Neri and I outside the Eutopia Cafe, Kaiwaka
What a joy it is to be home!
After six weeks in the BMT Unit I was hankering to get back to normal family life and to see my house and cat. The staff were great and the care was excellent but there's nowhere quite like home. It's Day 100 today, that's 100 days since the bone marrow transplant. I am finally feeling a bit more like myself at last. All of the blood counts are in the normal range and the liver and kidneys have coped well. Nobody said it would be easy, but my specialist did say that nothing can prepare you for the experience of undergoing a BMT.
I spent the first month at home sleeping on a single bed in the lounge so I wouldn't need to navigate the stairs. However the bath was beckoning so I did make it up and down the stairs a few times, with a lot of help, in that first week. Eating was problematic and we hired a carer who cooked and shopped for me for two weeks. She was a great help but, reluctantly, I had to let her go due to the burgeoning household expenses. Then it was up to Grant to provide the cooking, shopping and childcare services. Neri was a great help in those first few weeks with requests for hugs, cups of tea and fetching things.
It was all go for Grant as he also needed to run his busy photography business. Of course he did not take kindly to requests for food and then my reluctance to eat it. It was a burden that proved a little too heavy at times and spurred him into a middle-age crisis at the age of 50. As I starting feeling better he responded better and happily all is well now, the upshot being that he is planning the Southam Cycling South epic journey from Cape Reinga to Bluff on his bicycle this summer. In the process he hopes to raise money for Mobility Dogs as well as increase his fitness and lose a few kilos; not to mention the fantastic experiences he will have along the way.
Although I lost six kilos through the hospital episode, I now need to rebuild my fitness back to my previous level. This proves difficult with the cool winter air hampering my urges for walks and aqua-aerobics classes don't appeal at the moment either. However excursions to the shopping mall, movies and cafes with friends are keeping me on the go. We've been able to get away for overnighters in the campervan every second weekend or so and I've had the bike out a couple of times.
All of this has not stopped me from socialising with friends. They are my sanity-saver and thanks to all you great people out there for your company. I resumed household chores and cooking quite quickly and now I'm able to recommence business administration duties.
I see my specialist next week and he will look at reducing the cyclosporin tablets (immuno-supressant) and hopefully get me back to a pill-free existence.
