Day 80 and Homeward bound

Today I had my last appointment with Dr Nakamura--- at least for the time being. ( I return on May 27).  All is still on track and I can go home tomorrow. Phew. My platelets were a whopping 163k today which is well into the normal range. Amazing. Incredible. Unbelievable. The next hurdle according to Dr Nakamura is to see what happens to my body when I stop taking the anti rejection drugs. But that is a few months away. For now I will revel in the idea of going home. 

Amazingly I feel sad about leaving the City of Hope and Dr Nakamura. Well maybe it's not surprising considering the amazingly fantastic care they have taken of me. And when you think of how I was when I arrived. I will always be grateful to Dr Cecchi for really pushing me to come here. After weeks of discussions about Stanford vs City of Hope He took me by the shoulders looked me in the eye and said. " Forget about your children and grandchild. This is your life. And I think you have a better chance of making it there. End of story". And a huge, big enormous thank you to Nora, Eoin, Ainate, Ralph, Jim and Frank for making the necessary sacrifices so that it could happen.

And all of you. I don't think I could have come through all of this without your presence. It could have been dreadfully lonely. But it wasn't. I felt close to all of you because of your notes, gifts, emails, texts, photos, cards and even old fashioned honest to goodness  letters! 

I arrive home tomorrow Saturday April 19 and look forward to seeing you all. Xxo

This is in the Rose Garden at the Ciry of Hope and is the foundation of their philosophy

Dr Nakamura and me

And here's Úna telling me to hurry home!

Day 174 and 140 k platelets

The countdown has started in earnest as I am on day 74. Hard to believe that it has been 74 days since the transplant on January 29th. And my platelets were 147k yesterday. 150k is the low end of normal so this is truly amazing!

Tomorrow I will spend a number of hours at the City of Hope to get an infusion of IVIG. Apparently my gamma globulin is low. It used to be that infusions were a part of my life but that seems like an age ago. I think Dr Nakamura wants to send me back to Berkeley in as good a shape as he can. I got a wonderful card from the nurses and staff at Dr Cecchi's office making me excited to see them all again. I will of course miss Dr Nakamura and his gang but as they point out I will still be seeing them regularly(

( every 4 to 6 weeks for an unspecified length of time.)

I will be staying at Jim and Ralph's when I return on April18. I can't wait to see you all! Xxo

A funny looking sheep I knit for Úna 

This a Lino print that Joanna Davenport worked on while she was here

Yesteday Nóra, Ainatė, and Úna were filmed for an Allstate commercial. And shockingly the film crew loved our Úna !

Count down has begun

I saw Dr Nakamura this morning and we are still a go for returning home the weekend of April 18. This despite a few minor problems like red swollen ankles and red red cheeks. Neither he thinks are symptoms of the dreaded HVG ( host versus graft disease). I feel fine and try to walk a little more each day.

Amy Premtiss was here over the weekend and I was well enough that we actuallyl played while she was here. The Norton Simon Museum. Fabulous. My bald head and mask didn't  elicit many stares I am happy to report. The amazing rose garden and sculpture gardens at the City of Hope. How could you not love an institution which is not only superb medically but also devotes money and resources to beauty and the arts. I mean really....The Santa Anita race track. Especially fun because it was a race weekend.

My sister Maire has arrived and is remarkably fresh after her unbearable long journey. Lusaka to Amsterdam -- 19 hours. Amsterdam to NYC --- 12 hours. NYC to SF --- 6 hours. I promise I will never again complain when going to NYC ! Maire was accompanied from Oakland to Monrovia by Susan Garfin. Susan only stayed one night--- quite literally a flying visit --- but we managed to get a lot of chatting in nonetheless!

Bon voyage to donor Convery and sister in law Janet who are taking a trip to New Zealand to visit their son, Niall, who was featured on this blog last August when he was visiting me!  Xxo

Amy and Sile at the race track. A fashion photographer took our photo! Really.

Úna. Very confident in her sitting poses!

This is Double Delight. And it smells fabulous. I know this rose because Amy and Nick used to bring them in to our teachers' room at the ELP

129 k!

Síle here. Sorry it's taken a few days to update the blog. Have been busy Úna gazing!  

My visit to Dr Nakamura yesterday brought the information that my platelets are a whopping 29k!!

Compare this with the fact that in the last 2 years if they were in double digits like 10k, we were thrilled. Pretty soon I'll be donating platelets. Despite the high platelet count, I am still bruising fairly easily letting me know that my whole new system is still in its teenage years. Also Frank reminded me his platelet count was 129k when he arrived at City of Hope. Dr Nakamura tells me that that doesn't mean that I have hit a plateau . In other words despite donor Convery having 129k doesn't mean that mine won't go higher. We shall see. ( Still on track to come home the w/e of April 18)

Nora, Úna, Ainate and Sarah Fairchild ( NYC) are here this week. Úna is now 5 months old and fulll of smiles and gurgles. She is busy busy busy constantly shaking her rattle, reaching for whatever is in her field of vision, playing with her pacifier etc. She is now sitting up and is thrilled with herself. She adores sitting on the couch with the grown ups!

Amy Premtiss arrives tomorrow and sister Maire from Zambia on Sunday. As most of the family will be away when she arrives, David and Liz will pick her ( Máire) up at SFO and Susan Garfin will fly down here with her. Eoin has been the one in charge of organizing all the minders and the tooing and fringe. What an organizational feat he has pulled off.  Until a few days ago I had no idea who was coming and when. Great job Eoin. Even writing this the foregoing has my brain reeling! 

Thank you  as always to my minders and to those of you cheering from afar. I appreciate you all.xxo

And now for your Úna fix......! ( lots of you emailed telling me you were suffering from Úna gazing withdrawal )

Úna demonstrating her new skill and sporting her sun hat, a gift from cousin Karen

With auntie Sarah who is preparing to go on a power walk!

Outside with Nora, both of whom are bundled up.