and support...
hugs, kisses and lots of rain
eli
xox

Its mum here!

Hi there
as you will see in eli's letter to you all, great ninny in sale (my beloved nan) died today from a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Pete (eli's dad) put this beautiful video together without us knowing about it and showed me a few days ago. Little did we know how poignant it has become.
I hope you enjoy it as much as i did, and tell those close to you how much you love them...

Some snaps -

Me, ninny and mum the day i got out of hospital...we love you ninny...

My cousin casey, my ninny and pa!

My gorgeous ninny

let me outta here!

pretty happy - thanks heath for the loan of the t-shirt...i really did feel like superman!

Yay...1st steps outside the room!

We are free - VALE BETTY SMITH, our 'ninny'

Hi guys
been very busy...i was officially released on Tuesday 1 July when my neutraphills went above 1000! While it is very exciting, we still have to be so careful cause i cannot afford to get sick. Dr Karin and Dr Steve have still supressed my immune system so that my new mojo can work. It will be like that for a while yet and boy, do i have to take HEAPS of medicine! ewwww.
At last count, i have around 8 different sorts at night, including a needle that dad gives me in my leg...there is a little butterfly needle in my thigh which can be accessed every night. I have to have that needle to help my cells grow. Its a bit uncomfortable, but dad is pretty good, while mum pins me down..doesnt usually take long, and it just stings a bit. Hopefully we can stop that by the end of this week.
It is soooo way cool being out...when i was released, we jumped in the car and went to sale to see ninny. We didnt want to say much on the blog, but she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about 2 weeks before i went to transplant. Mum was especially devastated, cause ninny has always been like a mum to her. It was pretty hard before i went to transplant, coz we had to say goodbye to her. But ninny and mum kept talking while i was in transplant, and ninny said that she would hang on until we got out. She kept her promise, and we got to see her on Tuesday night. Boy was it fun...i played a bit with her glasses, and showed her how i could clap my hands. She was so proud, and was amazed to see that i still loved my mums boobs, and that i was a little porky! I sat in her lap and played with her for a while...she looked very beautiful. Mum said that ninny had been pretty crook, so it was awesome to see her feeling ok.
Unfortunately, ninny passed away this morning. all my family are devastated, but relieved as she fought her battle with so much dignity and is now finally resting. So all my love (and mum and dads) go to our pa and the rest of our family, as we all come to grips with not having our beautiful ninny with us anymore. As mum says, we have an angel watching over us now.
So join us while we smile brightly every day for the next week, as we celebrate our nans life. We will remember ninny, every day.


I have been in and out of hospital a fair bit to get platelets and magnesium transfusions mainly...they take about 7 -8 hours all up so they are long ones. Dad is looking at heading back to work on monday, so wamma is coming over to help mum out when we go to the hospital...hopefully it wont be for too much longer, but i reckon we will be down here for another 6-8 weeks, it all just depends on what my counts are doing. I have to have a big blood test on monday, that will see what my new mojo is doing and how much of it is the new stuff, and how much of my old stuff i still have in my system. the dr's are hoping that the nasty conditioning 'the crappy superman juice' i had cleaned up a lot of it, but we really just have to wait and see. I think we are all just happy to be out of home after 37 days in hospital - and apparently i was one of the lucky ones after being released after 26 days post transplant! Cool huh!
anyhoos, i had better go, nearly feeding time at the zoo.
love to everyone and we will chat again soon.
luv and hugs
eli
xox