Transplant Plus 1235 Days

I'm now nearly three and half years down the road to recovery, and since there has been no update on the blog for a while, here it is.

My life has been as normal as it can be since my BMT.  I'm now in Year 10 at High School, and doing pretty well.  I play rep netball again, I dance, and the only thing I take is the HRT drug called Progynova.  I'm growing, I'm gaining weight, I'm fit & I'm happy.

I'm very excited at the moment, because on the 9th August, 2012, I'm heading to the USA for 6 months for a semester of school.  My home will be a place called Redwood Falls, Minnesota.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Mum and Dad reckon they miss me already and I haven't even gone yet.  Well they'll do it hard when I have gone, wont they!

Our family has a new dog called Louie.  He's a Golden Retreiver.  We haven't had much luck with our pets in the last couple of years, so Louie is keeping Kikey the Foxy company, and when he's bored he does a bit of gardening, and general destruction of anything that he thinks needs chewing up.

A Year and a Half Post Transplant

Well it's been a long time since we updated my blog, and I'm sorry about that, but I've been busy getting on with other things. Next month will be 18 months since my transplant, and it's been a very slow road, and improvements have come only a little at a time, but they have come. I'm now just starting to gain weight, and I've grown about 3 centimetres. Doesn't sound much maybe, but to me it's a lot. I've been going to school as normal, I've been playing netball as normal, I've been dancing again, as normal, and I guess you could say I'm now living my life again, as normal. In the last few weeks there have been some great things happen that mean I'm going well. My orthodentist said I can now have my braces back on. My doctors told me I can go onto "pointe" shoes for ballet, which pleases my teacher (who is also my sister), and last week I went with my family in the City to Surf. 14 km from Hyde Park in Sydney to Bondi beach. They all walked with me, but with 3 km to go, I decided I had to beat Tom. So we ran that bit. It was a lot of fun. Next week I'm going on a Camp Quality trip to the snow. Hopefully I will learn to ski. I'm really beginning to feel well now. I don't get sick much at all now, except I have a cold at the moment with a pesky cough. Sometimes I don't feel so hungry, but my appetitie is generally improving. My dessert appetite is as I always remember it, but my main course appetite is not as good, but it is improving. It must be, because I've put on about 4 kgs.

My last biopsy was on the Wednesday before the race, and that's my third clear biopsy. I still have to have other treatments for things that the chemo ruined, but hey, whatever.

Tomorrow I turn 14.

This is me with everyone before, during and after the City to Surf. The first picture is my brother Rhys, sister Georgia, my sister Kristen and her boyfriend Tom, my Dad Rowan, my Mum Suzanne, my sister Aimee, and me in front. I walked and ran the distance in 2hours and 9 minutes. The second pic is just after heartbreak hill.

One Year On

Well today is November 3rd 2009, one year since I was diagnosed with Leukaemia. One year on, I am back at school, and getting back to normal. I did actually go back to school for a few hours each day before the school holidays, just to get the feel of it, but since the holidays, I have been back every day for the whole day. I do get a little bit tired, and the hot weather has been a bit hard to take, but it's so good to be back with my friends.

One year on I am down to only one medication, twice a day. That's the aciclovir, the anti viral which gives me some protection against things like chicken pox, which I can't be immunised for until about two years post transplant. That would be about February 2011. Maybe they'll let me have it a bit earlier. I've been having some of my other immunisations lately, and they have been given to me in the leg. Two days later it feels like someone has kneed me in the leg and I can hardly walk. I go for my next check up with Dr Shaw on the 18th of November, when I also have to have a bone density test. My next biopsy will be on the 9th of December.

The school holidays were great. In the first week, Aimee, Georgia and I all went on a Country Hope camp to Wagga. It was such a good camp. We did so many fun things, and met some really nice people. Carmel Josephs was one of the main organisers. She works for Country Hope in Wagga. She knew Mum and Dad because she used to live in Forbes, and her son Brad went to school with my brother Rhys. Brad and Rhys are both going to Uni at Wollongong next year. Anyway, back to the camp. We did lots of craft activities, went in a hot air balloon, went on a Harley ride, went swimming, went fishing, and lots more.

We had to leave the camp early because on the Thursday, Mum and Dad picked us up and we went to Melbourne to visit my Uncle Dallas and Auntie Olga and my cousins Ethan and Cameron. We always have a good time at their place.

After the holidays, and back at school, and I've just got back from my Year 7 excursion to Tea Gardens. What a top trip that was.

I am feeling a little better each day, and I don't need to take the Ondansatron as often, but sometimes, I just have to have one so I'm not sick. My biggest problem is my weight. Dad says he sort of knows how I feel, because he has the same problem, except in reverse. The good thing is, that I'm not losing weight, but I'm not gaining any. Dad reckons he's the same, but he can gain it any time he likes, even by not eating.

Here is all my family just before we left Borambla after the Country Hope Camp; me with Georgia at a fun park near Melbourne; and me getting some pole dancing in at the park near my cousins house in Melbourne.

What a Great Week

This week was a great week. This week I finally went back to school. Only for two periods, but at least I got back. Bridget, the hospital liason is meeting with my teachers on Thursday to work out the best way to help me back into school. Going back to school was something I really was looking forward to, but the big, BIG, news this week was the much awaited arrival of Archie Quirk. Our friends David & Taryn had their first baby on 19th September, a beautiful little baby boy they named Archie Robert. Taryn & David promised me a nurse, and I couldn't wait. We finally got to visit them on Monday, and I had my nurse. He is so cute. (This is me on our front step, with my trusty hat ready to go for my first day at high school, finally. Me arriving at the Gates of School, with my year advisor for Year 7 Miss Danielle Forbes, and me with Archie.)

What a Fantastic Day

Today was a fantastic day. Today I went with Dad in the plane to visit his clients and friends the Harleys at Balowra near Nymagee. Dad really wanted me to go, and I'm really glad I did. The trip out only took 45 minutes and when we got there Phil and Marie met us at the airstrip. They were so nice. I can now see why Dad likes going to Balowra so much. Phil and Dad went to the wool shed to look at the wool, and Marie took me straight to the house. The Harleys have got a really cool buggy their grand children drive around in on school holidays. It is so much fun, I really want one. Marie showed me how to drive it, and I was hooked. We went up to the shed, me driving, to pick up the boys for lunch. I drove Dad back in the buggy. Marie made us a lovely lunch, and then I took Dad back to the shed, in the buggy. After Dad spoke to Dave the classer, we went back to the plane and flew home. I want to go back to Balowra again soon. The Harleys were so nice. (Below is a picture of me with the Harleys, and the buggy. Richard, Phil, Marie and Phillip. The Harleys call Phillip "Man". The other pictures are me in the buggy, me at the controls of Dad's plane, and looking out my window at the big mine at Parkes.)

When I got home to Forbes, Mum gave me some really good news. She said that Dr Shaw had called, and said I can finally go back to school. Yee haa!!!

What a really great day!!!