Week 44 – How do you stay sane?

As I write this blog it is obvious that I am slowly getting better as my mind now turns to activities and things to do to keep me sane!

Can you imagine a life changing event that not only renders you in hospital for many weeks but leaves you with a loss of confidence and energy when you are discharged?

For me the biggest challenge has been to keep my mind and body active during the recovery process.

It has taken me many weeks (months in fact) to get a feeling of some normal level of energy and during this time I have had to make many adjustments to my ‘normal lifestyle’.  The most noticeable is that I am still very weak and lack any sort of muscle mass.  Apparently it takes 6 weeks to replace what you can lose in just two days of lying in bed.

I am now involved in a Rehab program at the Epworth hospital where the Sports Physiologist is putting me through my paces, measuring everything and  letting me know not only how unfit I am but also how bad my posture has become!  It is a long way back but my aim  is have some sort of fitness and muscle mass by the end of the year!

In the meantime the question for me is how to keep sane on a day to day basis.  There are only so many jigsaw puzzles one can do and of course reading is an option – the local library is getting regular visits.  I have started to make a pom pom rug which is a craft activity that tends to take up plenty of time.

And in what is perhaps a good sign I have now started to spend some time thinking about our various businesses that we are involved in.  Jan has been taking the front running on this since my diagnosis and luckily I have not had to think much about this.

We are also venturing out from Melbourne on small day and overnight excursions.  I have now had just two nights sleeping out of Melbourne this year so far.

Blood counts

My blood counts for this week are again stable which is good news.  Hb 87, Wcc 4.1, Platelets 32, Neutrophils 2.5 and Creatinine 85.

I had another Bone Marrow Biopsy last week and results show I am all clear of Leukaemia which is again a big relief.

And a Chimerism test also showed that for both my blood and immune system I have a 100% take up of my brother’s cells.  Another good result.

I am happy with progress.

Family and Friends

We had a lovely dinner with Susan and Stuart Nicolson last Thursday.  Susan sits on the GGS board with Jan and they have become good friends over the years. Stuart works in the Retirement Development industry and has some interesting stories to tell.

Lachy and Hanna headed off to Bali to start their new adventure on Saturday, having sold up their ‘life’ in Melbourne over the past few weeks.

And Claire was back in Melbourne for the weekend from Brisbane where she is training for her new role with Shell as a Gas Analyst!

Tassie for a Day

In light of the good blood tests and my feeling relatively well we have arranged a quick visit to Tassie this week for Jan to attend an Irrigation meeting and for us to see our farm and house for the first time in 10 months.  Scary but also a step closer to relocating back home.