How Am I Feeling? Some Thank yous!

First of all,

thanks to Alan, my wife, for writing my last update.....hehe....but one correction, he is my husband.....hehe......that is funny. For those of you who do not know, Alan is my husband not my wife.

Ok, IVIG infusion went well on Friday. I was heaps wiped out from the anaesthetic on Thursday and my head has been throbbing something awful so I have been having digesic practically every 4 hours which has made me feel a bit wiped out too. Today my head was a bit better and not so painful but my hand has been really painful where they cut out the suspicuous spot as well. I re-dressed the wound yesterday and it looked good. It looked a bit digusting not even being 24 hours old, but healthy. I will re-dress it again in a day or so and check on its progress, especially if it feels more sore. It was funny. I was seeing the doctor and showing him and felt really strange. It looked gross but good medically and I felt like I was going to faint. Being a nurse who works in surgcial areas I have seen much bigger and fresher wounds before and don't feel weird but seeing it on myself made me feel real strange. Hahaha....it is so silly.

Alan helps me wash my hair. It still has some old blood in it. It has been washed twice but the stuff really gets stuck in there....betadine as well. We have to wash my hair in sections over the bath. It feels really vulnerable and sore. After the wash though, I feel nice.

I have been wearing my new hat. Even though they didn't shave much, there was not heaps of hair at the top of my head to flop over because of the position and so my head gets cold being winter here and all and then sore. Also, I feel subconscious so I wear my new hat. Here is a picture of my new hat below. I look at bit tired though:

I have a follow up appointment with the surgeon in 10 days with the stitches and possibly to find out any more pathology results on the tumor, whether I have this Muir-Torre Syndrome and whether they got all the tumor definitely.

My platelets have been holding steady and yesterday were 134 000 which is great. I did have support platelets before the surgery so they would have been even higher. It is just nice to see the platelets holding so there will be no need for any other support platelets for healing purposes. I was really excited that my White blood cells were 3000 and my neuts were 1500 and my haemaglobin still at 13.8 despite any bleeding in surgery. They said it bled more than usual. I don't know about that because my platelets would have been higher than 134 000. I just think it was head surgery. Head surgery bleeds a lot. My clotting factors are all normal......

I want to say some thank yous. Thank you to Alan's mum, Denise, for helping us with looking after Isaac, taking him to school and picking him up and bedding him down...and for taking me to infusion. Isaac needs a lot of support when we have incidents like this. He has been a bit more teary this weekend. Thank you for your support. Thank you, Alex, for your love and support as well. It has meant a lot to us.

Thank you to my sister, Liesl, for also picking Isaac up for me on infusion day.....once again, it is great that Isaac has that family support and for us too. Thank you...it is much appreciated. Tim, we love you too. Thank you for supporting us with love and prayer.

Thank you to my sister-in-law, Angela for all your phone calls and smses and friendship and love and chats. I am greatly grateful (hehe) for that and have appreciated your support. I LOVED working with you on the gastroenterology Unit last week! Hehe...we had fun (she and I are both nurses). Darren, you are a blessing too. Thanks for your love and support.

Mum and dad, even though you have been in Africa, we have felt your love and support and thank you for your constant messages. We love you...........

Hold on everyone.....you may be thanked...hehe

Teresa Clifton, even though you have had a baby, you have been so sweet and supportive with your emails and love. Thank you so much my friend. I love you.

Jennifer gough, another beautiful person who is a part of the FA Family. I love you and thank you for your supportive emails and friendship. Thank you for the beautiful flowers that pleasantly surprised me when I got home from IVIG infusion the day after. I was so touched. We took a picture to share them with everyone.....below is the picture:

They are beautiful flowers....thank you Jennifer.

I am almost finished.

Thank you to my dear friend, Danielle....for being a great personal friend and support and a great nanny to Isaac. We love you heaps. Kiss, kiss, kiss.........and to Chris (boyfriend) who is willing to help me out with taxying Isaac and I around this Tuesday. You are a blessing.

Leah, my beautiful friend, thank you to you for the help you will be giving me this Tuesday as well with looking after Isaac and I in the afternoon! We really appreciate it. I wanted to thank you in advance.

Cassie! My true best friend. We went through school together and have remained so close throughout the years. You have been through so much with me including when Shannon, my brother, died one month after his transplant. I know you remember the day well. I love you. Thanks for your love and support.

So much support!!!! So many messages in my guestbook and emails. I love my FA Family! You guys are great. If I have not thanked you personally, please consider yourselves thanked now. It would become even longer if I continued to thank everyone. However, I wanted to acknowledge those specific people.

One more person I cannot forget.....my husband, yes.....husband, Alan. Alan we have been married for 10 years this December and you have stuck by my side through many dramas with FA. I am blessed to have you as my husband. I am so glad you have not run away from me and have been so loyal. I could not do any of this without you. I love you very much. Thank you for always being there for me.

Ok, I have said all I can say tonight. I love you all and will update soon again.

Lots of love,

Charisse