Tuesday, 8 September 2009

Well, what a roller coaster ride we've had the last week or so!

Firstly, last Tuesday, while Paul was at the hospital for his review, I received a phone call to confirm delivery of the bedroom furniture for Friday, 4 September. How exciting, we can start to empty the remaining boxes in the bedrooms at last!

On Wednesday Paul received a phone call advising him that he will be going to Bristol for his bone marrow transplant next Wednesday (9 September) now that his tests show he is clear of the lymphoma at the moment following four cycles of this rather toxic type of chemo. What a relief that he doesn't have to go through any more of that! In preparation for the transplant he needed to go into hospital on Friday for a central line to be inserted. So he cancelled the furniture delivery as he needs to be here to remove the old furniture, disassemble the existing wardrobe and get it downstairs. They tried to get us to accept delivery anyway but eventually agreed to store it for us until the new year.

On Friday Paul went into Bangor hospital for his preparatory operation and I made arrangements for Deborah and Neil to share the journey to bring me back from Bristol on the Saturday as I will be going in the hospital car on the Wednesday with Paul. The operation went well but the doctors woke him up at 5pm to tell him that Bristol had cancelled the date they had given him only two days previously. What a devastating blow, after all this time, the anticipation, making arrangements and preparing mentally for what is to come. So now Paul has to have the dreaded chemo number 5 scheduled for Tuesday, 8 September.

So off Paul goes this morning ready for his regular 3 - 4 nights' stay but when he arrives he is told that he wont be having this chemo after all! Apparently this chemo regime (DHAP) is too toxic for how he is at the moment, so they will give him a cycle of the chemo he had last year (CHOP) which is milder but enough to hopefully keep him from relapsing while he waits for his transplant. Well, that's one good thing as the side effects of the CHOP during his six cycles last year were not as bad as the side effects of the DHAP have been.

Now Paul will return to hospital next Monday for two days for the chemo then come home, followed by a return to hospital the following Monday for a few days for a harvest of the remaining stem cells they need to make up the optimum amount for freezing for backup if the donor transplant fails.

And while all this has been going on Paul took advantage of the fact that he'll be home for a while and rearranged the furniture delivery for Friday, 18 September.

What else has been going on? Well, the curtain track was delivered yesterday so hopefully that will go up soon and maybe the lounge curtains will be up for the weekend.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful, dry and sunny for a change, so I cleared out a patch in the garden and moved some of the gladioli so that next year they'll come up in a nice group. I also cleared out the bed where the runner beans had been and planted a few plants that had been in pots waiting for somewhere to go. I bought some mini cyclamen last week and after I moved the montbretia, which was growing up through a large fuchsia mainly, I planted some of these close by with the rest going in another part of the bed. I still have to move about another dozen gladioli and clear a patch for them so I'll have to be patient as the weather has been horrendous again today!