Not that I ever seriously considered myself to be mighty, but...
Since my stem cells set me free from MS the road to home has been interesting to say the least.
The delayed effects of the chemo are not for the faint hearted so if that's you I'd stop reading now.
The Nurses on BMT are just too lovely for words. These women who know nothing about you will stroke your arm, rub your back and just be with you in every sense of the nursing word. Something that's missing in Nursing and Midwifery today. It's made me feel a little career sick to be honest. There's nothing like being 'with' a woman as a Midwife. Helping, supporting. A real priviledge.
A Nurse called Priya always drops in to say hello. They are always gowned up with facemasks on. All tiny but with the strength of ny man I'm sure.
Priya is so cute, I hope she won't find that condescending.
The first time I met her she was giving me some information, or directions and I said to her
" well Priya, you're the boss "
This sends her in to fits of giggles and an eternal rendition of no, you're the boss, no, you're the boss.
I'm asking Priya about her rota and she tells me that they work six days a week with not much by way of holidays. She's really hoping to get home this year for Diwali but doesn't feel confident. Priya comes from Tamil Nadu. One of the Indian states and rich in Hindu history.
At junior school, which was in Forest Gate, East London we learnt about all the different Asian religions. Mainly because such a high percentage of the population practised these.
My favourite was Diwali, so bright and colourful.
Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning behind it is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the belief that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Diwali as the "victory of good over evil", check out the story of Rama and Sita, refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things. Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
This really strikes home with me. I desperately want to be a more 'spiritual' person. Finding my inner light and letting it shine.
This journey has certainly kick started the process. I've learnt so much already.
For me, life since stem cells has been not too bad really. Lots of vomiting, diarrhoea which led to me having to wear pads because I couldn't make it to the loo in time. Go on, laugh. I would!! How the mighty have fallen.
But the most exciting thing was passing out again doing the 'mini shake'. This happened while on the toilet. Blood pressure dropped to 70/40. Took me a while to come round.
No one here seems to be too concerned so consequently neither am I. My poor mum though. When I did come round, my Mum slapping my cheeks I could hear her crying.
A bit later she says " if you do that again we're on the next plane out of here. I can't handle that again. I don't care whether you've engrafted or not".
I think that part of the problem is that my Hb is 8.4 from a level of 14.0 when I came in. My platelets are also low at 6000. These are expected and side effect of the treatment.
Yesterday my White Blood Cells hit 10. A sure sign that my bone marrow is now the barren wasteland I've been visualising.
And today already, my White Blood Cells have gone back up to 50. Dr Amit reckons that they will continue to increase now until I reach the magic number of 500 which is engraftment. Hopefully by Monday next week.
Another sign that my magical garden visualisation is also working.
So now it's time to just sit and wait for the numbers.
Other news...
My baby's coming out next week! Yep, Paul will be here in a week and I can't wait to see him. I can't wait to share some of this journey with him, and then the journey home to my babies...
Since my stem cells set me free from MS the road to home has been interesting to say the least.
The delayed effects of the chemo are not for the faint hearted so if that's you I'd stop reading now.
The Nurses on BMT are just too lovely for words. These women who know nothing about you will stroke your arm, rub your back and just be with you in every sense of the nursing word. Something that's missing in Nursing and Midwifery today. It's made me feel a little career sick to be honest. There's nothing like being 'with' a woman as a Midwife. Helping, supporting. A real priviledge.
A Nurse called Priya always drops in to say hello. They are always gowned up with facemasks on. All tiny but with the strength of ny man I'm sure.
Priya is so cute, I hope she won't find that condescending.
The first time I met her she was giving me some information, or directions and I said to her
" well Priya, you're the boss "
This sends her in to fits of giggles and an eternal rendition of no, you're the boss, no, you're the boss.
I'm asking Priya about her rota and she tells me that they work six days a week with not much by way of holidays. She's really hoping to get home this year for Diwali but doesn't feel confident. Priya comes from Tamil Nadu. One of the Indian states and rich in Hindu history.
At junior school, which was in Forest Gate, East London we learnt about all the different Asian religions. Mainly because such a high percentage of the population practised these.
My favourite was Diwali, so bright and colourful.
Diwali is popularly known as the "festival of lights", the most significant spiritual meaning behind it is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the belief that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Diwali as the "victory of good over evil", check out the story of Rama and Sita, refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things. Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light.
This really strikes home with me. I desperately want to be a more 'spiritual' person. Finding my inner light and letting it shine.
This journey has certainly kick started the process. I've learnt so much already.
For me, life since stem cells has been not too bad really. Lots of vomiting, diarrhoea which led to me having to wear pads because I couldn't make it to the loo in time. Go on, laugh. I would!! How the mighty have fallen.
But the most exciting thing was passing out again doing the 'mini shake'. This happened while on the toilet. Blood pressure dropped to 70/40. Took me a while to come round.
No one here seems to be too concerned so consequently neither am I. My poor mum though. When I did come round, my Mum slapping my cheeks I could hear her crying.
A bit later she says " if you do that again we're on the next plane out of here. I can't handle that again. I don't care whether you've engrafted or not".
I think that part of the problem is that my Hb is 8.4 from a level of 14.0 when I came in. My platelets are also low at 6000. These are expected and side effect of the treatment.
Yesterday my White Blood Cells hit 10. A sure sign that my bone marrow is now the barren wasteland I've been visualising.
And today already, my White Blood Cells have gone back up to 50. Dr Amit reckons that they will continue to increase now until I reach the magic number of 500 which is engraftment. Hopefully by Monday next week.
Another sign that my magical garden visualisation is also working.
So now it's time to just sit and wait for the numbers.
Other news...
My baby's coming out next week! Yep, Paul will be here in a week and I can't wait to see him. I can't wait to share some of this journey with him, and then the journey home to my babies...
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