Bernadette

 It has been awhile since I put photos up so I thought I would put a few on today. This one is of the rescue helicopter that Cam volunteers on. It is the Energex rescue helicopter and he volunteers one weekend a month. They do the rescue operations on the Sunshine Coast. It is very exciting work and he loves it. He has to assist the pilot with navigation, take offs and landings, assist with a rescue (such as being dropped into the surf to pick up someone in the water) and assist the medic with medical assistance to the injured person (Cam used to be squeamish like me so he has come a long way to do that too).

Here are some photos of my gorgeous little munchkins. As you can see Arielle has grown heaps - she is now about 4kg! She is a very strong little girl both physically and in her will power. If she doesn’t want to do something (like trying to move her arms out of the way when feeding) it is a real struggle. She is a little princess too and Cam and I constantly laugh at the little things she does. If she wets or dirties her nappy she insists on it being changed immediately - if it is part way during a feed she will not continue feeding until she is clean and she will cry until it is changed! It is lovely seeing her little personality come out. Tiernan still loves his little sister to bits and we have had no problems with jealousy. He is actually being quite helpful most of the time and just loves to nurse her and kiss her. The photo of Tiernan is a rare one now days as he is playing with water out of a hose. We are on strict water restrictions however mum and dad have a dam and the hose he is using is connected up to that. He had the time of his life playing with the hose and mum ended up as drenched as Tiernan was - he would water the roses and then say “Nuna come here and see this” - as soon as mum came over he would point the hose at her - he thought it was a total crack up and giggled and giggled.

These are the photos of our house. It is really coming along now and is really looking like the end product. We had a wardrobe person come out this week and she asked what we did with the old house. She was suprised when we said it was still there beneath all of the new product. Once the house is finished though the only way any of the house will be visible will be inside the roof!! Cam and I both love going over there as it is so exciting to see your dreams finally taking shape and slowly becoming a reality.

Back to why I called this blogg “Along came a spider” - Sometimes you really have to wonder if someone has it in for you!! On Monday night I dropped Cam off at Kangaroo Point to go climbing and whilst I was there I sat on the rocks talking to Cam. There are always ants and spiders and bugs around but they dont usually bother you. Well on Monday night a little spider thought my calf muscle looked a little tasty and decided to take a sample bite. It stung but I was not too bothered as it was only a little spider and it didn’t look too scary (I let it live and scurry off to play with its other spider friends). On Tuesday it was a little itchy and started to swell a little but again nothing too bad. Early Wednesday morning it started festering and my calf became quite swollen. I called my doctor and sure enough hesaid to come in. My blood was tested and I was even more neutropenic than I was on Monday and it looked like the bite had caused an infection (couldn’t the spider have picked someone who was not neutropenic and bitten them instead). So I was admitted to hospital - they had a shortage of beds and I had to wait to 4pm and as I was severely neutropenic I was not able to wait in the general waiting room due to my risk of infection. Eventually I convinced him to let me go home (I had not brought any bags in) as long as I promised not to be in contact with anyone else other than Cam (Tiernan was with Jess) and I promised I would come back to the hospital!

So now I am in hospital having a few IV antibiotics to combat the spider bite infection (the festering has calmed down and it is now just a bright red splotch mark on my leg), some Neupogen injections so that my white cells don’t have middle names (an expression they use to indicate that you have so few white cells it is possible to name them all with middle names) and a blood transfusion to get my red cells into gear and increase my currently very low blood pressure. Oh then I forgot to add to that some Phernergen and Hydrocortisone to combat any adverse reaction to the blood and some Panadeine Forte to try to dull the pain caused by my bone marrow trying to get into some heavy duty white cell production from the Neupogen injections!! In the few minutes one of those drugs are not being pumped through my body I have fluids going in me just to help me along a little. And I might add all of this is in a room shared with 3 other cancer sufferers as the ward is so full at the moment. Oh the joys of having cancer!!

It has been quite amusing sharing a room this time. The lady beside me is about a hundred and two and snores like a trooper when she is not throwing up - very helpful in trying to eat or get a good night’s rest before they wake you at 4am to take blood. It is quite amusing actually as I think she may have dementure as well - she just buzzed the nurse and said that she does not know why she is in here as she definitely is not pregnant and had a very active sexual life until recently - maybe she thinks she is in the Mater Mothers!! The two ladies opposite me are lovely ladies in their late 50’s. They are both newly diagnosed (one yesterday and the other last week). It has been quite interesting talking to them as I realise what a pessimistic cynic I have become in the past 6 months. They have wonderful positive attitudes and keep talking about how much of this is mind over matter and keeping a positive attitude and are both looking at trying alternative treatments in addition to traditional medicine. We have had some great chats and I have managed not to infect them with my knowledge of how bad chemo really is. I remember a time when I felt the same way they did. I have tried only talking to them about positive things and trying to pass on a little knowledge about how the ward works and any tips and tricks I have on suriving this rotten journey.

One Response to “Along came a spider and sat down beside her……”

1. Tiel Says:
   November 24th, 2006 at 8:31 am

   hey there, you have been doing so much writing and thinking this last week. I received your email and promise to sit and read everyword of the blogg and make a comment. I want to not rush this so will choose a good time.

   big smiles

   Tielx

Leave a Reply