Random Stuff/Photos/Medical update

Hello All,
It has been a little while since I updated. As per usual, medical dramas are always exciting. My wound from the operation to remove the vulval cancer is taking forever to heal! I have seen the surgeon every Friday. First, the swelling was just crazy that there was a lot of pain and fluid coming out. Then the stitches were pulled out as a result of the swelling so the wound started to gape a bit but not too badly. Then some weird blisters appeared along with an excess of granulation tissue and this provided me with horrible pain. I had to up my pain relief. Then, suddenly it looked infected a week later with more pain again. Off to the surgeon and so put on antibiotics. At first they considered taking me back into surgery to clean the wound up which is still gaping a bit from the stitches being pulled from the swelling. However, my blood counts came back as ALL low! Crazy! Even counts that are usually well within range were quite under the range which made me panic and have many emotional moments. Haemaglobin is never low and was low and the level that shows how stressed your marrow is, is usually in range and is way up! So I think it is safe to say my body and marrow is under a bit of stress with trying to heal this wound! So they didn't want to take me into surgery with counts like this. We went with the antibiotic course and salt baths and HEAPS of rest *sigh* I am SICK of rest. I haven't driven in at least 6 weeks. I have been very teary as well. The surgeon also thinks I am having a reaction to the stitches that are left in. However, it is too painful to snip them and they don't want to touch down there with my counts. So we are waiting. I just finished the antibiotics and I think it is feeling a bit better but I need to give it more time. I now have local anaesthetic that I can put on to help with the pain as well as the oral pain relief.

Other medical updates. I went to the ENT to have my mouth checked. After the op, I was quite stressed and tired and got many ulcers in my mouth. They have started to clear up but we are keeping an eye on it all. I also have a huge ulcer on my tongue right now and some white areas which have developed while I have been stressed. He also discovered a strange lump inside my right ear. He thinks it needs to be surgically taken off and could be a cyst or a basal cell carcinoma. These cancers are easy to remove if caught early. They are not known for spreading. Boy, Australian sun is a killer. I must remember not to forget my ears and put sunscreen on the. Honestly, I cover myself in sunscreen and wear a hat. From all these cancers (ones on the head), you would think I deliberately expose myself to the sun. Believe me, I don't! I hope it is JUST a cyst. I have to see the ENT again in 3 weeks to see if this ulcer and white spots on my tongue, go away. If not, biopsies and this lump will be taken off together in surgery.

I saw a pyschologist yesterday. It was good. I have been teary every day since the operation to take out the vulval cancer. I have found this rather traumatic and am still struggling in the recovery period. I had a good chat with this pyschologist. She deals with patients going into transplant and who have experienced cancer. I will be working through some more issues that have come up as a result of my brother's death in 1994 and doing some visual exposure in the transplant unit and haematology wards to help my anxiety. We will be working through a LOT! I haven't written all that here though. I will see this lady every 2 to 3 weeks. I am aware that this could be challenging but am eager. I also feel like I need the general emotional support right now.

Enough of that though. I wanted to share some fun photos with you. It has been winter here but we had a few days of warmer weather and sunshine. I thought I would put some photos up of Isaac and I in the backyard. Remember Bella, Isaac's kitten? She is 6 months now and just got desexed and is allowed to explore the backyard with us around. The other cat you will see is our 6 year old cat, Matilda :-) Below is Isaac and Bella.
Below is a picture of myself enjoying the sunshine, watching Isaac and Alan working in the yard. See......I DO wear a hat....and I DO have plenty of sunscreen on...even on my hands!

Matilda on the left, Bella on the right :-)

6 weeks ago, before my surgery and in the school holidays, Alan, Isaac and I went to a place called Victor Habour. You can travel over to an island called Granite Island on a carriage pulled by a draft horse. There are fairy penguins over there. Beautiful scenery. We went over and stayed for the night tour so we could see the penguins. It was a great family day.

This is us leaving the main land, going over the long bridge, in the carriage being pulled by the horse.

I took a picture of the water while driving. It was very peaceful :-)

Isaac enoying the ride and the ocean scenery :-)

Scenery. Is that the main land? Hehe....

The rocks on the other side. Getting closer....

Here we are on the island and we had enough time to walk around the whole island before dark. It was cold so we had our scarves, beanies, gloves asnd jackets on. We started by walking up all these stairs to the top of the side of the island and then followed dirt tracks from there.

Haha! My hair looks crazily fluffy and out there! It was cold and windy but beautiful! Isaac and I stopping to pose while climbing.

The view half way up the stairs :-)

I love this rock formation. It looks like a hand! We were walking around the side of the island, safely of course, and saw this. Fascinating!

Walking along small trails. Hold on Isaac. It is a long way to tumble and roll down!

Big boulder down by the water!

Isaac and I on a rock....hehe

Walking around the other side of the island. The sun is going down. Pretty.....

Over half way around now. An old, huge tree........fascinating

Coming back towards the front of the island, close to where the bridge is back to the main land. Pretty.

The bridge we travelled over from the main land, on the carriage pulled by the horse :-)

We walked back over the bridge after the penguine tour. We got the penguine tour on video and didn't have any pictures. I think this photo is nice.

Can you believe it? It is approaching 9.30pm and we still hadn't been to the playground which we promised Isaac could do. It had been a big day of fun and was the school holidays, so we stayed later to allow Isaac a bit of a play. Then we ventured home on our 1.5 to 2 hour trip home. Isaac fell asleep in the car :-)

So that was one outing during the holidays. Another day we went to the Thomas the Tank Engine Fair which was at the Railway Museum. There are also real old steam trains kept there and that was the highlight of Isaac's day. He loves steam trains so here are a few pictures of Isaac hanging out with those huge trains :-)

Isaac pretending to be the engine driver.....hehe

I like this photo. What a cool kid! What a huge steam train!
Some other holiday fun at the local park. Isaac likes to make up a challenge course and daddy (Alan) must do whatever Isaac does....hehe

Plenty of challenges.

Go, Alan, GO!!!!

Happy Isaac!

So there are some updated photos of our family. It is late and I must get into bed. We have FA camp here in Australia in less than 2 weeks. I will get to meet Kelly and Janet Turner from the FA e-group from New Zealand! I am SO excited! It should be fun. Please pray I feel much better with this wound and that my counts have improved. I must go to bed!

Love you all,

Charisse