Baby talk

The biggest news today is that I can finally make the official announcement that we are going to be grandparents in february! It's something so great and wonderful to look forward to. Hilde Marie has not had any morning sickness, and she's feeling great. She had her first ultra sonic examination today, and everything is looking good. She and Jon Helge had decided that they did not want to know the sex of the baby, so it will be a surprise for everybody.

The bump is very visible now :-)

On the "sick" :-)) side of life, Sigve is feeling great too. Our days are mostly the same, with visits to the hospital in the morning, rather lazy afternoons, and evening walks.

There has already been talk of going home, maybe even next week. The main thing at the moment is for Sigve to be able to eat and drink as much as possible himself, and he's working hard at it.

Today I am grateful for:

*Everything being well with Hilde Marie and the baby

*That time is passing so quickly; we don't have time to be bored

*Being able to share our news and information so easily with the world

Another indoor game day

The days go by more or less in the same routine these days, so I won't bore you with details.

After Sigve finished his session at the hospital, he came walking back on his own. He's been up all day and he only had a couple of 10 min naps. He also eats something substancial for all meals now. So things are going really well.

Hilde Marie was feeling bored, so she decided to come up for the day again. We played some more Rummycub and card games, and then the ferry service back to Tysnes was canceled for the afternoon, due to technical problems, so she couldn't go back until 9.40 pm. We walked her back to the parking lot, which gave us an extra exercise opportunity.

It's been very windy, and raining sideways this afternoon and evening, so we walked through the underground tunnel. Kind of erie in the evening when all is quiet. I don't really like going through there alone at night, but when it's the two of us it's ok.

Today I am grateful for:

*The support of all our family and friends

*Sigve's continuing progress

*My tiny water kettle, 0,5 l, that I once bought on sale, thinking "that will come in useful some day", and it did!

Time flies

We're already at day +32, time does fly.

This weekend has been all about visitors. Yesterday Hilde Marie and Geir Espen game to see us, and we all had a great day. As usual Sigve had to start off with about 4-5 hours of blood tests and fluid refills. Hilde Marie and Geir Espen brought with them some hamburgers from MacDonald's, to see if they could tickle Sigve's appetite. We asked a nurse on the ward if it was ok for him to eat them, and specifically if he could drink soda in a cup from a dispenser, and she said that all that was fine. A little while later another nurse came in and said that that kind of food and drink was totally out of the question for him, as kitchen hygiene in fast food places is not the greatest. We told her we asked before he had any, and unfortunately the person we asked must have been unaware of the rules. I find it quite incredible that things like that can happen!

Fortunately he didn't have much of the hamburger, but he had some soda and fries.

After Sigve was done with the refilling, we all walked over to our hotel room. He has to wear the face mask whenever he goes outside the room, f.ex through the hospital and and hotel, but he doesn't have to wear it outdoors. Yesterday it was raining, so we walked through the tunnel.

We spent the afternoon just chatting and playing some games.

Sigve is looking and feeling better and better every day now.

We all love playing Rummycub!

After Sigve got back from his refill session today, his sister and stem cell donor Gerd and her husband Roald came to see us. A little while later Brita and Ketil came too, after they had picked the lock of their car, as they had locked the keys in it, and couldn't find the spare set :-) Then when they all left, some other friends, Jostein and Jane, came by. The day went really fast, and we had a good time.

Sigve's eating is improving fast. He has a big bowl of corn flakes every morning now, and today he had some hot food for dinner and for supper.

We walk over to the hospital every morning, and we also try to take one more walk during the afternoon. When he feels like it we climb the stairs in stead of taking the lift. He feels less of a need to lie down during the day too. Resting in a chair works fine now. But he's still feeling frosty, so he wears a long sleeved shirt, a woolly sweater and a fleece jacket indoors, and a heavy winter jacket on top of that outdoors. And I'm having hot flashes! The room is so hot, but when I open the window Sigve is freezing (and it's still so warm that I only wear a light jacket outside), so we're not quite compatible in that respect at the moment. Whenever Sigve goes to the bathroom I hurry up and open the window for a little while.

Today I am grateful for:

*Family and friends

*Sigve's increased ability to eat (can't really call it an appetite yet)

*Rescuing the pictures on my laptop (I lost some, but I have back-up at home.)

A new daily routine

Here is the patient's hotel that we're staying at. Not exactly the Sheraton, but ok. We have all our meals here covered by the hospital too. For breakfast and lunch there's a buffet, so mostly I can find stuff I can eat. For dinner there's usually one meat and one fish option, but it's not always unprocessed pure meat or fish.

It's only a 5-6 minutes' regular paced walk over to the main hospital building, but Sigve can't walk that fast yet, so we have to allow for more time to get there. The path goes through a park, surrounded by various hospital buildings. For rainy days, there's an underground tunnel.

Today started with Sigves shower, and a bowl of cornflakes for breakfast. Then we walked over to the outpatient's office for blood tests, a new bone marrow test, and a refill of fluids and minerals, and just got back to the hotel in time to catch some lunch. By then Sigve was exhausted, and vomited. So when he did manage to eat anything, he had a pear and a couple of pieces of ham and cheese.

This will be our daily routine for the next couple of weeks.

Every morning and evening Sigve has to measure his temperature, and tonight it was slightly raised, to 38,1C/100F. At that level we are supposed to call the ward, and they wanted him to come over for a couple of hours for observation. So I walked him over at 9.30 pm, and he'll be calling soon to say if he's staying the night or if I have to walk back and fetch him.

Earlier this evening we had a surprise skype call with Paul, Jorge and the gang in Vancouver. Right now they have boarded the Radiance of the Seas, and will be departing for Alaska at 5 pm local time. We were supposed to be there too...

- And I just went over to get Sigve, his temp was down again :-)

Today I am grateful for:

*The temp scare that turned out to be nothing

*Our friends who will be having a blast on the Alaska cruise

*These days with good weather so we could walk through the park, the rain will come soon enough

A new home away from home

We have made the move, and are now settled in in our room at the patients' hotel. We were sent off from the ward equipped with eating instructions and medications for tonight and tomorrow morning. At 9 am we have to be back at the hospital for blood tests, and if necessary, blood refills. The blood test results will determine the medication dose, in particular the Sandimun, for tomorrow evening.

I think Sigve almost found it kind of sad to leave the ward. To a certain degree I think it's a matter of feeling safe, and being capably looked after. His experience in the ward has been utterly positive, all staff members have been really nice, kind and professional.

I'm the one who has been complaining about the food, to Sigve it hasn't mattered. And I assume the food comes from a central kitchen, so it's not the staff on the ward's fault that it's lousy. Over here the term "hospital food" generally means, and always has meant, lousy food. I even remember when our kids were born, 25 and 28 years ago in Stavanger Hospital, that the food there was lousy too! You would think things would improve with time... But let's forget about the food issue...

It's not really a big hotel room, considering that we'll be staying at least 2 weeks, but I think it's bigger that our state room on board the Radiance of the Seas would have been :-) One day, we will be there!

Sigve has fallen asleep now, and I'm just finishing my Merlot. As they want us over there by 9 am, and none of us are very good with mornings, a long night's sleep is a good idea. Cheers!

Today I am grateful for:

*At the moment, at least I get to share a room with Sigve again (these rooms don't have double beds)

*We have successfully finished one phase, and entered the next one.

*That I have felt so cheerful today!

Busy day

Today was Sigve's second last day in hospital. He has eaten more, been up all day, had visitors, and taken a bone marrow test. This evening he had a refill of fluids with mineral additions.

I'm doing laundry, packing, and getting the house ready for my approx two weeks away. Which incidentally coincides with the two weeks we were supposed to spend on the Alaska cruise. Not quite sure if I'll be able to pretend like the hotel room is a state room on board the Radiance of the Seas... but I'll give it a try...

This evening I took an hour off and went for a walk at dusk. At Brandasund there's a place I haven't been to for about 20 years, a beautiful peaceful spot. I took a lot of pictures, but I'm only posting one.

See more here: http://picturesbyim.blogspot.com/2010/09/walk-at-dusk.html

It's been quite warm these last few days, and this evening the thermometer read 18C/64F as I drove out. In spite of the warm weather, fall is advancing. Suddenly the rowan trees are full of red berries. They're very sour, but it is possible to make jello from them. I've never tried it, though.

Today I am grateful for:

*This nice warm evening and my lovely walk

*My washing machine - makes doing laundry so easy. Imagine what it was like for our grandmothers!

*My Ipod that has a built in pedometer. It feels so good to see how many steps I take every day :-)

Almost time to move out!

When I got to the hospital today I learned that Sigve will be transferred to the patients' hotel on Thursday. It's quite a bit sooner than we expected, as he's not really eating that well yet, but the idea is that he may get more of an appetite in non hospital surroundings. Also he loves his bed a bit too much, so this will be an extra push towards staying out of it most of the day.

The way we understood the info we got ahead of all this, Sigve and I would be spending one month in the patient's hospital, but today we were told that all going well, the usual time is only 2 weeks. So again, all going well, and no reason to think it won't, Sigve could be home well before the end of September! WOW!

Sigve is required to have one person staying there with him, to help him and support him, so the hospital also covers the hotel cost for me. During the time at the hotel we will be going to an out patients' office at the hospital every morning for blood tests, check-ups and general follow-up. Other than that we'll have the day off to go for walks and whatever else we feel like. Visitors will be very welcome, if anyone happens to be in Bergen!

I had planned to drive home today anyway, but now I'll only have one day here before I have to drive back on Thursday morning. So I have to do some quick laundry, and pack for 2 weeks. It's almost like going on holiday.

When I got home I went out to see if the blackberries were ripe, and only 2-3 were like this. Most on them were still small and green, so who knows, I may be able to pick some if we're home in 2 weeks. They must be late this year because I looked back at some pictures I took last year and on September 5th I picked half a bucket of fully ripe blackberries.

Today I am grateful for:

*Everything! That Sigve is doing so well, that his time in hospital has been so short and uncomplicated, that he has not been in much pain, that the new stem cells from Gerd have accepted Sigve and have worked so well.

*That I get to live with Sigve again :-)

*The perfectly boiled egg with lots of yummy butter that I had for supper