§ The Limbo Dance: signifying an emergence from death to life. §
10 November 2016 – Email Update to friends and rellies: Normality…… but will it be as we know it?
Dear all,
Ticking along well
A very successful few days since I last wrote, with John making steady progress and improving daily.
Pressure at the clinic
We went to a very-overworked, under-staffed clinic on Friday with long waiting times due to staff shortages. Despite the volume of patients to deal with, the staff were still amazingly cheerful and focused.
Pleased with progress
The consultant we saw (not Paneesha this time) was very pleased with John’s progress. He said John’s blood counts are all OK and his neutrophils (the white cells that help fight infection) are up to par, so he can probably start getting back to normal. A reminder not to go into too over-crowded places – don’t go on a plane for example – and be careful doing any handyman work; i.e. don’t go grubbing in dirty areas, no toilet plumbing, and be aware that drilling and removing old material is fungi-infested and can be a threat.
Gaining inspiration
In addition, the clinic being the post-transplant clinic, we got chatting to a chap who’d had a transplant last March, and he was looking so fit and well, playing football and taking life by the scruff of its neck, that John felt very inspired to really do more.
Thinking of me!!
So, all good; and John is buoyed by the idea of having an improved daily purpose – especially one of his own choosing. So excited was he about ‘getting back to normal’ that he actually brought me breakfast in bed on Sunday morning. How absolutely delightful that was! And not only that, I was very privileged to be able to use his ‘poorly soldier’ set: an egg-cup and soldier-cut-out set for the toast – thank you to Sue and Chris for that!
Back to work….
Monday morning, then, and John is raring to get back to work!! Physically, he is still not yet up to full strength, but his view is that if he gets on with it he will get stronger – which is true of course. Disappointingly, I’m thinking that the three-times-a-week walk with the wife might now have fallen by the wayside, but very happy that John feels useful again. He’s having a ‘phased return’ and supporting the guys who are re-furbishing my Mums house, so going over there in the afternoons to do, what he promises me is, clean work. He’s been sorting out the electricals in the kitchen and is planning to act as foreman next week as the new kitchen goes in.
Overdone it?
John being John, of course, does like to get stuck in. So yesterday, on his arrival home, I said, “Errm….hobbling are we? Overdone it a bit?” Hmmm, yes, just a bit – was the reply. Just a bit of backache. Ah, well, you can’t keep a good man down!!!
Back to normality….. Beam me up, Scotty!
So, we’re getting back to normal – oh!! That sounds scary!!! Beam me up Scotty!!
All for now and, as always, much love and grateful thanks for the support people continue to offer.
Anne