Tuesday, August 31, 2010

31 August 2010

T+350 or 50 weeks!

Jeremy went to see the doctor about the lumps in his neck. The doctor told us that they are probably enlarged lymph nodes from an infection and that they should settle down in about a fortnight.

The doctor also told us that he can finally see both of Jeremy's eardrums (thanks to a drop of olive oil in his ear before bed) and that his ears are no longer inflamed.

Monday, August 30, 2010

30 August 2010

T+349

Tonight Jeremy asked "Mummy, did Jesus have sleep in his eyes when he woke up in the morning?"

Sunday, August 29, 2010

29 August 2010

T+348

Jeremy says that his neck is sore, and we can feel some lumps there which he says are painful. But apart from slightly elevated temperatures, he is still running around and happy.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

28 August 2010

T+347

A fun day playing games and eating jelly with Dr KonKon.

Friday, August 27, 2010

27 August 2010

T+346
This morning Jeremy asked his hair stylist (ie. BaBa) for this new style!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

26 August 2010

T+345

The topic for News today was Your Favourite Book. Jeremy's class was asked to bring in their favourite book and share why they like it. We thought that he would choose his Where's Wally? book, as he and Stephanie both love finding Wally and his friends.

But Jeremy announced that he wanted to bring his Beginner's Bible that the hospital chaplain gave him last year because it has his favourite story about the Sneaky Snake (Genesis chapter 3)! When he was in hospital, he always wanted us to read that story to him! He came home and proudly told us that he read part of the story to his kindy class.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

25 August 2010

T+344

Jeremy was pleased to receive this award at the K-2 assembly today!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

24 August 2010

T+343 or 49 weeks!

Stephanie and Jeremy enjoyed the sunshine playing outside at a new playground, then were excited to use a self-checkout terminal to borrow some books and DVDs at a new library.

Monday, August 23, 2010

23 August 2010

T+342

Today Jeremy's kindy class went on a 3.5 hour excursion to Chatswood to see the train station, the shops and the library! Stephanie's class will go for a walk to Chatswood shops tomorrow to see what goods and services are provided there.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

22 August 2010

T+341

Tonight Jeremy came for a hug and he felt hot. We took his temperature and it registered at 37.6. Instead of giving Panadol, we decided to wait and see what would happen as he was otherwise "clinically well". Thankfully, when we checked on him in his bed a few hours later, his temperature was normal. We suspect that possibly his temperature went up because he had been getting too excited playing with Stephanie, combined with a very busy weekend.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

21 August 2010

T+340

A busy day out which started with queuing up to vote and ended with a long, long drive!

Friday, August 20, 2010

20 August 2010

T+339

Hooray - Jeremy finished a full week of kindy!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

19 August 2010

T+338

As today was the last dose of antibiotics, Jeremy went to see the doctor after school. The doctor told us that his ears are still slightly inflamed, but that he will stop the antibiotics as the infection should clear up by itself. He wants to see Jeremy in a couple of weeks' time for a review.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

18 August 2010

T+337

We are delighted that Jeremy has started trying to read the Bible to us at bedtime, instead of the other way around!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

17 August 2010

T+336 or 48 weeks!

It seems so long ago, but it was only this time last year (17 August 2009) when Jeremy was admitted to hospital in readiness for his bone marrow transplant - and he would not be discharged until almost 3 months later (8 November 2009). Looking at him now, a stranger would never be able to tell that last year he had been so sick and that God worked so wonderfully to heal him of his leukaemia! All praise and thanks to our merciful God!

Monday, August 16, 2010

16 August 2010

T+335

Jeremy can take his medicine in his sleep! We were a bit late giving him his midday antibiotics, so we decided to give him his evening ones after he had gone to sleep. We went into his room and asked him to sit up for his meds. He obediently sat up, opened his mouth and sucked on the medicine syringe. Then he lay down and either went back to sleep or continued sleeping (we're not sure which!).

Sunday, August 15, 2010

15 August 2010

T+334 or 11 months!

We are so thankful for our happy little man who has so much energy to run around and play with his sister. And we are so grateful for all your prayers for Jeremy.

After church this morning, we tried out a different sushi restaurant, where Stephanie and Jeremy ate copious amounts of tobiko and salmon sushi with much gusto and delight. Then we browsed around the shops, where we found a pair of flashing light sneakers for Jeremy - he was very pleased, because now he has the same brand as JeJe!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

14 August 2010

T+333

This morning, Stephanie and Jeremy were very excited to play at Smaland - the play area in Ikea. We arrived at Ikea at opening time and were the second family in line, so they didn't have to wait around to go in. It was Jeremy's first time in an indoor play area since transplant!

After a lunch of Tomato Rice and Crunchy with family, we took Stephanie and Jeremy to their first house auction (just for a look-see!). They were very funny - at the beginning, they both stood right in front of the auctioneer and watched the proceedings very attentively, as if they were going to make a bid! Then Jeremy asked why we weren't buying it!

Friday, August 13, 2010

13 August 2010

T+332

Praise God for another happy day at school!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

12 August 2010

T+331

Back to school for a whole day!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

11 August 2010

T+330

Praise God that Jeremy woke up afebrile this morning, and remained so for the rest of the day!

This morning he went to hospital clinic for a checkup. The bone marrow transplant doctor is happy with Jeremy's progress, and has booked him in for another bone marrow aspirate on 13 October 2010.

In the past, oncology children used to go to Fishbowl (a room in the Pathology department specifically for oncology patients which was decorated like a fish bowl) to have blood taken before their clinic appointment. However, today we found out that Fishbowl is no more! Instead, a special pathology room has been set up inside the clinic so the oncology children no longer have to go traipsing around the hospital each time.

Jeremy had some of his "one-year bloods" taken today, to see the effect of his first 3 sets of immunisations and also to see whether he can have "live" vaccines (eg. chicken pox and MMR - measles mumps rubella). After he had his butterfly needle, he helped the blood collector put his blood tubes into a red cannister. He was very pleased to be allowed to put the cannister into the vacuum-operated chute and send it off to Pathology.

We were thankful that we finished at hospital on time, so that Jeremy could attend a Book Week performance at school. He said that he enjoyed it, and chatted about it excitedly when I took him home at lunchtime.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

10 August 2010

T+329 or 47 weeks!

As Jeremy was still having fevers, he went to see the doctor today who prescribed another course of antibiotics as both his ears were inflamed (although Jeremy had not been complaining of an earache).

Monday, August 9, 2010

9 August 2010

T+328

Jeremy is still spiking fevers. He spent the day arranging for little surprises for Stephanie when she came home from school - he wanted me to wrap up a present for her and after lunch we baked gingerbread cookies.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

8 August 2010

T+327

Jeremy had a good day today, although he was still feverish. We are thankful that he looked so happy and cheeky playing chasings with his grandparents after he ate his favourite dinner of Crunchy!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

7 August 2010

T+326

Jeremy spiked a fever of 38.3 at 11pm last night and had more fevers today. He didn't want to eat that much (he skipped breakfast altogether), but was pleased to have some Tomato Rice And Crunchy for lunch and dinner - he has been asking for this dish for a while.

The other news of the day is that he had his first proper haircut post-transplant! His hair was starting to get in his eyes, so it was time to say goodbye to his soft fluffy locks of hair. We were a bit upset to see them fall to the floor - but Jeremy did not seem bothered at all! He just kept very still during his haircut, and at the end he proudly raced off to show Stephanie his new hairstyle. Time will tell whether his hair will still grow soft and wavy, or revert back to its pre-transplant pre-chemo spikes!

Friday, August 6, 2010

6 August 2010

T+325

Lots of fun in the sandpit park after school!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

5 August 2010

T+324
Today was Open Day at school, where parents and friends could visit the classrooms and watch the children at work. We also enjoyed the exhibition "Sculpture on the Hill", where sculptures by the school children were displayed around the school.

Above is Jeremy's class sculpture - "How Does Your Garden Grow?". We were asked to collect plastic bottles during the school holidays so that they could make these flowers in class! The sculpture's message is "are [we] recycling and looking after our environment? Because if we don't care for our world, all we will have left is plastic."

Each child at school made a little clay figure to make the amazing sculpture below entitled "Chatswood Field". Can you find Jeremy's clay figure in the front row (click on the photo to enlarge it)?

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

4 August 2010

T+323

Today is Green Day at school - all children were asked to wear green for the International Year of Biodiversity, and to bring a gold coin so that the school can purchase native trees to plant in its new gardens. Jeremy wore a green T-shirt and a green cap - but Stephanie looked noticeably PINK as we walked into the school grounds! The only green clothing that we were able to find in her wardrobe was a Dora top with pink and green stripes (which she wore with a pink skivvy, pink jeans, pink vest and a pink cap!).

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

3 August 2010

T+322 or 46 weeks

Jeremy proudly told us that he can feel some new teeth coming through at the back of his mouth - they are his first set of adult molars on the bottom jaw!

2 August 2010

T+321

Jeremy was very pleased that it was Bank Holiday today, because it meant that BaBa could walk him to and from school, treat him with a slurpee and play Wii with him after school!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

1 August 2010

T+320

We were thankful that we were all well so that we could go to church together as a family, and then enjoy fellowship with our housegroup friends afterwards.

31 July 2010

T+319

Jeremy was very pleased to spend the day with BaBa!