29 August 2007

29th August - Happy Birthday Jon

Happy Birthday Jon... your finally the same age as me again !!!!

I think I can write on behalf of Jon to say today has been fantastic, Jon's brother Steve arranged for us to visit "The KOP"..... Liverpool Football Stadium. We had a personal tour guide and shown around many locations of the stadium. We have many pictures taken and I will be making up a photo album at home to remember the day but I will post a few photos here for now.

Thank you so much Steve for driving us all the way to Anfield , and for arranging the whole day. It's certainly one we will all remember for years.

I would also like to thank the staff at Liverpool Football Club for making us feel so welcome and for the memorable day you gave our family.



27 August 2007

27th August - My blood

Have decided not to necessarily blog daily as sometimes not too much is happening... today though I felt pain....

But a good type of pain, with Jon receiving peoples blood via transfusions in hospital, the local blood collection was happening today in our town so I went along and donated, had forgotten how painful it is, (I mean the initial needle, am hopeless with needles) not that it lasts long, and I kept thinking to myself Jon has gone through 100% more and never once complained... I hope to give blood 3 times a year to help others in all sorts of situations as well as cancer sufferers like Jon.

25 August 2007

25th August

Were home... to a mess...

Well after a great holiday away at the caravan... the weather wasn't brilliant, but it did stay dry most of the time, just a bit cloudy, we had fun swimming and spending time with the kids, we also spent some days with Jon's mum, who lived close by, we played football and I taught the kids how to play Cludo.. used to enjoy that myself as a kid, not sure they fully understood the rules but we had a giggle. The weather started turning nice on the day we came home, so we took the kids to the beach.. I have gone my usual RED all over my back! but Jon and the boys have come out pretty unscathed! with the odd tiny red patch.

After a relaxing break it was very hard to come home to find a mess...

Am actually pretty choked up about it... the front of our house has been vandalized while we have been away...

Our front garden was a slate and rock garden.... didn't really get round to putting any plants in yet...

Most of the slate had been picked up and thrown into our porch... (my mum cleared this up on wednesday.. we didnt actually see this, she thought that was all that had happened and didnt want us to come home to find it.) So thank you mum, we are very greatful.

On closer inspection after arriving home... we found a plant pot on our porch roof... they had climbed up breaking off some of the wood of the porch in the process of climbing...

Our sensor light has been totally smashed and the wires pulled out...

Our side wall where we would normally park our car.. the wall has been knocked down but in a solid lump.. they have attempted to put the wall back but we can no longer park in our driveway incase the concrete wall falls onto our car... the contrete caps on the corner pillars has been hidden under the big pile of rocks they have moved into one pile.

The sky cable had been cut... so from Tues PM all sky programs on record have failed!

The caps on our side wall have been knocked off and smashed...

It feels so pointless to have to come home to such needless vandalism. I only wish we had a clue why or who... I will be asking around if anyone saw anything... the police have been informed.

17 August 2007

17th August - Taking a break

Hi all...

Been a busy day today packing and getting sorted for our short break, while away dad and his mate Mike will be working on our playroom roof to help stop the leaks, thankfully we talked one of our friends into house sitting while were away.

Had a nice surprise when we went to collect the key to the caravan from Chris's mum, he and Suzie arrived to pick up their dogs after camping for a week, was great to see you guys and tell you off for the gifts you had sent through the post to us !!!

I finally got to open all my gifts today, so a big thank you to everyone for all the lovely things you gave me for my birthday. Sorry the thank you is so late.... better late than never, the kids had made me lovely cards which I will treasure.

Well thats pretty much us signing off now... Jon's got a quick trip into the hospital with his dad tomorrow morning while I take the dog to the Kennels....

Back in a few days... take care everyone.

16th August

Today seemed such an ordinary day but...

HE'S HOME... !!!!!!!!!

Yup he has finally come home, its been such a long stint in hospital this time, it seemed never ending.

He still has to return to the hospital on Saturday for some more platelets and a blood test, but thats fine, shouldn't delay our trip away too much, a short break down near the coast is planned.

15 August 2007

14th & 15th August

Nothing much new to report for both days other than Jon's bloods have slowed down again, so today (Wed) they decided to give him more blood transfusions to help speed it up again, we really really need him home by the weekend so we can get away for a break, I think we all as a family need it. Fingers crossed the transfusion does the trick!

13 August 2007

13th August

Yayyyyyyyyyyyy Jons bloods are finally on the move... slowly but moving, he has been given some platelets today and he was down to have 1 unit of blood too but that hadnt arrived before I left the hospital the first or second time... yup took 2 attempts to get rid of me today had to call out the RAC for the car.

Thankfully a very VERY nice RAC man came to the rescue, I was locked out of my car as the keyfob no longer worked. He checked the battery and signal of the key and it was fine, so he ended up opening the car manually, and setting the alarm off which is why I hadn't tried just using the key. For some strange reason my car key had recoded itself and decided it didnt want to work with my car, he temporarily has fixed the problem but suggests I pop back to the garage to get it reset properly and maybe look into getting a spare key.

Anyway enough about problems, fantastic to see Jon eating a proper meal this eve, his first in over a week, the mouth ulcers are on the way out and are far less painful which is a great sign of recovery overall. Few days and fingers crossed he maybe home!

12 August 2007

12th August

Well another weekend flown by... time for me is going fast... Im sure its not so for Jon, I cant imagine really how it is to be confined to the one room for weeks, your doing fantastic.. keep going! soon be over.

Jon had his dad visit this morning, and I went in for the afternoon, the boys spent the afternoon watching football then going off with grandad pops for a game of football.

No change with Jon today, temp is pretty much back to normal, I didnt actually see a nurse today so unsure what his bloods have done overnight, hopefully I will catch the doctor tomorrow and find out, it must be on the way up as one of his mouth ulcers is alot less painful.

Ah yes.. 12th August.. special day for 2 people .. Happy Anniversary Dean and Tina...lucky weekend for weddings *grin*

11 August 2007

11th August - Lizz Birthday

Officially its my birthday today,(21 again for the 17th time) so thank you everyone who has sent cards and gifts, I am though putting my birthday on hold until Jon is home from hospital, so I will be unable to thank you for things until I open them.

Steve and Toni are popping in to see Jon this morning, and Im doing a bit of shopping with me mum, Alan is on duty with the kids, they are very excited about a day at the Marsh and an afternoon watching the local team play thier first football match for the season.

10 August 2007

10th August - Anniversary



We had hoped to celebrate this at home, but who cares as long as we still love each other and are together today will be special enough.

9 August 2007

9th August

Another quiet day today apart from Jon stirring up the nurses with a poster on his door,cant really say much more than that... its been a giggle today seeing thier reactions.

Jons bloodcount is starting to move but very very slowly so it is unlikely that he will be allowed out of his room tomorrow, we had hoped to escape out to a drive through burger king or mcdonalds as a romantic meal out... this isnt to be... such a shame...

We will celebrate our anniversary and my birthday next week once hes home!

8 August 2007

8th August

Brighter Jon today, his dad popped in this morning and I was around for the afternoon, he finally got his line taken out this afternoon and got another nagging from the nurse about trying to hide temperatures... am getting them all on my side! Bloods havent dropped anymore so maybe now they can start going up again.

Also mum's been a star and finally found a kennels that sound nice to take Gemma for our weeks break soon. We will go visit them next week to check them out.

7 August 2007

7th August

So close to the end... they talked about taking his line out soon as its not needed, and he goes and gets an infection in the line, see our nagging him because of the temperature was for good reason, They did plan to remove the line today but it needs a specialist nurse to do it and she wasn't available. So the plan is to remove it tomorrow.

He has already had a line inserted on his arm to take the anti biotic, and with paracetamol taken regularly the temperatures should be controlled, its been a bit of a blow as we had hoped to be bringing Jon home this end of the week, but everything has now been delayed, still hes in the best place and be good to get him back to full strength before coming home.

Again today he picked at his lunch so we ganged up on him again and got him to drink a strawberry build up drink (which I think he does actually like as its like milkshake). Hes been told to order double soup and soft puddings if thats all he can manage.

Had a worrying phone message this eve before leaving the hospital, most of the houses in our road haven't had electric today, I was a bit worried about the tropical fish tank as they are very sensitive to heat changes, but thankfully our house was one of the lucky ones that kept electric... fingers crossed it stays on.

6 August 2007

6th August

3 Visitors today...

This morning Jon's dad went in to visit and this afternoon I went in to visit, but just after 3pm Jon had another visitor John Ayres one of his station officers popped in, its great when John visits cause hes been a brilliant help to Jon and myself, hes been there every step of the way when we've needed help and support, Its very hard to imagine John as an officer to me hes just John(sorry), but I know my Jon has a lot of respect for him. Will try to remember the hello Sir next time hehehehee.

Now back to my Jon, hopefully that didn't confuse you too much, not much change in his blood levels and his hemoglobin is very low, so he will need a couple of blood transfusions again. Jon needs a good clip round the ear,he tried hiding a temperature from us, but team work from myself and the nurses worked it out and hes been started on some anti biotics and bloods taken for cultures to find out whats causing it. Jon there is no escape, we are watching YOU!!

5 August 2007

5th August

Busy day today for visitors, this morning Jon had his sister Sarah visit, then at lunchtime his other sister Kim came to visit with Karl.

Just to totally finish Jon off I turned up with mum and dad and the boys, we had gone out for lunch then all went up to the hospital for an hour, then mum and dad took the boys home for a few hours to give me some time with Jon.

Boys a message from Daddy : I loved the new poster you made me Chris the animals on it look fantastic, and Rob thank you for the football poster It looks great on the wall.

4 August 2007

4th August

What a beautiful day today, so nice to wake up to sunshine!

Jon had his dad visit this morning, and I went in for the afternoon, we spent a little time reading the paper and discussing Big Brother, then we had a try at a pc game we had a while ago Sherlock Holmes mystery.. but we got stuck and I had left the walkthrough at home so couldnt cheat. So we spent the afternoon watching Sat TV which isnt alot of good.

Jon has mouth ulcers again at the moment, so hes finding eating difficult, I took him in some straws, and Liquorice but I think he will save it until they clear up. His blood count had been rising but had dipped a little bit down again today, hopefully it will go back to rising again, I need him home by Friday, positive thinking is needed!

Picked up two tired boys from my parents, they have been swimming and playing football all afternoon, maybe they will sleep well tonight? or at least sleep in tomorrow morning it is afterall THE HOLIDAYS but they still rise at the crack of dawn.

3 August 2007

3rd August -

I took the boys in to see Jon today, he also asked for me to take in the Monopoly board game, I had a hunch that it would end in tears... well not tears but tantrums..

Its the Star Wars version of the game, and we taught the boys the rules we play by, playing the game slowly and helping them, things were going well until Jon decided to buy cities (hotels in the old game)... I was first to land on him and Rob thought it was hilarious that I had to sell settlements (houses) and give over most of my money, but I built it back up again, next he landed on Jons twice, by this point Chris was already out of money and spending most of his goes in Jail...Rob then lost all his money, houses and the plot... he got very cross.. the smugness of when I had handed over money was gone and the "not playing anymore" attitude arrived .. got to love kids and games!

Afterwards Arthur one of Jon's nurses came in and asked if either of the boys could be his helper, Rob said no thanks, but Chris offered to help, he got Chris to pinch the skin up on Jon's stomache so that Arthur could give an injection... apparently (cause I was looking away like Rob) Arthur said Chris watched the whole process with awe... he wanted to be an engineer when he grows up.. wonder if that will change to a doctor?

2 August 2007

2nd August

Alan had the boys for me today, and they told me they had a great time, he took them swimming in the whirly pool ( a local stream ) and then he took them out to lunch, I think they also managed to squeeze in some football.

Jon is full of mischief at the min, and tried to play a few Jokes on me moving a chair in the same direction I was trying to walk etc, hes so going to get a slap once hes better cant hit a poorly person!

We sat and watched the film "Click" I really enjoyed it, it had some very sad moments but there was also a lot of laughter too, we enjoy watching a good comedy together when at home, so its great to watch the DVD's on the laptop.

Time goes really quickly in the hospital for me anyway, after helping Jon with his model a bit, and a visit from the doctors who are really pleased with Jons progress and feel he can have a CT scan booked soon to see the progress of the treatment. It might not get done while were in Reading we may have to return another day for that, were just all looking forward to getting Jon home again soon.

The injections they are giving him to help his blood count go up is again giving him a pain in his upper back/neck area, but at the moment painkillers are dealing with it and Jon's doing really well.

1 August 2007

August 1st

Well finally a hot sunny day... maybe Chris was right summer was waiting for August... not sure though!

I haven't been in to hospital today, I had my hair done this morning, its now shorter and 4 lovely colours... Red, Purple, Blonde with a base brown colour. Sounds freaky but looks really cool.. Thanx Lorna for the great hair cut.

This afternoon I had my old college pal Liz Warner visit, was great to catch up its been far too many years since we sat giggling with a cup of tea. We have promised to not leave it years before getting in contact again, Thank you for driving up from Cheltenham Liz, Love to David and the girls.

Anyhows back to Jon, as far as I know from speaking to him today on the phone, he's had a good day, his dad popped in to see him this morning and he spent some time on his model this afternoon. He had another injection today so hopefully this means his counts can soon come back up.

Look forward to the promised hug tomorrow Jon (:p)