Saturday
I am staying with Jake this weekend because Bibi is going away to Ocean Grove to be pampered by Challenge with a group of other mums of kids with cancer. Good food, drinks, massages, facials and chatting with women in the same situation. I hope she has a great time - she certainly deserves a break from the very difficult job she's been doing so well.
She sent me a photo of a parking lot this afternoon, but I think the point was the ocean beyond - it's the view from the balcony. It's exciting because we have the opportunity to book the same house for our family to stay at, sometime towards the end of the year when Jake is a bit better and has been out of hospital for a while. That will be good - we missed our holiday early this year so we're looking forward to getting the whole family away together.
Nothing much is happening here. Jake is sleeping a lot, and the only concern is that his blood pressure is a bit high so they are giving him really tiny tablets to bring it down. He hasn't been eating much for the last couple of days but did have most of a bowl of corn flakes for lunch so we are not as concerned as we were.
Doug
Sunday
Jake slept from about 4pm yesterday and seems determined to keep sleeping all day today. The doctor said that's fine - his body is going through a lot right now.
Bibi messaged me at 7am to find out how to record noises on her new iPhone. She was walking on the beach and wanted to bring the sound of the ocean back with her. I'm glad she's having a good time - hope she comes back feeling very refreshed and relaxed.
I broke the parents' bed this morning - one of the wooden slats snapped - so I think we will have to move the mattress to the floor. I doubt there's a spare one we can swap it for.
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A doctor came in this morning - one I hadn't met before - to have a look at Jake. He just reiterated everything that Tiedemann had told us, and nothing has changed, except that he did say something that we hadn't heard before. Apparently a little graft vs. host disease is a good thing, and there is a higher cure rate for Leukaemia among children who have had minor graft vs. host compared to those who avoided it completely. This is because while the graft vs. host is attacking Jake's body, shown mostly as a rash, it is also attacking any remaining leukaemic cells that remained after the chemo, radiation and transplant. This means there is a greater chance that the cancer will not reccur, as hopefully there will be no lonely little leukaemia cells waiting to gain strength, multiply and attack again sometime in the future.
Doug