Nikki wrote this last week. Just click on the link
http://nikkimoffitt.wordpress.com/
Terrie - for now
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Going home
Well, the doctors have advised, the patient has listened and considered, the family has agreed and I am heading home next week.
I am still on a fluids-only diet, which is keeping me going. I guess that's what it will be until, or if, there is some resolution with the blockage in my bowel.
I will fly from Atlanta to San Francisco on Monday and my beautiful daughter will accompany me. We will stay overnight there, when my equally beautiful sister will join us on Tuesday. She and I will fly together from San Francisco to Sydney while Nikki returns to Atlanta.
How difficult it will be to say goodbye to Nikki and her gorgeous family who have embraced me in their new home in the US over the past two months. It has been such a special time. I have read Winnie the Pooh to the children and tonight, 9 year old Zeke read a chapter of his Harry Potter book to me and 6 year old Willow is now reading her new school readers to me. What a treat for a grandma! I will have precious memories of them all in their new home, in their new country.
Nobody really knows what I have ahead of me, but my conversation with my Australian oncologist has given me the courage to return home and help me look for a resolution.
So now I fly, with strict instructions from doctors about medication and consumption beforehand and during the flight.
Terrie - for now
I am still on a fluids-only diet, which is keeping me going. I guess that's what it will be until, or if, there is some resolution with the blockage in my bowel.
I will fly from Atlanta to San Francisco on Monday and my beautiful daughter will accompany me. We will stay overnight there, when my equally beautiful sister will join us on Tuesday. She and I will fly together from San Francisco to Sydney while Nikki returns to Atlanta.
How difficult it will be to say goodbye to Nikki and her gorgeous family who have embraced me in their new home in the US over the past two months. It has been such a special time. I have read Winnie the Pooh to the children and tonight, 9 year old Zeke read a chapter of his Harry Potter book to me and 6 year old Willow is now reading her new school readers to me. What a treat for a grandma! I will have precious memories of them all in their new home, in their new country.
Nobody really knows what I have ahead of me, but my conversation with my Australian oncologist has given me the courage to return home and help me look for a resolution.
So now I fly, with strict instructions from doctors about medication and consumption beforehand and during the flight.
Terrie - for now
Monday, September 24, 2012
On a lighter note
During the past week we have celebrated Willow's 6th birthday. We made fairy bread and introduced it to her American party friends. Mainly they were not so keen. The parents were fascinated, but hesitant to try. So most of the fairy bread was eaten by the birthday girl and her brother.
Terrie, for now
Terrie, for now
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Not such good news
Since I last wrote I have had another stint in the hospital. My bowel blocked again and I had to have a tube put down through my nose into my stomach to drain all the contents from my stomach to take the pressure off the small bowel. Not an exciting experience, I can tell you. The drain was in for about 24 hours and I stayed another 24 hours before being allowed to go home on a full fluids diet only. That was a week ago.
It has meant that I have had to delay my return home to Australia as it was considered I was not yet in a condition to fly the distance.
Difficult and emotional times
It has meant that I have had to delay my return home to Australia as it was considered I was not yet in a condition to fly the distance.
Difficult and emotional times
Friday, September 14, 2012
More of Atlanta
On Thursday nights here in Edgewater Cove, the local community comes out at 7pm - each adult with a glass or a beer in their hand and most with a dog on a lead - onto the corner where the school bus stops, and has a social get together. The kids come too and for about 90 mins there is social interaction and chit chat across all generations - on the road There are the grannies, like me, the middle aged parents and their teenagers, the almost middle aged parents with their younger families. The little kids run mad with the dogs and balls and other toys, while some of the teenagers tend to the little kids and the others stick with the adults. It's a very pleasant thing to do and a great way for Nikki and the family to k
meet some of the neighbours.
Of course, among the kids there is often some teasing that results in tears and tales told. Nik and Sam are out at a cocktail party tonight, so I'm the babysitter and offered an looked forward to taking the kids to the 'block drinks night' on the road. Needless to say the new kids on the block, Zeke and Willow, are the main target for teasing by the long termers. They're not used to it yet, but they
will eventually find their feet and be a match for the others. So tonight I had a little girl in tears and her big brother confused as to how he could help.
What was so lovely to see tonight was a 12 year old girl, seeing Willow upset, and without being solicited, inviting Willow to join her group - which was much quieter. Once the sobs had subsided, she agreed to join and was happy for the rest of the time.
Some of the local neighborhood ambience!
The Mail System
Of course each house has a letterbox. Here in the US, each letter box has a small metal flag of a different colour to the box. If you wish the mail man to collect your outgoing mail, you put a stamp on it, place it in the mail box and raise the flag! Once he delivers your incoming mail and takes your outgoing mail, he lowers the flag.
It's Willow's great delight to check the mail box each afternoon when she gets off the bus. There are tears, or sometimes much worse - a tantrum, if the mail has already been collected.
Health
Oh dear! This constipation thing is ever-present. These pain killing drugs are killing my bowel system! Off to see a GP to see what I can do to relieve the ever-present anxiety of the next vomiting onslaught.
OK. So he gave me scripts for what I needed and advised me to continue giving myself an enema every day as well as taking a sugar mixture daily to make things easier.
I'm very diligent when given instructions - enough said! No more vomiting attacks. Very good. However my abdomen grumbles loudly all day and I feel more bloated as the day goes on. Feeling good some days and not-so-good others.
Sitting on the top step, consulting YouTube
Out on an excursion to the local Mill, bush tracks and waterfall.
Some of my fond memories of my stay in Vancouver. Leigh and Bob with their son, Josh. Riding in Stanley Park, characters made of ceramic tiles, shards and mirrors on display at the Museum of Anthropology.
On our excursion to the Mill it was exciting to see the local wildlife in action - garter snake having frog leg for its meal.
Terrie - for now
meet some of the neighbours.
Of course, among the kids there is often some teasing that results in tears and tales told. Nik and Sam are out at a cocktail party tonight, so I'm the babysitter and offered an looked forward to taking the kids to the 'block drinks night' on the road. Needless to say the new kids on the block, Zeke and Willow, are the main target for teasing by the long termers. They're not used to it yet, but they
will eventually find their feet and be a match for the others. So tonight I had a little girl in tears and her big brother confused as to how he could help.
What was so lovely to see tonight was a 12 year old girl, seeing Willow upset, and without being solicited, inviting Willow to join her group - which was much quieter. Once the sobs had subsided, she agreed to join and was happy for the rest of the time.
Some of the local neighborhood ambience!
The Mail System
Of course each house has a letterbox. Here in the US, each letter box has a small metal flag of a different colour to the box. If you wish the mail man to collect your outgoing mail, you put a stamp on it, place it in the mail box and raise the flag! Once he delivers your incoming mail and takes your outgoing mail, he lowers the flag.
It's Willow's great delight to check the mail box each afternoon when she gets off the bus. There are tears, or sometimes much worse - a tantrum, if the mail has already been collected.
Health
Oh dear! This constipation thing is ever-present. These pain killing drugs are killing my bowel system! Off to see a GP to see what I can do to relieve the ever-present anxiety of the next vomiting onslaught.
OK. So he gave me scripts for what I needed and advised me to continue giving myself an enema every day as well as taking a sugar mixture daily to make things easier.
I'm very diligent when given instructions - enough said! No more vomiting attacks. Very good. However my abdomen grumbles loudly all day and I feel more bloated as the day goes on. Feeling good some days and not-so-good others.
Sitting on the top step, consulting YouTube
Out on an excursion to the local Mill, bush tracks and waterfall.
Some of my fond memories of my stay in Vancouver. Leigh and Bob with their son, Josh. Riding in Stanley Park, characters made of ceramic tiles, shards and mirrors on display at the Museum of Anthropology.
On our excursion to the Mill it was exciting to see the local wildlife in action - garter snake having frog leg for its meal.
Terrie - for now
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