Hi – we’re Back – where did the last three days go. It’s amazing what happens when you don’t sleep and it catches up. The last time I felt like that was in 2000 when I had my heart attack and I tell you it is scary. I’m sorry for the kids ,looking at me on Skype, feeling lousy and looking lousy – I had not showered since Sunday night. I have just had a beautiful hot shower and feel like a new person. The therapist just arrived and I have had to cancel for the second day in a row.
Well time to get back to our adventure. Jill has completed her second stem cell & bone marrow aspiration. I think that the BMT, the anaesthetic and a cold she has developed have taken a toll on her recovery time. The cold has broken but she is coughing a lot and still feels lousy. We have not been out of our room for three days. Jill has been hooked up to an IV all that time with either glucose, sodium chloride, and more recently the ABC bottle with every vitamin that you can imagine. Yesterday I was still feeling like death and I went to one of the interpreters to see if I could get something for myself, worrying if I go down who will care for Jill. A few minutes later a doctor called me into his office and asked about Jill and said BMT operations take it out of you and she will take a few days to recover. I then asked about something for me as I thought I was developing a cold etc to which he replied they would give Jill some medicine and some vitamins. I think he only had Jill in his mind. So I gave up and went back to Jill. Several minutes later the nurses came with a bottle of NIN JIOM PEI PA KOA (Traditional Chinese herbal Cough Syrup). It has every thing bar some Patterson’s curse in it. She has to take it three times a day; so far she has only had two so we can’t expect things to pick to quickly.
When Jill came back from the operating theatre her bra was around her neck and her pyjama top was on in reverse – none of which she could remember, unfortunately she was hooked up to an IV and that’s the way she had to stay until next morning. We have had some difficulty with the toilet as there is not a lot of room for Jill and her walker and she has to manoeuvre in and around almost like using our shower at home. The other day I pressed the button and it flushed but the button disappeared into the cistern and being so mechanically minded I pulled it apart and though I had fixed it. The cleaning lady arrived and as part of cleaning the toilet she uses the flush. Next thing she has a handy man there with a new button mechanism and the job is done. Nobody is any the wiser that Mac buggered it up.
On Monday a young Chinese girl came to our room and offered to teach me some basic Chinese words and phrases. Unfortunately she came back and said I was the only one and she would try again tomorrow. Tuesday came and again I was her only student – Certainly a long time since I have had such one on one tuition. We say in the lounge and she taught me phrases like Good Morning: zao shang hao, Thank You: xie xie, Good bye: Zai Jian and the best one of all was for me to say to Jill. I love you Jill: wo ai ni Jill. She also told me about her family – father a police man, she cannot swim, father can, she would like to drive a car and finally she would like a baby in two years.. How’s that for a quick conversation.
Since then I have stayed close to Jill as she gets very upset at being left alone for any time. I had Mary do my shopping again – she does better than I can – I asked for sliced ham .She got smoked sliced ham and for the first time in 10 days I had a ham and tomato sandwich. Bread is a bit sweet, not much taste in the tomato but it was great not to have something not soaked in fat. The food available to us is limited to the deliver in restaurants i.e. Pizza, Crispy Chicken and Chinese meals. I guess once the big development over the road opens – the menu will improve. If I had been able to go shopping myself I could get some salad, vegetables and meat and cook for ourselves. I hope that next week once Jill is over this cold I will get that chance.
There has been a change over – mid week of patients, several empty rooms so I guess we will have some new neighbours today. I ran into a chap from Adelaide in the kitchen he is here as carer for his brother and was making a nice green salad – looked great. I was cooking toast so that we could have poached egg on toast – no pepper or salt. I had gone down to the hospital shop and purchased apples, mandarins, bananas, 4 eggs and the most important thing was a couple of drum sticks for desert.
The construction over the road has made some move – the Sydney harbour arch has now got two more meeting in the centre I am guessing another will go up in the next couple of days
We have just had a visit from the doctor checking up on Jill – they had cancelled Fridays Stem Cells untill Jill has more energy – and this cold has started to clear
See you tomorrow morning on the net
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