Finally! An Update!

Hello All,
I am sorry for the delay in updating my blog. There has been a lot going on. I am one year older! I can't believe I am 30! I lived to thirty which is wonderful. I have not updated for a little while because of some dramas. I had a big scare with one of my tests but a re-test put that at ease. I found out about this the day of my birthday party and still was able to enjoy my party, but was a mess for about 4 days afterwards, including not falling asleep til 3 tp 4am each night. However, fears were laid to rest with this scare when a re-test was done.

I also had a routine breast and liver ultrasound which was normal and fine. I still have a gall stone but hey....suppose it will need to be cut out sometime when it causes problems. I have had it since Isaac was a baby and he is 5 now. It has gradually gotten a little bigger but is not causing any problems.

Yes, my party experience was enjoyable. It was at a cottage called Tally Ho Lodge. It was a beautiful evening with finger food of all sorts equal to the amount of 4 courses. It was evening wear. Every did very well in dressing up! I felt like a princess in my dress and with my jewellery. It was quite an experience. Mum does some professional type photography for a hobby and she took photos for us. I had a wonderful mud type cake with white chocolate on it. Below are some photos of the people who were there on the night.
This is Alan and I. I always look so small when I am standing next to people!Me! In my dress!

This is Alan and his brother, Darren.

Alan, his brother, Darren, and his mum, Denise (my beautiful mother-in-law)

This is my direct family: Dad (Ps Ralph), mum (Ps. Wilma), myself and my sister, Liesl

Darren (Alan's brother) and his partner, Angela.

My brother in law, Tim (Liesl's hubby) and Liesl, my sister

My Father-in-law, Alex and ME!!!!

My mother and father in law! (Alex and Denise)

My Dad and Mum! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!

My beautiful Mum, myself and my sister, Liesl.....THE THREE GIRLS!!!

My Handsome dad and Me!!!! You looked so handsome on the night, Dad!

This is my brother -in-law, Jamie and Angela

Jordan, Alan's cousin and Me!

One of my really good friends, Leah and myself!

Another really good friend....or good friends, Laura and Rodney

Some more really good friends, Rachelle and Luke!

Excellent friends, Leah and Stephen!

Ps David and Ps Carol....also very good friends.

Good friends that Alan and I have known for years! Cathy and James! Thanks for coming guys. It was so special having you there.

Dear Julie and Leighton! They have 6 girls and my Isaac is for sure in love with at least 2 of them! Haha! It is cute.

It was a good evening and I do have more photos of just general hanging out. I didn't download one of the cake. Oh well. it is time to retire for the evening now. Tomorrow I hope to get to the pool and do some laps. I need to keep fit!

Bless you all and thanks for checking up on me. OH, I have IVIG infusion this Friday. Did I tell you that I did a short shift in the Emergency Room at my hospital. I am an RN...it was good.

Love you all,

Charisse

Inside House Pictures

Hello All,
let's take a walk through our new house briefly. Now, these are not good quality pictures. Our camera has had it I think. I mean, I tried SO hard to not shake while taking these pictures and all of them ended up blurry. You will be able to see they are blurry but on the computer when I load them up they are SO blurry and look terrible. I am frustrated. I can never get good shots. We need a new camera because I don't think it is my ability anymore...it is the camera. Anyway. We start with the sunken lounge. You walk in the front door and this is the lounge on the left........the wall looks pinkish in the photo but it is no way pink. It is a deep, rusty apricot colour. Our room will look different again when we purchase our new lounge suite. We are holding on to these ones for someone else. They are not our lounges. There is a nice open, gass fireplace...and then a step up to the dinning room...... This is blurry...oh well...you can see it steps up to the dinning room....a couple of photos...then leads into the kitchen....

Oh....here is the kitchen. I will take a photo when there is no clutter and no dishes as we had only had dinner a short while ago and have not yet cleaned up....so the kitchen usually looks a lot nicer. It is, however, an older kitchen than our other house and we will re-do it sometime.

Ah yes...back to the dinning room which leads into the kitchen.

See how it leads into the kitchen....haha!

Ah yes...the view from the kitchen...once again...a lot of clutter still...I will take photos when there is no clutter. This is Isaac's play room here with all his toys...and the piano. It has 3 doors leading off of it...the laundry, the spare room and Isaac's room.

Isaac's room. He is actually asleep so I quickly took a brief photo but didn't want to disturb him. He wants his room painted light blue...we would get him some new curtains and stuff probably and put up all his winnie the pooh stuff again to make him feel more at home.

This is a terrible photo...our house really is more stunning than these photos...but this gives you an idea of the colour of our bathroom which I like and is quite stunning in real life....

Going down the hallway from the kitchen and the play room. The bathroom comes off the side here and the door down the end it the main bedroom...sorry no pictures on here of that tonight.

This is the enterance way at the door at the front again...so we did a big circle really....

Sorry about all the gaps in the photos..I am slack tonight. I will get better photos...but at least this gives an idea. It is a nice house. I still miss my old one......we have tenants chosen for that house now.

The bone marrow results. The people at the IMVS transplant lab have now looked at my slides. They are confused by my marrow and are not willing to give me a count of my blasts just yet. They said my marrow is so confusing and different with the other FA cells that it is hard to tell what are the normal cells of FA which are abnormal cells and what are blasts.....this has always been the way with my marrow and why I insist on this lab doing the count. So, they are pulling up all my slides of the last number of years to compare because they need to get a feel of how my marrow is...what is "normal" for me so they count correctly. At least they are not just counting with what they "think" could be blasts but comparing and getting familiar with my past slides again. This should enable them to give me a more accurate count. It has only taken them 5 weeks to get to this (ahhhhhhhh!!!!!) I have an appointment with this haematologist to discuss how inappropriately this was done. The slides should have been looked at 5 weeks ago and not left til now...of when they are confused and finally are doing as I ask...frustrating but they are taking me seriously. It is not surprising about my marrow...I have always had marrow that looks strange like this.

It is my birthday in a week and I will be 30. I made it to 30 with FA!!!! Wow...this calls for a celebration so on the 16th May I am having a party that is formal wear in a cottage in the hills. Girls are wearing evening gowns and men...suits with bowties or ties. I have a new dress and it is beautiful. I feel like a bride again. I will post pictures. It will be a grand even to celebrate my life. The meal is made up of nice finger food equal to a 4 course meal! I feel like I am attending a ball in my dress!

Love you all,

Charisse

Hello Friends and Family,
a while back one of my friends turned 30 and they had a dress up party. We were all supposed to come dressed up as someone from our childhood. Does anyone remember the movie, "Annie"? Well that was a movie from both Alan and my childhood. So I dressed up as Annie and Alan was dressed up as Punjab, daddy Warbox (sp?) personal body guard...hehe. He does wear a uniform in the movie but Alan decided to wear this.....he was Indian man...well kind of....and so Alan used body paint. Hehe....Annie is supposed to be 8 years old...so that is what I was supposed to look like. The toy dog, which is a handbag...was meant to be "Sandy" the dog and as I entered the party I began by singing, "Dumb Dog, why are you following me????" It was a really fun night. Alan looks so amusing...hehe...they were good costumes.....
Off and onto another subject now..........

So we have been in the new house for 2 weeks now.

We are settling into our new house ok. I still feel a bit lost at times. I need to go through the house and start taking lots of photos! I have some here of Isaac in his new back yard. He was so excited. He said, "take a picture of me here, mummy"...so I did one of him on the swing.....and one of him on his little table and chairs and one on his bike and so on and his snail rocker. He likes to make funny faces. At the bottom.....the last photo is a dark photo of our fire place. The cat, Matilda, adores the open fire. It is a gas flame but still open fire and is lovely. I will get more photos.

So my doctor finally contacted us again. My dad has needed to help us because he is not communicating well with us. We needed to give him a push.....anyway, he said in an email today that I should have my results at the end of the week, probably tomorrow. There has been much involved since I explained everything to you all. I know that this all means that when I see the doctor on the 16th...there are some serious things to discuss about his patient care. So that is that issue.

So here is a video of us outside our new backyard. Press it twice to play the video. Hmmm...when I say, "there is the pergola area" I was meaning.....the patio...hehe.....the pergola is in a different place. Isaac is a bit feisty on this video. I will be getting more videos and pictures but that is all for tonight. Thanks for checking up on me....wow...it is getting late and I must go to bed. Love Charisse