80 Days around the world

Love is..... Only one day at clinic this week

Monday  80 days
In June next year we might be able to travel. Wont be around the world though.
Great news as Colin is progressing well and Dr Will is letting Colin attend clinic only 1 day a week.  We are ecstatic. :-) All getting our lives back on track.
Do miss seeing our new friends. 
I spent the morning visiting Colin and Daphne.  As I went to see blue coat Jenny Wong but got lost near the Starship where I ran into Dr Simon Chin.  He didn't know about Colin and went straight off to day stay to visit him.  Nurse Anne was so onto it today and we got a carpark just like that!
We left just after lunch and went shopping again.  Going to try cooking Anthony Hoy Fongs bbq ribs again and the beef cheek stew.  Still managed our daily walk but Colin has a sore instep.

Tuesday
Mission impossible at the movies.  If we go early there are less people.  Yes only 9 other cinema goers.  Great action scenes. Thoroughly enjoyed it  
I feel the need to get back out there in the real world .  With care about where we go though. Of course.
Now deciding on whether to buy a cast iron casserole.

Wednesday

Bought the casserole pot for $50 and it cooked up beef cheek stew which was the most delicious stew I ever made.  Didnt want to spend $700 on Le Creuset.  Wonder if the cast iron made it so yummy?

Friday

Colin'sisters visited yesterday and Sandra and Kevin called in today with sister Viv and Steve and Moy.  So good to swap notes on Steves treatment and see him looking so well. Oxygen therapy must work.  Ive really done well and achieved heaps.  Mowed lawns,  weedeated,  weeded,  caught up on laundry,  floors etc. My helper has gone and got a job but Colin is slowly picking up the slack.  We have managed daily walks and now going over 1.5km. Feeling goooood. 

Can't stop  hugging Colin but he is more interested in playing with his  phone!  Don't burst my bubble. 

At the movies.  Shhhhh! 

Served on mashed  potato and Kumera 

A Spring in our step.

Love is...... Enjoying The approach of Spring

Friday week 11 (77 days)
Newfound energy after taking vitamins and Spring is trying to break through with my daffodils popping their heads up.   I hibernate in winter and am now feeling better and ready for action. 

+out shopping early
+did washing -  Colin hang out
+vacuumed upstairs
+walked 1. 3 km for Colins rehab
+pruned roses
+baked a prune and pumpkin loaf = yum
( nurse gave me a sugar free recipe)
+cooked Anthony Hoy Fongs ribs for dinner
+finished scarf for a present

Probably crash after belly dance class tomorrow.
Plenty more jobs on the list

With the slight relaxation on food restrictions,  i am managing a little better. Bought some soups for lunch  and making vogels mouse traps which are easy and quick  for Colin to make. Colin seems a little more enthused to exercise again so we are back to walking if the weather allows. Will build up distance slowly as living on a hill means a bike back up Hill coming home 

Paleo dinner?  Pan fried lemon pepper gurnard on wilted spinach with Mediterranean veges. 

Well it was yum. Got my cooking mojo back

Bird bird, fly away again

Love is... A quiet sleep in?

Bird Factor
Yes a bird is back on our roof waking us in the morning.  Can't see it but I do know it is not the dove.  No cooing.  This bird delights in fluttering and tapping on the roof.  Not sure if it is hopity skipping across roof tiles or making a bath in the guttering.  Just jolly annoying at 7.00am.  We are trying to sleep in. My slamming windows and yelling out makes NO difference. 

Monday Day 73
Fabulous progress
Colin is taking mylanta as a magnesium supplement and it has worked!  No diarrhea but a raise in magnesium levels.  Means no treatment necessary so we can leave by 12.30 today after bloods and early doctor checkup with Dr William.  Nearly a record for us.
He can now stop one of his tablets.  Great news.
Discussion with fellow patients today show that  Colin is progressing well considering, as 2 people have had their transplants not work well and they update us on their progress  
We realize that there is no textbook recovery.  We have to be aware that anything can happen anytime.

We have time for a walk around the museum and even brave going in to see the Auckland exhibit.   Shhhhh don't tell a yone but there were very few people around.  Colin is doing really well and doing a little more around home to help out. Just hope that this momentum keeps going forward slowly.  You won't believe how fabulous it was to walk in the sun and fresh air and  do something different. 

I was fired up and came home to weed and shift a plant in the garden.  Cooked " run over rooster"  and it was delicious I have to say.  Meal times are looking up.  

10 week milestone

Love is.... Gentle

Thursday
On Wednesday we were out of clinic by 12.30. It was so good to leave by then because the registrar had charted magnesium so no waiting around. It did help that there were hardly any patients around. 
Colin has started washing dishes again so beginning a bit of exercise  and we went for a walk in the wonderful sunshine today.  Stepping up some exercise but the doctor still insists we hibernate so we don't catch any bugs or flu.  They could be life threatening  to Colin.  It does work if people who are sick stay home and away from others. 
I am feeling better this week as even managed to weed and tidy up my son's place,  take a friend shopping and catch up on household chores.

Sunday

Family came round to watch All Blacks thrash Australia with Colin last night.  Julie and I worked on the wedding invitations.  Friday was the 10 week milestone of 70 days.  Another another month and we may have restrictions relaxed a little bit.  Hoping Colin can get clinic down to once a week then but not looking likely at this stage due to the magnesium deficiency. I went to dance class yesterday and had  a great time in the local second hand shop with Mary.  Our favourite is to stop at  Binn Inn and buy for my new cooking regime.  Tried out gluten free samples.  Not a big fan. Biscuits tasted of weird after taste.  After a tough week for me mentally last week,  I am feeling less pressurized after some time out.  Colin is managing better each day and so far no new hurdles to climb.  

Food reinvented?

Love is...... Changing food for the health of the family

Thursday
Food is taking over. I am getting no inspiration to cook but am studying up.

*Low GI foods vs fast glucose release carbohydrates. 
* gluten free,  dairy free and lactose intolerant?
*Almond or coconut milk.  Sugars per serve less than 10
*Sourdough and whole grains not white bread
*Paleo or diabetic cookbook
*Increase vegetables esp leafy greens
*Almond vs spelt or coconut flour
*High magnesium foods,  non oxide magnesium supplements
*Chelated, 
*Nuts, lentils, flax seeds,  inca grains,  chia, 
*Protein shakes

Good news
Colin's bone marrow shows remission.  Chimera test is still showing improvement 98% takeover by donor cells of peripheral blood
Raised cholesterol means another tablet to take.  Need a wheelie bin to store all the tablets and medications.

Monday Day 66
Cameron's first day of work at  PB Tech. My youngest has a job.
Back to clinic and everyone else has left.  We have been here for 5 hours and counting.  Laboratory is slow today.
We watched the nurses give some one a top up of stem cells that have been on ice.  Interesting.

First day at work.  Sent with a packed lunch. 

Stem cells on ice

Biopsy yet again

Love is.... Waking at 7am to get to an early appt and not grumbling

Monday Day 59
Bone marrow biopsy this morning with Dr Henry Nu.   Yayy traveling at 20 km on motorway takes 1.10 hr to get to hospital by 8.30am.  Usually a 21 minute trip. Len Brown will have to do something about the traffic and spend less time thinking about Bevan Chuang.  What about those speed lanes they have on  the motorways in LA.  Can only enter at certain places so the traffic moves.

Growing hair

David has more fuzz on his head than Colin. Looks like kiwifruit. Two months and not much to show. First round of chemo they had hair by 2 months. Realised that they have grown hair on the sides of their nose instead!  Friend Greg has finally headed home after 11 months treatment  in Auckland.  We wish him and his wife all the best back in Kaitaia

Tuesday  Day 60

Diabetes clinic. A good visit with the specialist but they are not up to speed on bone marrow  transplants. Unfortunately it is insulin twice a day now.  Still I think we are slowly getting better at all the procedures and tests associated with his condition. Asian's are prone to diabetes due to their smaller pancreas.  Transplant and drugs puts  more pressure on the body.  

Wednesday

Cameron's turn  at clinic   this morning after I drop son 1 car to Mazda  and walk home in the rain. Cameron has sleep apnea.  Some things to work on with no real answers but more medical issues to deal with.  Just what we need! 

  

Yesterday (photoshoot in the Domain)

Love is... Getting you through the day,  almost

Saturday
*no sleep from stressing
*up wash hair,  apply make  up
*cut fruit Colin's breakfast with porridge
*make protein smoothie 4 his morning tea
*text photographer, weather fine today for photo shoot
*ring Nick & Brendon meet us 2pm
*instructions 4 lunch
*binn in 4 flour to make diabetic bread
*belly dance class Howick 10.30
*home 4 lunch 12.30
*get everyone dressed
*check warm clothing 4 Colin
*pack bags,  food,  regalia
*pick up Brendon
*home,  forgot vouchers
*briscoes 4 photo frame 4 degree certficate
*doesn't fit,  damn it
*Domain to meet photographer 2pm
* photo shoot of family and Cam in regalia
*briscoes to exchange  photo frame
*home by 4. 30pm
*cuppa
*Colin sleeps, 
*I make dinner
*I chillax!

I'M TIRED!
Stressful week