Day +121: Nasogastric Tube, BE GONE!

From this...



...to THIS!!!



It's gone!
The ugly yellow tube is gone!
The pesky tube that caused so much trouble is gone!
Gone!
Gone forever!

My beautiful boy with his beautiful face is no longer adorned by this awful ugly plastic tube.

HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

One tube down, one more to go. I can't wait till the doctors finally remove the central line. I hope it won't be too much longer.

Good riddance, ugly yellow nasogastric tube! Be gone, you awful bane of my existence! Hallelujah!

Day +107: Deisolation!

Word of the day: Deisolate.

de·i·so·late [dee-ahy-suh-leyt]

verb (used with object), de·i·so·lat·ed, de·i·so·lat·ing.

To remove from isolation.

It's official! Day +107 and about bloody time. WOO HOO!!!

Day +100: We Made It!!!

We did it!
We made it!!!
100 days since transplant!
Woop woop!

This is a major milestone for us. At Day +100, we are now officially "out of quarantine". This means a bit more flexibility and scope for me and Sean as far as where we can go, and although we still have to be vigilant about staying away from sick people, Sean is now to mix with the general public again.

All in all, we were blessed with the smooth road that Sean's been on since we were discharged from the hospital post transplant. We had only ONE return visit to hospital, very late in the piece, and there were no signs of Graft Versus Host Disease since transplant, which was amazing. We are constantly reminded by all the doctors and nurses that most BMT kids bounced in and out of hospital on repeated readmission post transplant, and all suffer from some degree of GVHD. But not our boy. Our little man is a superhero!

Day +99: See Sean Eat!

After the horrendous day we had yesterday, I wanted to focus on something good today. And Sean was happy to oblige.

The boy ate. And ate. And ate some more.

It was a sight to behold. That fussy child we had been dealing with all these weeks vanished. In his place was this ravenous child, who ate everything that was put in front of him, and more!

Sean's appetite was back with a vengeance. And I was so glad to see it. At one point, I wondered who this hungry child was and what he had done with my fussy eater of a son?! The answer: this hungry child ATE the fussy eater.

The fact that Sean was now eating well again put me in a good mood, and I set about doing the things that didn't get done yesterday with a smile on my face. We went out to the shops to buy a few things from Big W, picked up some groceries from Woolworths and got some fresh vegetables from Golden Banana.

A bit of a nothing day was had otherwise. But wait. Tomorrow is a HUGE day for us. One more day to go!

Day +98: 9.30AM is NOT Midday!

Why do we bother making an appointment to see a doctor when the doctor is NEVER on time?

Seriously, Dr Barbaric is the world's worst time manager I have ever had the displeasure of meeting and/or working with. Of all the times we have had to see her for Clinic, she has been on time less than 5 times. LESS than 5 times. Every other time, we were made to wait for up to 90 minutes to see her.

And today was no exception. But today was the worst experience of all. We didn't see Dr Barbaric until nearly midday. Two and a half hours AFTER our appointment.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

Day +97: Our Big Day In

With a sigh of relief, I know the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter by the day.

Unfortunately, someone forgot to remind the little man to just hang in there. Sean slept poorly overnight, waking a few times. Jonathan and I took turns to try and resettle Sean, who would fall back asleep for 20 or so minutes before waking and needing to be comforted again. At 5am, we decided to bring him into our room. We really should have done it a lot earlier.

Once in the safety of our arms, Sean slept. Soundly. As did I. Too exhausted to try and keep up the façade of having a morning routine, Sean and I continued to sleep until 8.45am.

As if the extra sleep was just what the doctor ordered, Sean didn't fight with me during meal times today. He continued to eat well, albeit slowly, but we were learning to take things one at a time. For now, if he was eating, we didn't mind the slow pace.

I wasn't up to doing much during the course of the day. The disjointed sleep was really wreaking havoc with my body, so I chose to spend the day indoors with Sean. My only achievement today, besides feeding and watering the little man and keeping him happy and occupied, was making a huge pot of potato and leek and bacon soup. Wow. So tasty! I was very impressed with my efforts!

We have Clinic tomorrow. We will be seeing Dr Barbaric tomorrow as Dr Trahair is away. Dr Barbaric is notorious for being late, so here's hoping we will be seen to as close to our appointment time as possible.

Day +96: Sean Is Eating Again!

18 months ago, we were holding a brand new baby. Today, that baby has turned into a toddler.

A toddler who is full of life, and giggles, and smiles, and cuddles and kisses.

A toddler who is full of mischief, and cheeky glints in his eyes.

A toddler who is full of adventure, and energy to climb on to all of our furniture.

A toddler who is full of wriggles, and just won't sit still.

And today, Sean is a toddler who is full of food, and is eating so much better again.