By the way here is the 12th day of Christmas present. the box says 12 bears but they really only could fit 8 in as it is very small. 

It's Thursday the 27th of Januray its been over cast all day hinting at rain but no go. It did rain Boxing day and Christmas day. It is great to get a nice gentle soaking rain so it was like an extra present. We went down to Bev's for Boxing day and enjoyed time with her and Mary, her mom along with Jan and Gary, her sister and brother-in-law.  Hadn't seen Jan and Gazza in donks so that was nice. Greg and Anne and the squirts were there as well as Bev's daugther Kelly and Ben (spawn of Jan and Gazza) we had a huge feed of 'leftovers' Just brilliant! Callum and Greg and Gene got out guitars and Greg's new banjo and played and played. I'm afraid my engine ran out of steam mid afternoon and I nodded off, literally, through the concert. We jumped back into the car and Joyce drove the four of us home.  

A very quiet day reading eating sleeping, well nap later maybe. 

I've been doing 'art'.... craft really projects....shadow boxes with 3D elements. We gave Bev one of my pieces about buddas. I finished another that I call Christmas 2006 'cause I was recovering from spleen surgery and awaiting transplant and that was on my mind as well as Christmas. there's more in my head and we'll see where this goes.

Bluey and I had a great musical Christmas. She gave me a Bodhran (celtic drum) and a Ukelele and a profession shssssss shsssss precusion thing. I went to town today and picked up papers and stopped at the music store for a Concertina book 'cause that's what I gave Joyce! a 20 button Anglo C/G. We are getting button charts off the web and now we have some music for the 'squeeze box' we'll both be joining in the family band. I've alreadly started working on bodhran  rhythms off the net and that's coming along too. I picked up the first three levels of theory books to so we can get some background in reading the music but we are slowly getting there. 

I also have plans for a video project that involves you ALL so work out how you can do a 30 second video to send to me and I'll let you know later what I want on it.  I'm not kidding get ready.

more later

Chris

...and

We're also looking forward to Brenda coming in the new year! She's spending months and months here. We also hope to get a visit in with Dan & Marie in some midpacific hideaway. a dn merry christmas to Chels and the gang at Staff room one and all of USHS. 

more later

 Chris

"Like a 2 year old with a beard"

That's what Bluey just said to me!  She's sitting here with me in our living room after I took this pic. It could be because I just called to her and snaped a pic, or it could be my big belly hanging over my computer or the fact that I'm relaxing in shirt and undies in the middle of the day!

It's what we do here in Takura on a holiday. We are just relaxing and wrapping and chatting and playing with the dog. That's Chilli just visible under the table behind me. Its been raining on and off all day so far it's only 1:30 pm on Christmas eve here now.  We have a quiet evening planned with Jo and Gene... having supper and maybe gene will play guitar.  Tomorrow we are at Jo and Gene's all day.  We have a great butcher that was on a national TV show the other day and talked about his favorite Christmas dinner of Prime rib covered in scallops and that's what we are having tomorrow.  Boxing day we are off to Bev's in Brisbane  for a boxing feast. It'll all be leftovers! then back here for a day then I'm back for an appt. with Doc Schoozenbootz. Bluey will drive of course, because we want to get there fast and get back fast. The Mullers are here Friday for a few days so that will be great. Mary Ellen and Wal have Clydies and cattle  southwest of brisbane. Don't know which or how many of their lovely children Thomas, Gabe, or Kaitlin they may bring.

The new year holds many things for us not the least of which is my continued good recovery, but also I'm doing a lighting design for the local amateur production of Oklahoma, I'm returning to work, doing more of my art work ideas, and just more fun. Joyce has got to look forward to (hopefully) turning sod on her new building,  we'll be seeing the start of our new house. 

O the other 12 day gifts were a big round tray with green and red candles, table center pieces, a christmas basket with several smaller Christmas deco's in it and lastly today Joyce got a box of bears.

Anyway Merry Christmas to Melissa and Mark hosting Kathy and Cory in Calgary, Mike and Gayla somewhere with Stars of David on their Christmas tree; Arlene and Al at their cabin in the woods with their sons and families; The cousins in Seattle and Sanfran; my Bro in Victoria along with Marge and the Geerdinks in Victoria; Jim and Irene in Kelowna with their kids and kids kids; Auntie Marion whereever she is (she just sold up and is living on the kindness of strange......children...)Sid,Kirk,Colleen et al); John Marlene Nicole and Joni in 

Alberta; to all our friends and supporters far and wide

more later Chris

okay first things first

Here are the catch up images of the 12 days prezzies.

Day 4 is a tree (not shown) made out of lights. Day 5 is the book of the 12 days of Christmas, Day 6 is a garland I made up from bits and pieces, day 7 is the Maruska Santas, day 8, today is the little fireplace and bear ornament that I made from a smaller ornament then added the nut cracker and the toy train and a new base.  I have not finished the other day 12 presents but I have the bits to make them.  I've also been making a bunch of shadowbox art pieces like the snata I did for day one. I did one where I filled the shadbow area with M&M peanuts and put a little sign on front "In Case of Emergency Break Glass"  I'm doing one about last christmas facing surgery etc but that is taking a little longer to get right as I have an image in my head but I need to get materials to fit the image.  They are more of a design piece than art but I'm having fun anyway.

IWe are having a quiet Christmas. Every year for a few years we say that then something comes up and we are racing across the state to attend some event or lovely wonderful people come to visit and we end up having a ball. Horse Flu broke out here a couple of months ago and Greg and Anne are in the red zone so can't do their usual and bring their horse up to visit over Christmas (They can feed them better when they are here and we get to 'work' them and ride) this year they have to stay home but we are all meeting for Boxing day at Bevs place.  Gerry and Matt have decided not to come up for Christmas. They would have to drive and the trip is too long for gerry (recovering from his heart transplant).

We are going over to the Mckay wrights sunday night to watch Miracle on 34th Street, out in their open BBQ shelter. It's like out door cinema, we use a big sheet of white plywood with a data projector. Big fun

A quiet night is planned for tonight.  I'm making waffles for the guests on Sunday the cinema sunday night.  relaxing on Monday and Tuesday, Race to brisbane Wednesday back to see friends on Thursday, back to Brisbane for Doc Schoozenboots on Friday then I think we fall apart on Saturday. 

My Shave for a Cure Campaign is just starting to bubble a bit I don't want it boiling until January. But I have $660.00 banked. pledges for another $90.00 and offers of three places to put donation tins out. I may end up having my own event as I have three others volunteering to color and one other volunteer that's going to shave.  I may have to get a team name going. What are some good names? that link the idea of Shave for a cure, bone marrow transplant and some funny element?

more later

Chris

P.S. I've redecorated again, for Christmas 

This is todays Day 3 present

catch up this is the 12 days day two present for Bluey

I turned on Anonymous comments so you don't have to have an account here to comment so let's go folks

3rd day of Christmas

Well there you go. Didn't get time to post yesterday. Yesterday I gave my true love a christmas deco that's a tree build like a shelving unit with tiny wooden toys in each box.  Today she gets a book about celebrating Christmas with receipes, poems, stories etc. 

Bluey still is sleeping, she was up in the night from 3 to 5;30 and just now fell back asleep. I woke up to get a phone call at 6:30 but I it was from out of area. Probably Jo and Joyce's Mom she is the only one that calls us at odd hours. It's nice sometimes being up and alert early. It's still here, this morning and bright already.  We got a little rain in the night for two nights this past week, but just sprinkles really, no storm.

We are getting ready for Christmas and I put the tree and lights, got out all the boxes and put everything up except the tree decos.  Joyce will do that today I think. It was a big day on Thursday when I did that but fun. I like being home at this time and not working because I have been getting ideas for art projects and decorations and just doing them. I spent all day shopping yesterday and we go again today with the two of us.

I'm good, I'm on Lipitor now as my cholesterol has gone to 6.5 (usually 4) and even worse the balance between the LDL and HDL is absolutely the wrong way around. We thought were doing pretty good at keeping a good diet but Bluey's has gone to 5.5 as well. We have gone to total fat ban for a while to see what's what. I think I may have been overheating the olive oil too many times and we were getting a muesli with too much coconut I think. Anyway it's zero tolerance on fats now.

I'm going back to the school at the end of January.

The house plans will be ready for the 8th of January and go to the certifiers then, I think they will be into council at the middle of January. We may be able to start the build in March or April will be my guess.

More later

Chris

The Twelve Days of Christmas

This is a piece I created over the last couple of days. It's found objects, computer image photoprint, and a shadowbox frame.  I gave it to Bluey today as the first of the 12 days of Christmas. (its hard to see that the back of the fireplace image is one inch back from the mantle photo and that snata' bum is 3D along with the gifts)

I'm going to try to post every day until Christmas. Lets see if I do! 

Oh its entitled "oops"

The first days of Summer

Its the third day of Summer, at least by Australian custom. Actually its been summer weather or what Canadians would call summer weather for months now.  Anybody remember having backyeard BBQs wityh Bluey and I at 518 8th Street NE Calgary?  We used to make our guest stay in the the yard even it got cold. We'd go and get blankets and coasts for folk but make them stay out!  We obviously were more suited for the Australian climate eh?  Our friend Joanne is online in Calgary right now asn tells me its (^%^$## freezing. I've tryed to find a website that gives a conversion to celsius but no luck so far, I take it that it is very cold. 

Reality Chick

This title was a bit of a typo but I left it, you'll see why in a minute.

I've been cooresponding with the friend of a friend that has just been diagnosed with Myleo Fibrosis (MF).

Warning health Science content to follow: For those that want, you can just snooze for a paragraph.

Remember that MF is the scarring over of the bone marrow and I had it before I had the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT).  My MF came on the heels of lots of warning and after I knew that I had some blood disorder. 

Anyway it's come suddenly for her and she, rightly so, has lots and lots of questions and is concerned. In giving her answers from my life and situation I started on about being positive and wrote a lot about it lately and thought maybe I was just so full of myself that what I was saying was not true and may even not be what I was doing myself so I thought I would vet it through you my faithful network of supporters. 

If its sounds like crap let me know.

I'm good I have no symptoms that I can see or feel except swollen ankles. Joyce and I are taking a break on the sunny coast at Maroochydore for a week. I've had tons of time to rest and recuperate but Joyce has been my carer and the bread winner for 11 months now and she's just tried. I have more to say about her further down in relation too your support.

It may very well just be that your body needs time to settle down. Remember that it took a while for you to get to this state. Even though you just found out about it your blood has been changing for months and maybe even years. I've had fibrous matter in my bone marrow for years and years. you can't expect to resolve it in a week. Remember that your body has some pretty amazing restorative powers. You need to give yourself permission to fall apart a bit. It's like you are grieving for the loss of your good health, you are not going crazy just dealing with some really shitty stuff and if anyone gets in your face about being brave and bucking up just tell them to fuck off for a bit!

You are doing the right stuff. Of course you are thinking about your future but keep in mind that you don't yet have all the information you will get. Don't be thinking that it's going to be this way for ever. YOU DON'T KNOW THAT. You need to be thinking about how your kids will want you to help them but you also need to find the strength to talk to them openly and get them on board to support you. You don't need to scare them but kids can be resilient too you know.

I totally understand how you are feeling. I had pretty much set my affairs in order at one time thinking that I might not make it through the BMT but I guess I just got calm and some acceptance came over me. But I always believed that my body could beat this, That I could be in the top percentile. And I guess this is where the positive comes in I decided that I was going to be the cool positive person and not the negative lay down and take it guy. It really helped that Bluey was so positive as well. She keep me grounded if I drifted too much.

Quick story: In the hospital the nurses are real careful to not get attached and they move around between patients a lot. You get the feeling that you are being nursed by an army and that in itself, helps a bit. One nurse that I had for many nights was having a bad shift and was in a dark mood when I happened to be having a bad time. She pretty much told me to get over myself and quit giving her a shitty time! I really thanked her later because she reminded me that it is not always about me.

I'm generally a positive guy and have been that way all my life. But I did some things to my thinking coming into the BMT and the two surgeries prior.
I'm a serious believer in behavior modification. You know.... that you CAN change your outlook and thinking by changing your behavior. This led to me developing several 'power of positive thinking' (POPT) ideas.
1. I started wearing Mambo and other Larry shirts and telling people that I was being bright on the outside so I would be bright on the inside. It turned out that it was fun to this as people laughed at my wild shirts. Joyce got going buying vintage shirts on ebay. The nurses watched to see what shirt I would wear.  I talked about the "power of Positive couture". It became a focus of positiveness and no one talked about my stupid bone marrow.
2. I took pictures of all my family and friends and stuck them up on the walls and I spent a lot of time getting ready by scanning and printing out A4 size pictures. It kept me from focusing too much on the negative and reminded me about why It would be a good idea to stick around. to be with all these nice folk.
3. I wrote my blog because after all it IS all about me ;-0 I was spending way too much time talking about me so I made people read about it and discovered that I like to write! and that I got some real nice feedback about my writing and that I was so collected and calm. That really wasn't that true but I started to believe my own hype and it made me feel great!
4. You will need the support of your family and friends but you have got to know that people in your life won't know what to do with you! Some will not be there because they are too frightened of their own mortality. And you will get the other end where some friends  will surge to the front and be so amazingly supportive that you will be overwhelmed with gratitude. The POINT is that you need to help people to figure this out. You need to direct how they should BE around you. The side benefits are that you come off being a great soul, they are put at ease and able to support you and the whole time you are taking your mind off your issues. This particular insight comes from Joyce.... did I mention that she is really smart. She is also a serious worry wart and some of my positiveness was that I was just trying to keep her buoyed up. But here is a really important note. You have to let people in! You cannot protect them from your issues and/or your pain and fear. If you stay closed to them you just magnify it for everyone. If you let them in you spend all your time thinking about them and not about yourself and that's good. I was worried that you were doing that a bit. You do need help but you have to help them ...to help you.
5. You have a great husband and kids, I suspect, but you are the only one inside that head of yours, baby, so it's up to you to get a grip!
6. If in doubt just fake it! If you pretend to be 'okay' and you act calm then eventually you will be calm and okay.
7. Don't worry it any of the above don't work, or stop working because you can try another angle and over time they may work again.
8. Don't worry if for a period of time nothing works and you just need to wail. This too will pass (you will have to take a breath sometime and drink some water to re-hydrate) and one of the above will start working again.
9. If any of the above seems like a crock of S**T then it probably is but it worked for me, so maybe it isn't.
10. Make a list like this ....you spend so much time thinking of things to write behind a number you forget what you are worried about anyway.

Remember that is a whole family thing and you need to get help to keep your head because your brain is one of the biggest tools you have to fight this with.

So does the above sound like the authentic me or is it just claptrap that made up today to hear myself talk?

Does anybody have any further illumination for my pal? If you don't want to go to the trouble of signing up to respond just email me and I'll post it for you. chrisolin22@hotmail.com

more later

Chris

It's got to go!

Last time Doc Schoozenbootz saw me he hadn't seen me for 7 weeks prior.  He was astounded by my hair growth and then told me I should shave it off! Not so weird, really, as he is tight with the folks at the Leukemia foundation and knows that their 'shave for a cure' campaign is around the aniversary date of my transplant.

 In fact my 'shave' date is March 16th,2008!  My anniversary of getting my new cells, actually Rick's old ones, he had some to spare! So I am fundraising for them, starting........NOW.

So if you would like to sponsor me and give a bit back to the folks that helped me and continue to help many others that have much greater fights then I, please donate by seeing me in person, or online at my shave webpage. It is tax deductible here in Oz and since there is a tax pact between Canada and Australia I believe it is tax deducible there as well.  If you prefer my Canadian pals please make a donation to your local Leukemia Association, and send me a notice so I can add it to my total here. I'm shooting really really high. since I now have expectation of reaching my next birthday I'm raising $100.00 for each of those years. I reckon that's reasonable. So I'm looking at $5600.00 as a total! I hope that you can help me as approximately 9,000 people are diagnosed with leukaemias, lymphomas and myeloma each year; the equivalent of 25 people per day. Leukaemia is the number one childhood cancer in Australia but predominantly develops in young adults and older people in the community. The Foundation supports patients and their families so they can concentrate on what’s most important - getting well.  

Thanks for your attention

more later

Chris

Crowed House were Awesome!

Hands up who can guess where Bluey and I were last night? Okay perhaps this is a quiz that is too easy but the reformed band that played last night to 11,000 in Brisbane was just amazing. The sound was crisp and clear and the band was just on fire. They had tons of energy and did a lot of the older material interspersed with songs from the new album. go to Crowded house website to see what we mean in a small way. Or go to the show on one of the other Australia tour dates! They played in Calgary in Sept. did anyone get to see them there?

Anyway enough about them.... I've been playing with facebook a bit lately and am pretty blown away with the fact that I can look at friends of friends and see who's who. I have been adding friends at a fast rate and am connecting up with friends in Canada that I haven't seen for over 11 years. It's quite nice really but many of them have not caught up with "what's up Chris" before so they may be a bit surprised. Welcome anyway.

I've been watching Lisa Mckay to get ready for her auditions at various universities for their Musical Theatre programs. I drove her up to one in Bundy that I thought she did really well at.... based on the fact that I heard her through the walls and did not hear either of the two others in front of her! I heard her dance audition piece... the one that another friend of hers edited on their computer. I immediately offered to redo the edits as they had missed the beats a bit. This is the kind of thing I was doing back at Uni in the 70's and it was very interesting to be able to do it again using digital techniques instead of the pieces of 1/4 inch reel to reel tape splicing I was doing then. I haven't heard how she likes it yet as I finished it just before we went to Brisbane. But at least it's on the beat now. Did you know I took two years of dance at Uni? As a budding lighting designer I wanted to understand more about Dance. I got teased a bit by my buddies until I pointed out that there were three guys and 20 women in my class! Two really good years! Anyway as the token techie in class I was in high demand to do editing for all my classmates short pieces. I remember one girl wanted a 5 minute piece of music cut into about 12 parts and stitched back together completely differently. I really learned about editing music that day. Hey I can let you hear the piece on this blog...just a minute. Nope I still need to figure how to do this.

I love that my life included digital editing for dancers and now includes helpingClydesdale foals get up for that first suckle.

more later
Chris

Day 231 review

Hi there!
I saw Doc Schoozenbootz last Friday which was in fact day 231 so today its day 234.

He looked at my liver levels over some time and showed us that they had spiked up suddenly about 2 months ago and have been dropping back towards normal since then, when he prescribed a slightly higher dose of the immune suppression drug. That confirmed for him that I do/did have GVHD in my liver. We then talked about how long I will be on the drug and he related the patient history of another fellow that has been on it for 2.5 years, and he had a little GVHD in his liver too.

So we asked about how I manage all this and got some surprising answers. For instance I have been getting antibodies for various diseases commonly inoculated against as part of the intra-gam I get monthly. So my recent accident with barb wire was not such a worry.
-------For me but for Joyce it is still a worry!
I will be able to get a tetanus shot anytime. My immune system is low but not knocked out and I will probably be able to go back to work at the end of January when the new school year starts.

So its a bit of a mixed bag. I have GVHD and the protocol says I'm on the drug for 3 months after that so its on for a while, but even while I'm on it.... and I quote the doc "you can't wrap me in cotton wool." That's a bit of relief for me as I was champing at the bit to work aroung here. Joyce is worried that I'm going to go nuts and get hurt or wear my self out. Time will tell but I will try to keep control so that I don't get an infection.

I'm still only having one drink at a sitting and only occasionally, I still don't eat leftovers, we watch where we eat out, I eat only fully cooked from fresh when I'm out. I don't eat shell fish, prepared meats, or from buffets (from bain maries) WE are on a modified liver cleansing diet. lots of water, fresh juice every morning and very little red meat. Reduced fats and no saturated fats if I can help it. I'm trying to cook more fish but one of us, and I'm not mentioning her name, is not a big fish fan except for Salmon but that can get boring. Those of you still living on the Prairies will know that a good feed of Salmon is not be scoffed at but 2 or three times a week is a bit much and there are so many great reef fish here..... I'm working on good ways to prepare other kinds of fish to make it more accepted but it's early days. Some of you may have had the pleasure of my cooking and some of you may have been present for some of my greatest disasters in culinary experimentation. You will appreciate what said woman is going through while I find her alternative fish experiences.
------- This would be the point where you all chime with posts relating some of my greatest disasters.

Anyway other then that we are good.

More later
Chris

I feel good and strong so its just to get my test levels up. next doc appt Nov 30.

All Hallows Eve

Its halloween! While it will be in North America in about 18 hours. Its not celebrated that much in Australia. Sometimes a mall will do a promo and kids will dress up, or someone will have a party, or a bar will have a dress up event. Anyway it used to be just a chance for me to grab lots of little chocolate bars that I would hoard and munch on for the coming month. I used to buy way too much and then pretend to be disappointed that not very many kids came to our door. It's a blessing that we don't celebrate it here as I'm on a diet, a liver cleansing diet. Its really just a 'reduce fatty and prepared foods for 8 weeks' diet but it is a good habit to be getting into. Bluey saw a thing on TV about a study that kept people on the monkee diet. they ate what a monkee ate...11 pounds of fresh fruit and veg each day. They all lost weight. the majority lost it around their middle. and they had an average of 25% reduction in cholesterol! We are trying to eat more fruit and veg!

I have been doing a bit more work on the new property, fixing fences etc. Stuff that is not risky but is helpful and is keeping me more active. Queensland in particular but all of Australia is under attack from Equine Influenza. It's slipped in past Quarantine and infected horses in New South Wales and Queensland. It's ruining peoples livelihood because horses can't be moved out of the quarantine zones. Racing has been stopped in all the small races. Even the Melbourne cup "the race that stops a nation" is still in doubt and thats next Tuesday! Anyway Jo and Gene have two outside mares on the property for breeding and we had to put up an extra electric fence to provide an exclusion zone on the property. I 'm not sure it will do anything as the guests are from a green zone anyway and the virus can travel up to 8 kilometers airborne!

health update:
feeling fine, weird curly hair, tired of being at the same immunosuppression level.


okay more detail = there is none! I go to see Doc Schoozenbootz on Friday so may have more info then.

Chilli continues to entertain us.

more later
Chris

Photobucket Album

catch up

Hi gang
I am sorry but life gets in the way sometimes.

Anyway Its Friday the the 19th of October and I'm trying to stop time today. It's not sunny today, infact it's looking like a storm but nothing yet. We could use the rain. And it is a little cool today which is good because the hot summer has been hinted at in the past week and the longer we hang onto the cool weather the better. Steve, a gardner type tradesman is out mowing and piling up dead trees from the last storm. (more on that below).


health: I'm over s6 months since my transplant in fact I'm over 200 days! wow. Time did seem to drag there for a while but it has started moving very fast again. I know we say this all the time but time seemed to stand still when we were kids and now it screams past. I wonder if that is becasue kids can totally focus on the moment and keep it in their brain and really see things and then they reluctantly move to the next moment. We on the other hand have seen so much we just see the bigger picture and it moves faster. Anyway, I'm still immunosupressed. My 6 month results were good and the month before Doc Schoozenbootz didn't like my liver levels, they were too high so he upped my immunosupression. this last visit the replacement doc said the levels had dropped which was especially good becuase they usually plateau for a bit first and it is a very good sign that my are dropping. My skin is reacting a tiny bit to the increased immuno suppression but I'm back to giraffe skin.... yet (see picture on June 20 posting.) My feet are good and I'm getting some excercise.

I have big ankles because the immunosupression drug messes with my fluid retention and I get the fattest ankles in the world. When I where socks with elastic at the top my legs go hourglass shape. I kid you not!

My hair is still curly and getting quite long but we are so in awe of the new curly hair we are letting it grow to see what happens. Soon I'm going to get it cut because I have forelocks and they drive me nuts. see the picture

Bluey and I are on a liver cleansing diet. We start out eaitng fish and chicken and lots and lots of veg for a frotnight then two fortnights with just fish then add back the chicken then back on to read meats. lots of fluid taken as well. it may be helping my liver but it is alos good for the waist line. I'm way to big. I weight in for the 6 month tests and was 95 Kgs thats 10 kgs over the wieght I was going into the hospital nad alsmost 20 over my low weight in the hospital.

I'm looking forward to seeing Doc Schoozenbootz on the 3rd of november as he can really fill us in on to the future.

Generl news:
My sister Melissa got married this past weekeend at a beautiful hotel In the Bow Valley west of lake Louise called Mum Ti Jah. We know the place so sit was nicde to see photos and imagine what it was like. We weren't there because I can't travel yet, (can't get insurance and risk of infection) I hope that will change when we next see the doc and he drops my immunosupression a bit.

Cousin John survided his great motorcycle trek and is back hard at work in his promoted job.

My pal Jim in Kelowna has a new web site and is building his new/old business. he's done the work for years but he's working on his own with his wife and getting a new 'brand' in place.

Jo and Gene get back on Sunday from 5 weeks in Northamerica. Amoung other things they went to Madison Wisconsin to see the World clydesdale show. Over 700 horses!

Ret & Alicia have been house and horse sitting and have been doing a great job with input from Don, Bluey and myself. We had a run last week with Elsie the black russian going into season ahd the dog, striker going through a window but she's been in the kennel and comes home tommorrow int ime to see Jo & Gene. The Stallion got out of his paddock and in with the mares but there weren't to many drama just some hard work fixing fences.

Chilli had got a new clip for summer and you can see her and the puppies at http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s195/chrisolin/

Last Friday we had a short but very windy storm that dumped an inch of water in aboout a half hour and blew down tons of trees inthe area. we lost power for about 7 hours and I have had to fix some fence on this property and I guess there's more to do on the new property as well. A neighbor over there did his side that we share with him and that's terrific but I think I have to go look at the other sides.

more later
Chris

more later

I've been meaning to blogg for about a week to let all my friends know about the 6 monthly test results but have been doing all sorts of 'farm' urgencies. I'm fine but I'll give you the full rundown this weekend. Sorry but this is really just a placeholder till then.
more later
Chris

No its really curly!

See my new hair is curly and darker brown than before. Weird eh!

I saw Schoozenboots on Friday and he's generally happy with me. Except my liver numbers have gone high again and he's wondering if I just drink too much or if I'm getting GVHD, or if we dropped the immunesuppression drug too much last time sooooooo i'm on a part of a tablet more of the drug and I have decided to quit drinking again and then we will see in two weeks what's what. I don't have to go down to Brisbane again but I do have to get a blood test locally. Then we will talk by phone.

He did a bone marrow biopsy agian, my 6 monthly one. They are getting easier each time; i guess I'm relaxing. Although Joyce got to sit in and watch this time. She said I told him "it's hurting, its hurting" and he just kept going and turned to joyce as he shook my butt around drilling into me, "its okay he won't remember". I don't remember the pain but I remember saying it to him.... but I was so out of it I don't care. I guess I'll get the results down the road. It took almost a month to hear back last time.

I have to do my 6 month tests at the hospital; lungs, heart, xray etc in a few weeks.

I also had a skin appt this time and guess what, I do have the much rarer x-linked Icthosus (just means fish scales and I got it on my mothers DNA). Its no news for me just dry skin in the winter but if I had a daughter she would have longer labor if she was having a boy, and she should check his testicles to see if they drop properly. There is a slightly higher incidence of testicular cancer with this condition so I guess I can look forward to a much closer relationship to my GP from now on ;-) I don't remember Rick ever complaining of dry skin but you might want to look into it Bro.

-------Warning science geek stuff coming! Just skip the next parargragh if you aren't in to it.

My DNA has a bit of missing code at one of the skin chromosomes which means I don't produce a particular ensyme that allows the fat in my skin to change and release the dead skin cells so they stay on and make the scally look. The other problems come because often there are other "dropped" bits of information on other chromeosomes on either side of this chromosome and its in the sex and testes areas so that's why they keep an eye out for the NOT dropped ball! I don't get any treatment just cancer checks more regularily.

Bluey is great. She's a bit busy at work these days, leading up to her AGM, and the funding for the new building is still not all in place and some folks are getting antsey.

We stayed at Bev's and got to see the Riverfire spectacular. They put barges on nine reaches of the river. A reach is the straight bit between the bends. On each of the barges and from a number of bridges and high rises in the CBD as well they put fireworks. They are all microwave linked and the whole thing is miles and miles of coordinated fireworks. The whole city was in our local bottle shop that afternoon and by that evidence i reckon there were a million party goers on the banks of the river last Saturday! Bev's roof top patio has a stunning view of the bigest bridge and two of the barges so we had a great view. She had a big open house and other neighbours in the building, her staff, friends and family including her terffic grandsons were there. It was a big time and lots of fun. The event starts with the local precision flying team, Military attack helicopters thundering up and down the river and the fire event starts with a pair of F111s doing a fuel dump right over our reach of the river. Seriously cool. You could feel the heat on your face and the sound sure gets the crowd going. Anyway we got up early this morning and came home so are having a relaxing day here.

The house plans are back at the draughtsman but I have to get a number of answers from my partners and from the steel house company as we proceed. We may not be starting to build in September but maybe by the end of October!

more later
Chris

Curly hair and rain

We are still astounded by the growth on my darker and curlier hair. It's soft and growing quickly. how weird.

we got a steady drizzle of rain on Monday and then last night and tonight a low off the sunshine coast brought us a rain depression and high winds. Good solid falls but still not torrential. I can see the dam level rising. For the northamericans in aus the dam is the body of water as well as the berm that holds it in. Any way they are still saying we need more as it only raised the town water supply dam by a few percent. I think we are down to 25% of the dam capacity so we are still on level three water restrictions. this will really helpthe place look better 'cause all of the bay has not been able to water outside for months.

I'm doing well. I need to lose a bit of weight and I have fallen off my exercise program.

We are pushing forward on the new house. We got preliminary drawing bck from the designer and will look at this weekend I guess.

more later
Chris

General personal life stuff

Okay some of you ,I know. will want to skip this general interest and personal life stuff but I may just seed it with health tidbits so be warned! If all your friends are up on the comings and goings of Joyce & Chris, and you are still in the dark you may want to read on.

Joyce is good. I'm good

More later
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Just kidding

We are good, that much is true. I was going to write a bunch of email to day but my fingers are getting tired so please forgive me I'm going to write it here then email my blog address to you as reminder that I've put news up.

It's two days after my 55th birthday and isn't that a kick in the pants! I realized the other day that I am actually looking forward. I don't mean that i wasn't positive about my future and confident in the doctors but I just wasn't really daydreaming on the possibilities, like I have been lately. Let me give you an example....I am so looking forward to getting our new slasher. and using it on the tractor to inilalate the pesky grass along the south fence. Picture a 6 foot wide 75 horse power spinning blade of steel housed in a bomb proof square cutter deck on the back of a four wheel drive CASE tractor. It is the biggest lawnmower you have ever seen. It is seriously MORE POWER ouhh ouhh ouhh. This is something that I haven't thought about until the past week.

I so want to be able to travel. To be at Melissa's wedding, to get to a nice sunny beach in the winter but that is a ways away. Even if I get the go to travel I can't be in the sun 'cause of the drugs. But i've started thinking about it. Looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to Joyce getting a break. She's back at work having gone from full time carer of me to full time carer of her chunk of the Bay's population. She is definitely the trooper here.

I'm a little worried and I think Joyce is too about the current Flu epidemic in Australia. There are kids dying (okay only 4 and they had complications and they are all, way away from here, but still). I try to stay out of big crowds at the shops, I don't garden and the yard looks it!

I called up some help the other day from a yellow pages ad and got two "Rent a Hubbies" they were great and I just told them what to do and they did it. Who knew that that's what Joyce and I needed was our own hubbie?

I have the house sketches into the draughtsman/designer! We get the first real sketches back next week it looks like we may start the steel shell in October if luck holds. We have a builder but we have to get the approvals and that is a nightmare. Everyone keeps saying that it's not so bad it used to be way worst. You may know all about this but the local guy does the drawing for the interiors based on the engineers drawings from the Steel kit House company, then they go to two places. To the hydraulic designer for the rain water system(required), and the water treament system (required because there is no town sewage). Then that bit goes to council plumbing section for 4 weeks for approval which is pretty much guaranteed because the Designers are also certifiers. The main bit goes to the private building certifier who goes over it in 5 days then to council for 5 days for approval.

It used to all go to council and could take up to 12 weeks for approval so the new private certifers are working out I guess. It looks like council doesn't trust the plumbing certifiers though.

We are putting in solar electric grid connect systems with battery storage, solar hot water, tons of rain storage, and as of 6 months ago we can actually plumb our toilets and laundry to the rain tank but you have to have a "rainwater management system". That is basically a float value low in your tank plumbed to town water so that your toilet never runs dry. Although if we didn't have town water, which many rural properties around us don't have, would they make you have a second tank plumbed to the first tank? Don't laugh some of the building regs are that ridiculous.

Anyway I wanted to reward your patience with news.

More later
Chris

More good news, CSI technigues and BD Week.

Okay the good news is not very dramatic but still good. Doc Shoozenbootz doesn't want to see me for another four weeks AND he doesn't want blood tests until that time so no weekly monitoring! I've gone from looking at my blood on a daily basis (the 4am vampire run) to weekly to monthly monitoring. Okay I know you folks are going soooooo? But it means I'm doing well enough to not need to be on top of my bloods. It also means I don't need to be jabbed! Granted my Hickaman's kept me from getting some jabs, but I've been tested for blood levels about 154 times in the past 9 nine months. Anybody want to stick their arm out that many times? I sure didn't. I'm so relieved.

On to the CSI bit. I have been wondering about my DNA and got some answers. The Doc must get this all the time because I brought up that I have some questions about DNA and he sat back and said" right you want to know that if you rob a bank and they get some of your blood whos' on the hook?". He was right on the money! The answer is if I leave blood at the scene of the crime they may think it's Rick that did it? Cool eh! If I leave tissue they will think it's me that did it. My sister Melissa asked me about the fact that we all replace cells over time, the most obvious being hair and skin etc. but all things that get repaired are changing. Does this mean I'm slowly changing into my brother? Nope. The bone marrow T-cells can become various kinds of blood cells but they are already diferenciated into bone marrow type cells. The t-cells in your liver are only going to make livel cells, the t-cells in your skin are only going to make various parts of your skin.

There are grand progenitor cells (I'll pause here for the Monty Pytohon fans to go on about the Grand Inquisitor for a minute......finished? Okay) These GP cells can turn into any t-cells but we don't have lots and they are all mine. So that's the deal on DNA.

As a post script I should like to thank any of you that have given blood in the past especially the universal donors that have type O blood . I have been the recepient of about 20 bags of blood in the last year and all has been type O. Besides the red cells they mine the donated blood for platlettes and other cells so each donation helps three patients. Thank you! if you haven't given blood please consider making a donation before the uncoming long weekend.

it's my Birthday on August 8th and I've made it to Age 55! As you can imagine I've been "reflecting" lately and realised as I looked out on the sunny and warm but not hot day this morning that I was really looking forward to things again. I had been positive these last few months but I was taking thi8ngs one day at a time and not looking forward too much. and This morning I had a real flash that I'm thining way ahead. I wat to plant 50 trees on the new property to offset our own carbon foot print. and to provide income in ten years, I want ot get out on the tractor and mow things down with the new slasher that's coming, I want to build our new house! It'sa pretty good birthday week I rekon and bluey is making it grand with little cards and pressies and mysterious giant boxes arriving by mail!

More later (anybody notice my repeated and purposeful use of this little affirmation these past few months?)

Chris

My kidneys are "the best they've been"

2 week old Black Russian Terrier puppies! They are 6 weeks old now and really cute, Three girls and a boy. Jo and Gene are really happy.

For those of you playing along at home you know that my kidney function has been less than perfect (shitty in fact for a couple of weeks) and this was/is because of the imunosuppressant that I take. But we lightened up on the IS about 4 weeks back and last Friday's call from Doc Schoozenbootz was good. Still making my own red cells, they are up a bit further. And he said my kidneys have improved alot. See quote in title above.

So I still have to get off the IS drug and hopefully won't get GVHD, which would be the chronic kind at this late stage. Doc says I have a 50/50 chance but I rekon that as I get lower and lower levels of IS drug then my odds have got to be increasing. Anyway We're going to Bribane to see him next friday Aug 3rd so will report .....

more later.

Chris

I'm making my own red cells now!

well that title pretty much says all the news so .......

Just kidding! A couple of weeks ago when we came back from Brisbane my red cells were at 96 (normal is 140 tranfustions usually happen if I get below 100). Doc Schoozenbootz said i wasn't getting a transfusion as we were close to the time when my red cells are supposed to kick in. I did a blood test a week ago last thrusday but didn't hear from him and then last Thursday and talked to him on Friday. He says the previous week I was at 102 and this week at 113 so I'm seriously on my way. He says my kidneys are okay as well.

Day 129 now, and the the red cells kick in at day 120 ,we were told, so I'm right on schedule. The red cells are the last to kick in so this is a pretty big milestone. The doc still hasn't seen the DNA results to make sure that it the new cells are doing the work now, but he's pretty confident. I have a more sceptical approach and figure that it's not over until the 'fat cells sing'. Or something like that.

Okay fort those of you keeping score. the final milestones were and are.
*get red cells kicked in
*I'll take DNA results for 100, Bob -'What are my NEW cells' ........is the correct response!?
*get off the immune supression drugs - currently down to 5/8ths of what I was taking when I left hospital
*don't get GVHD - Oh come on you can't have forgotten already what that stands for! Say it with me...Old kids help the new kids... Graft Versus Host Disease. At this point if I get it now it means it will be the chronic kind and I have a 50/50 chance at this point.
*get Schoozenbootz to sign me off in about 4to six months.

pretty good eh! doc says that i haven't been reading the book on how to be a patient as i'm breaking all these records. Bluey i pretty happy too.

more later
Chris

115 days on 07/07/07

Well I have lots of little stuff to report and catch you all up on our movements over the week.

We had a great time at the July 1st Canada Day event at the Mckay-Wright's. (shown) That night we met a friend of our friend Jerry McNamara, from Sydney. Karen and her boyfriend Chris were up for a conference and came to dinner on Sunday. It was big fun and nice to be able to host someone in our home again. Monday Joyce went back to work and I took a total break. Tuesday and Wednesday I did a bunch of unpacking and errands. Thursday we travelled back to Brisbane to see the doc on Friday.

Sian and Callum came up with Gene and the truck last Friday and went back with us on Thursday. It was a great but quiet trip back. We had a nice dinner with Bev at the local and then on Friday did the inspection of our old unit and then got intrgram at the clinic and saw Doc Schoozenbootz.

He told us I was doing fabulous. he hadn't seen me inthe past two weeks due to his time off and he thought my hair growth was the best for this time in tranplant process. He didn't give me the reuslts of the DNA test but will later when he gets them off the other computer system. I'll get a blood test on Thursdays and he will talk to me Fridays but I won't go back to him for 4 weeks! We though it was going to be fortnightly but he's gone straight to monthly! he is a little concerned that my kidneys have started performing poorly and has dropped my cyclosorin a little bit. this is the immune system supression drug. I'm now at 5/8ths of what I was on when I came out of the hospital and will over time go to zero (I hope). Anyway this should improve kidney performance and that produces more IPO or EPO which in turn triggers more red blood cell production and that's the last cells that a tranplantee starts to grow themselves.

Anyway the next week bodes well for a commercial bath for Chilli, more truck driving for me, unpacking the last of the boxes and a big big sweep out of stuff. Both Joyce and I have come back with a plan to clear out "stuff" from our life. We have too much stuff and are anxious to reduce beforw we move to a new house.

Our plans are for me to take this time of inforced non work to drive forward the house. I'm doing research on solar electrical systems, solar hot water, energy efficient stoves, funky louver walls, selling solar electrical back to the grid, recyled water systems etc. We get our plans from the steel homes company shortly then take them to the local draughtsman to add windows etc. then on to council for approval.

more later
Chris

We're home!

yep we got here safe and sound and and are settling in. We are back online at sirruscomms so if any of you were using the short cut or were using the reply button to emails please check to dumpr any thing that has aapt in it

our email is artsbase@cirruscomms.com.au

more later
Chris

We're moving back to hervey Bay!

It's day 104! I have finished all my tests, although I haven't got all the results back. We will be seeing Doc Schoozenbootz on July 6th, a week tomorrow to get final results and in his words "kick my scrawny ass out of Brisbane". We were all set to go this Friday so we got the doc's okay to go to HB for 6 days and come back next Thursday for the big send off. We've packed up all our stuff and Gene will bring the truck Tommorow early and then after i do clinic with replacement doc then we load and go.

Callum and Shinny are coming as well so we will have two vehicles, a dog, Joyce and I..... a big party all the way to HB!

I'm feeling a little tiried but I am down to the wire re my red cells and I think I may be getting some tomorrow which will put a snag in things but I was 96 last tuesday and doc wanted to wait till Friday to see if I grow some of my own. The treshold has been 100 outside of hospital and 90 while in the hospital but inside they have better access to me and more checks. We'll see what's the go tomorrow.

Bluey has been a little trooper these past few days working to get us packed. I did my part but she was excellent. We discovered we do have two different styles of packing and because we started early we had time to 'take time' and we discussed how we approach it. She's a drift around and put like things together kind and I'm a get an entire room in one box kind of packer.... but we had fun! We went out and got "one last round"of boxes about three times. Where did all this stuff come from! Callum was here for the day today and he was a treasure in the final day of packing we easily got it done. I just have the computers and broadband to pack and then we're good to go.

We will be offline for about 24 hours so our mobiles will be the way to get us +61418 182 205 for me and +61418 287 991

We have a big July 1st planned at the Wright Mckays Sunday and Karen and Chris from Sydney are staying over with us Sunday night talk about getting back in to the swing! Joyce starts back to work on Monday.

more later
Chris

100 days

It was actually yesterday but we had such a nice leisurely day I didn't think to blog it. It has indeed been 101 days since I received my bone marrow transplant. Although I don't remember much as I was hopped up on drugs, appearently I was a lot of fun. Well here we are 101 days later and I am remembering lots of things.

We got up lateish and a quick breakfast in, then dawdled along and went out to Butter for brunch then we jumped on the ferry and went down river to Sydney Street pier then walked along the River Walk back to the city. Ferried back and hung out. Bluey did a great (new signature dish) mushroom sauce on nokie (sp) with medalions of Chicken grilled in garlic. It is sooooo good! Then a bit of TV. What great way to spend the 100th day.

I'm so lucky that Joyce is able to be here to help me through this. She is so good at her job they had no second thoughts giving her 5 months off to care for me. She is strong about making me take meds I don't like including water every ten minutes. She can drive like the wind and get me to the clinic in record time while I'm raving with a temp of 40 degrees and not panic or be anything but totoally calm and reassuring. She can wait and wait and (wait for it)...................wait with me at the doctors offices all the while inventing new ways to amuse me. Have I told you latelly how great Joyce is?

Thanks Joyce, I love you

lots and lots more later
Chris

No more cramming for the end of days exams!

I have started the end of days tests! Did big bloods on Tuesday at the hospital then gave more blood at the clinic. I felt seriously depleted as the usual test is three or four tubes and the final is about 12 so that's 16 for the day!

Doc Schoozenbootz gave me a "good....very good" on my bone marrow biopsy that I did last week. I still have to get the results of the DNA test (one of the 16 tubes) to see if it is MY good...very good, or RICK'S good....very good. he went on to say he wants us to see him after his holiday before he discharges us so that was adding a week to our stay. In a late development we phoned him back and asked if I could go to Hervey Bay for 6 days (he had previously said we could go for the weekend) and he said yes! So we are basically on track and this is the track.

-------you crazy jump around guy, you haven't finished with the whole doing exams metaphor! Clean that up!

Okay I did my skin exam yesterday and they took three biopsies this time. And because I have such dry skin they have ramped up, by one, my skin disease diganosis. For those of you playing along at home, you'll remember that when I went in the first time Doc Mole said I had a minor disease called Ixthyansis Vulgaris (sp) and now since I look like a giraffe.... no kidding that's my leg in the picture....I have an equally benign but "far more rare" disease call X-link Ixthywhatever. And get this, he wants me to smear myself with Petorleum Jelly! The Pharmasist couldn't keep a straight face as she told me I should put it on several times a day. I'm thinking a Greased Chris contest will be added to the July 1st games!

I also did my ECG and chest X-ray yesterday. So all I have left is my dental exam and deep breathing test next Wednesday.

-----okay now back top the track

We finish up tests next week and pack then Gene comes down with the truck on Friday and we load up then we drive in convoy back up to Hervey Bay. We have a big whoop-up for July 1st Canada Day. Then we come back for Friday to get the final results. Then we come back every fortnight to see the Doc and get intragam. etc. then at some point we start coming every month.

In September he will start reducing my cyclosporin and I have a 50/50 chance of getting chronic GVHD at that time. I may have to go back on cyclosporin for longer. I won't be returning to the high school till after a check in January; my imune system is still down and won't be coming up till at least September and he wants me to not take any chances on infection.

So we have a busy week coming up and Jo is staying with us Tuesday as she is in for a meeting, so it will be a whirl wind week.

more later
Chris

End of 100 days...its coming

How melodramatic is that title. Where does he get this schlock from!

It is now day 92; yep its been 18 weeks, 1 day, 8 hours, 46 minutes, and 39, 40, 41, seconds, but whos' counting!

We got a phone call with some news but before that let me tell you what happened when we went to clinic yesterday morning and got some news. Oh but before that let me tell you about the rest of this week. Well lets do a recap to catch everyone up.

Last Friday I got intragam as ususl but there was an infection in my catherter so I had a wee 'septic shower'. Missed all but 10 minutes of a movie. Got a temp of 40 in 1.5 hours. went to hospital, got out on Tuesday to get my bone marrow end of days test. Got out on Wednesday to get my Hickmans's removed at my 4th hospital. got another little shower and was back in emerg. but I took oral antibiotic and was sent home. I'm feeling much better now!

I can be even more succinct..
Temp. Hospital biospy 4th removal minitemp emerg. betternow.

Is that clear? Good!

So Friday we went into the clinic to have my bloods done and get my weekly intragam and see Schoozenabootz, there was some tripidation since last week it was the scene of my temperature. Anyway the staff were all joking with me and glad to see I was doing well so it was cool. Bloods were good I am even holding up the red cells a bit more, That is I am producing more of my own red cells so I will need less transfustions I guess. The bone marrow Biopsy results will be available next, Tuesday so we will know something then. the doc says things are looking good,

Then we called the tranplant coordinator's office and talked to the woman who is organizing the final tests and she apologized that she hadn't done anything on it then as she had several incoming tests to organize and I understand how that would be priority. So we thought it would take her days to get it sorted but she called back in an hour to say that some tests were going to be next week and some the following week. then called back in two hours to give us all the appointment times done and dusted, home and hosed.....all wrapped up!

So here's the final days schedule (until someone changes it).
Test my blood Tuesday. test my heart and the x-ray anytime next week. test my skin Wednesday. then have to wait till the following week's Wednesday for the dental check and my deep breathing check. Then I might see the registrar on Thursday I guess and see Doc Schoozenbootz Friday AM. Gene is coming down with my tray back ute Friday the 29th in the AM and we pack up and are gone that day!

Two weeks to go! And I'm smiling and joking and feeling really good. My knees feel strong, there is no (read zero) pain in my feet. I'm back up to my 'normal weight' (which is in fact to high!) Things are looking good.

Visited with Bev last night and Callum and Anne are coming for lunch, Dinner at Bev's where I can help her with her iRiver (get her music onto the thing). No plans yet for Sunday but I think a big walk with maybe a picnic would be good but we'll see.

more later
Chris

Big Time, Big Temp, Big Worry

Sorry I haven[t blogged for a bit but I was held up up a bit.

Friday at the clinic I had my regular intrgam infusion and as sometimes happens because of the cold IV and the cold room I get the shivers a bit. Usually a blanket and a walk aroune after fixs this. But I was still shaking as bluey I I went to a morning movie. We barely got seated ans the lights down when I realized that not only could I not stop the shakes but I was feeling hot flashes and was feeling ill in my tummy. So we left the film 10minutes into and were back at the clinic in an hour after I left. I was immediately slapped down and poked etc. and found a temperature of 40 degrees! I was 36.5 an hour and half earlier! that fast. They took blood cfor cluturing and send me up stairs to a bed in the hospital. I started vomiting and halucinating (something about Joyce's tap shoes). I was r=pretty rough for the afternoon and evening but settked to sleepa nd at midnight obs the temp was down to normal. I've been on IV antibiotics since.

Feeling fine now and I had my bone marrow biospy today as scheduled as part of the finalization so that was good. They have figured out that the infection is in my hickman's so that is coming out tomorrow afternoon at my fourth hospital! where they could get theatre space on short notice. I;ll be getting a canular each time I go to clinic from now on or maybe a PiCT line. smaller than a hickmans and goes in from the arm. We'll see.

so Bluey was really really scared but stood up wellunder pressure and now we know why they wanted me within 20 minutes of the clinic/hospital. But they know the bacteria invlovled and they are using a targeted antbiotic so I get out of here straight from the day procedure of removing my hickman's Wednesday afternoon.

Just a note Jo and Gene's russian Terriers gave birth a week ago and one of them is destined to come to us we hope, and they are doing well.

more later Chris

Why do I seem to do things the hard way

I learned about blood types the hard way today. They gave me between 50 and 100 mls of the wrong blood. Obviously the usual catastophic results didn't occur because I don't get whole blood I get red cells and the problem is in the whole blood part.

Today's lesson is blood types:
Okay it's really simple.... first off lets remember the disclaimer, say it with me," I don't know nothin' about birthin' babies." Now back to our broadcast.......most people are in one of four blood types or groups They are called groups because there are a whole group of things to do with it but we will look after the big part only.

'A' means that you have A type antigens attached to the red cell and antibodies for B in your plasma around the cells. B is the reverse. Still with me. "O" are the heros of the blood transfustion world because they have no antigens on the red cells just A& B antibodies in their soup. AB folks have both kinds of antigens and no antibodies in their soup. There you go. What's that?........why do we need to know this?......... Its obvious isn't it?....No?

Okay I usually get "O" because I only get the red cells as most of the plasma is taken away in processing, leaving cells with no antigens to react with the antibodies in my existing soup. You see my old blood type is B and my new blood type *Rick's type" is A so I guess I have both antibodies floating around waiting for some poor type A or Type B red cells to float by.

It can't be an obvious thing as the nurses thought nothing of giving me type B blood as my chart says my type is B. I said isn't that interesting I ususually get type "O". Anyway 100 mls in or so the nurse quietly stops my transfusion and says we are checking into your second bag for today. You see I ususally get two bags but only one arrived so the lab went looking for a cross matched second bag and the lab tech caught the mistake as we started the first bag. Two new bags arrived both type O and we got going again. The doc on call talked to us later and explained the chart and why it was a dangerous thing but probably not so worring to me. You see if whole blood of A and B mix you get all the wrong antibodies jumping on the other antigens and clots occur killing the host. Worst case.

In my case the B I was given had small amounts of anti bodies for A in it as there was not very much plasma. I'm not producing very much new A red cells with the A antiagen which the aforementioned antiA antibodies would be hunting for. With me so far. On the other side of the blood forest the small amount of B antigen Red cells given me had not much to fear as my old antiB antibodies are few and far between. so if I don't have much Red cells with A on them and I don't have much red cells with B on them. What do I have.

I'm filled with Red cells that are O, from the five or 6 transfusions so far and the red cells have no antigens on them! Wahoo. So where are the A and B antibodies usually associated with type O people??? I guess I didn't get any as there was no plasma to speak of in those transfusions. But why haven't I developed some of my own antiA or B antibodies???

Hello people!!!!! I'm imuno-supressed. I'm not anti anything. I'm not against As or Bs, I'm not against germs, I'm not against bacteria, viruses,molds or spores. In fact if I'm not careful any bioagent you can name can come and live here in my body for free........Including some stray red cells from my old pal type B blood. Now as soon as my new pal Type A blood gets off his ass and starts making more redcells in his image...then we could have some good old imune reactions but not for the time being.

Question: Does all the plasma that is drained away from the whole blood go to TVs?

more later,
Chris

Oct 06 to June 07

See there is hope for my hair yet!

Things I've learned this week

1. I learned that Bluey is really smart about caring for me.
2. i learned that I'm not so smart about caring for me.
3. I learned that I must not scare bluey again.

The back story:
The individual we shall call "Bluey" had to go to Hervey Bay for business. "Bluey" (this may be an alias) expressed concern that her husband who she was carer for would be unable to properly care for himself while she was gone over-night. the husband "chris" (note he seems to not have any aliases, he is anti aliased)
-----that's a computer graphics joke......google it
----------remember we set up the five dashes as an aside, not part of the story?

"Chris" was a bit full of himself and tried to convince "Bluey" that "she'll be right". "Bluey" nevertheless obtained the services of their Bro-in-law "Mumbles" (This guy has a string of aliases due to extensive computer game playing) to stay overnight with the husband. Both "mumbles" and "chris" quietly celebrated the coming boys video night. Whoo Hoo!

This brings us to Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning...this is how it when down....
"Mumbles" arrived at or around 4:45 and they launched into video night with the first video. They then went up to a favorite resturant and picked up gourmet pizza and took it back to the unit. They proceeded through two pizzas and two more videos despite the fact they both were very tired....chris said yah we can do the last video... "she'll be right"...they finished the third video. It was way past "chris'" bedtime and he discovered he forgot to take his meds after dinner. They went to bed and "Chris" forgot to setup the fan and leave the bedroom door open (the aircond is not so good in the unit). Neither of these things did "mombles" know about, as "Chris" said "she'll be right".

The next morning they got up later then "mumbles" intended in order for him to get to work but they rushed through breakfast. Then "chris" did take his temperature.

Issue:
He had a temp of 38
------Now dear readers you may recall mention of various meanings or actions that automaticaly come at various temperatures. Like at 37.0 to 37.5 (warning chris olin warning) and 37.5 and above "I'm sorry Mr. Olin you can't have Panadol for the raging headache because it would mask your temperature that we need to watch". And my favourite... at 38 and above GET YOUR STUPID SORRY A** INTO THE CLINIC......NOW.

So Mumbles had to leave for work immediately and the brave/stupid (which one depends on your point of view) "chris" waited an hour for a cab then walked to the ferry and walked to the clinic. He knew by this time that the temperature was down to 37.5 so wasn't too worried.

What the authorities did:
"Chris" was checked out throughly and by the time his temp was taken again it was in the 36 range. They took lots of blood to culture up to check for infections.

The sentence:
Let off with a warning. Back home at 10:00am.

However that's not all the story... Consider for a minute the poor wife in Hervey Bay getting the news that her cute darling dashingly handsome man
------laid on a little thick, you say
had a temp, even if she was told it was dropping, and that her man was on his way to the clinic. She of course would be upset.... what's happening?... will he get to the clinic okay?......will they be able to save him? All these questions raging through her head. Then she gets the call that he's at the clinic and in a bed... A BED not the usual reclining chair! It must be serious! Then she gets the call that the temperature is down to normal and he's to be let off soon.......
LET OFF! Does he know what he's put me through for the past two hours? I'll let him off! Wait till I get my hands on him.

The preceeding is of course just a consideration of what she might be thinking....saying. In reality when she got back to the Unit it was reported that she calmly checked him out, ate the beautiful mexican pie he had slaved over for an hour and a half, enjoyed the foot rub she got after dinner and said.........."And what have we learned today?"

That's the story as it was told to me and I believe it.

more later
"chris"

Birthday Week a high point

Here we are with Lisa Mckay-Wright who came down from the Bay to visit us this weekend. We went on a big walk around the the south end of this reach of the Brisbane river along to southbank and then we took the ferry back. This was on Friday late afternoon. (more pictures on http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s195/chrisolin/).

Peter and Marion came down to wish JC a big birthday greeting Friday night ans we all five went out to another local resturant that we had heard good things about but hadn't been to yet. We checked it out and the kitchen was visible and looked good and all the food looked like I could eat it. Except for the shellfish but that looked really good! It coud be because I couldnt have it but it looked good. we had a sort of meze/tapas platter and a gourmet pizza to share and it was great. We wil be going back to Ikons on Main again soon.

Saturday we had breakfast at the local shop where Joyce personally checked out the kitchen before i got my bacon & egg muffin. she so looks after me! We had a good early start so went over to the city to do some errands and 'pooch about'. the second picture above. We took the ferry right around the river to the other side of the down town area to the far end of the local ferry route. Then we walked the length of the queen street mall looking around and trying to pick up things that Joyce had ordered but in the end we didn't get it all done then we took the ferry back across to our side so we could meet Jo and Gene. We had a surprise visit from Mary Ellen who just dropped in to wish JC a happy BD. we visited for a bit and after a quick trip to the store we had a feast of dips and cheezes for lunch. Mary Ellen lefta dn we all settled down for a short nap and then Bev dropped by to start our evenings festivities. We visited and then went up to Butter. We had arranged to sit in the lounge which is a little area with a surround bench seat and low table, very arabian nights. some sparlling wine and meze plates later we were all having fun. Just in case their are any double checkers out there I was indeed not drinking just laughing. We were pretty full but since much of the platters were not on my safety diet I qsked could we continue on to mains so we moved as originally planned to a round table outside under the sail where we continued the fun. Anthony and his crew looked after us very nicely. And everyone had dessert so they can't have been that full. We rolled home and into bed.

Sunday morning, this mornig we got up and got out to the Storey Bridge for their brunch early and got a good table. Then we ran out to Greg and Anne's to drop off wheels for Jo & Gene's new wagon, shinny is taking them on to the wheel wright for refurbishing. We played with Chilli and visited and had Cal's cake. Then back to the unit where we said good bye to J&G and Lisa who all went back to HB. Greg and Anne and Cal showed up at our place about 2 to pick up Sian who had been in town at a friends place, then they were going on to the opening of Pirates of the Carribean. Although invited, we declined as it will be too full of people as it is a weekend showing.

I think we are going out for another walk now so I'n drawing to a close. I created a screen shot from Google earth of our part of the river with some labels and the local ferry marked so you get a sense of where we walk. Find the same area in google earth and you can soom in to see better the cool trails available. http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s195/chrisolin/Ourwalks.jpg

more later
Chris.

Birthday Week Underway

Well it's that time of year. Joyce is celebrating birthday week in the lead-up to her big day on Saturday the 26th. So if you are around or want to call her to wish her Happy Birthday I'm sure she would appreciate it.

We have been having daily adventures to celebrate each day. Today's was a shopping trip into town and we hit David Jones and Myer Centre with a vengence! We saw the dog on Sunday. Went to the cinema on Tuesday. Monday I had the house professionally cleaned so she didn't have to do it. We may continue that one. Tomorrow we aren't sure what may happen but Friday we have a big day at the clinic so the afternoon adventure may get squeezed. Peter and Marion are down for the weekend so they are seeing us for Dinner. We have guests coming Friday (Lisa) and Saturday (Jo & Gene). Saturday night we are going out to dinner at a local but really nice resturant that looks after us.

Still getting some walks in but not big ones since we did 6 km around the west end last Saturday. We are going to take the ferry over and walk the Botanical Gardens soon.

Remember call Bluey re the birthday +617 3391 4338 or email to artsbase@cirruscomms.com.au

More later
Chris

hello

It's been a bit, but I have been out walking! I did 6 kms last Saturday after getting blood on Friday. Thanks again for nutrition advice from you all it has obviously helped. Oh and this is what i look like today, hair growing on head, beard filling in again and not so gaunt looking.

More later
Chris

Another Gatton Pic

Our very talented niece Alicia drove at Gatton and did well. Here she is behind Sommerville Just Brilliant. Belated Brithday greetings to Alicia in Takura and to Caitlin in Charlewood!

Another big walk today up along the cliff top south of here then down the big stairs and back along the river about 3.1 kms.

here's a little fun

my avitar in Meez

Big Weekend

Well It's been a big time here at the little world of Joyce and Chris. Gene and Jo called while we were at the clinic getting my top up of Intragam on Friday morning. They were on their way down to pick up a new little wagon they want to use for training horses. It's lighter then the current trianing one and more complete then the ten thousand piece puzzle that is their show wagon in it's current deconstructed state. Anyway it was in a town just north of Brisbane and we asked the doc and he said go for it so we settled on meeting in Eumundi about 1.5 hours north of us. We had lunch at Eats and a bit of a stoll. It was not a market day so was pretty quiet and safe for me. So another first, a big day out of town!

Saturday we were expecting Mary Ellen and Caitlin for morning tea but they stayed and we had lunch at the Story Bridge Hotel in the Outback open air area. Still not very busy and safe for me. We then took a walk over the back and around the point back to our place. We looked at Caitlin's pics of her school formal and showed them pics from Gatton that Anne left us. It was big fun.

I took a nap then anounced that I wanted to do the next big walk. So at 4:00pm we set out. We climbed the stairs behind the Story Bridge Hotel up to the Bridge walkway and crossed the Bridge. Then walked down and under the bridge to the river then walked down stream on the new floating river boardwalk to the bottom of New Farm. We got to Sydney street and took the ferry back up and around the point to our side and walked home. I jumped on Google earth and calculated the path distance. Not including the stairs and level changes.... I walked 4.2 Kms! We got back at 6:00pm and it had gone dark and the city and bridge were beautiful in the lights.

Peter and Marion came down for a conference yesterday and they came and had breakfast at Butter with us this morning. Bluey made lovely cofee for us afterward at the unit and we had a good talk about the state of the world. We had a great time but they are off to HB now.

More pitures at http://s152.photobucket.com/albums/s195/chrisolin/

more later
Chris

Gatton Pic

Here's a picture of Sian on Costa and Anne on Leo as they wait to complete (or for results) in the clydesdale jumping event.

Some pics from last week

Here's Jo and Gene last Saturday at bButter for breakfast. We saw them ths past Friday but more later
Here's the Marbardis when they came to drop Callum a week ago Thursday. Aren't they cute!

An author in search of a tropic

He looked high..... he looked low .......no latitude was left unturned. Google earth was used extensively in this excercise.

Okay I did pick the title in order to add a little pizzazz. ...... its capricorn by the way........the nearest tropic.

What's been happening. Bev came for supper Saturday and Callum entertained us all with his conversation skills and his guitar skills. Sunday took us to Butter for Sunday brunch and then the big walk. I used google earth afterward to measure the distance but we walked a round to Southbank along the river and ferried back. A 3 km walk! I'm getting stronger everyday.

Monday we got up late and Callum got taken awayin the afternoon, by his mom after a bit of a visit. They all had a great time at Gatton.

Tuesday we were at the clinic early 7:20am! and had bloods and flushing Dr Schozenbootz called later and said my levels were all okay so that's great. My feet hurt and so we didn't go anywhere. Bev and Shinny joined us for drinks and dinner and we all had good conversation. My God Bev asked probing questions. Anyway Shiny was off early today to Uni. Joyce had an errand this morning and then we walked/ferried into the city to the bank to try to sort moving money from Canada and faxing things to the government. Were back home and snuggled in for the evening, its getting cooler in the evening these days droping to a cool 22 or 20 degrees.

Had a really nice Skype call with Clem Martini, the hugely suscessful Canadian playwright, author, editor and wrting professor. He may be coming to Australia next year and we can hardly wait. They used skype to stay in touch with their eldest daughter when she was traveling in Australia earlier in the year and I told him I thought 9 years old was way to young to be traveling alone and reminded me that the World has turned a few times since I last saw Chandra, and that it was okay for this 3rd year uni student, 23 year old, to travel! Very nice conversation for Bluey and I.

Peter and Marion are coming by for Sunday brunch this weekend, as Marion is here for an Ancient History conference, on Saturday. Ret is coming to visit next Wednesday and shinny next Tuesday so we have lots to look forward to. More long walks planned.

That's it for this Tropic. The next obvious tropic is Cancer but we aren't going there so I'll have to come up with a new theme for next blog.

More later
Chris

What to do when you get two bags of blood

How can the most boring thing, watching blood drip into me for three hours, also be pretty cool? Answer: because I have the technology to amuse myself. So while I watch the drips out of the corner of my eye I can type this blog WHILE at the same time listening to the ‘Bernadette’ instrumental by the Funk Bros from ‘Standing in the Shadow of Motown’. It’s an effort not to hum out loud along with the tune but that would be way to embarrassing.

I admit it I’m in love with my Macbook. It sings to me and listens to me. it takes my picture and records my thoughts. It’s intuitive and even makes fun of PCs …its true just go to http://livepage.apple.com/ and click on ‘watch the ads’. It’s a tool and entertainment. And it has so many cool features I’m so glad we came back to Mac.

I have my Mac smugness back. There is nothing you can say to me, Cory, that can take that smugness away.

Hey this week I got Skype up and running. So far I’ve had a video conversation with Dan in Calgary who was up working into the wee hours getting work finished so he was clear to attend a time management seminar the next day! That’s my pal! I talked to Lisa but the video interfered with the speed so we turned off the video and the sound was fantastic. And I talked to Lynn and Peggy in Calgary and it was very very satisfying except they don’t have a camera yet, but they hadn’t really used it yet so were quite excited by seeing our vision that they promised to go out and get a web cam soon.

It is free between Skype users! The software is free! In the background I hear Joyce’s brother who is a fierce privacy crusader saying some objections to it but still…. I’m willing to give a little to get free phone calls. I mean I got to hear Lyn and Pegs new dog Boomer barking, and even better got hear Lynn baby talking to the dog and squeezing a sqeaky chew toy! I got to freak out Dan and Maree’s dog Maggie by calling her name….the computer has never talked to her before!

All that fun! Who knows what other fun we can have…..Get skype and phone me on ‘olinchris’

Research topic today is the word skype I’m pretty convinced that the last part, ‘ype’ is the sound that you pronounce if you say IP (Internet Protocol) but where does the ‘sk’ sound come from. Is it “everything including the sky available on the internet”…. sky_IP

My apologies to Mumbles who I failed to mention visited us on Anzac Day for several hours. It was a very nice visit we talked we laughed we joked, we punned, we fretted over the @%@#$#$% telephone answering machine date and time change. And I forgot to mention it later in the blog. It was very rude of me. Sorry Greg.

Gene, Jo, Alicia, Greg, Anne and Sian along with several horses are at Gatton Heavy Horse Field Days this long weekend. It’s the first time in many years that Joyce and I aren’t there and it feels weird but we have compensation! Greg and Anne’s son Callum is staying with us in the city for the weekend! So far we have hung out, listened to his excellent guitar playing, walked and went to the little Jazz Club on the river last night, It was a traditional jazz quartette with bass, guitar drums and trumpet. Cal picked it because he recognized the group from something his guitar teacher mentioned. Anyway Cal ran into said guitar teacher at the show and immediately scored brownie points for expanding his musical tastes. Other influences, on Cal’s music are Nivana, Heavy Metal, Emo, Punk, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Jimmy Buffet. Yard Birds, Cream, Isn’t he eclectic! He’s a good boy! At 6 foot plus tall and 15 years he’s quite a sight but he’s so into learning and seeing and helping that he’s very cool. Puts me in mind of Nate and Cory. I’m a very lucky guy to know these young folks.

Don’t know what’s up for tonight but after the blood’s in I get to go shopping with Cal and Bluey for his new jeans and who knows what fun we will get up to.

The rest of my counts have been good the past week so with this extra red on board I should be rocketing around for a bit. Doc Schoozenbootz even said I was “going along sweet” so that’s got to be good eh? I couldn’t find it in the medical dictionary but it’s got to be positive.

Got a visit from Anne and Bec Maddern that was real nice. It’s good that Bec’s leg is coming along. Anyway she’s got all her pins out of her leg and now has to wait for the bones to fill in the holes. . She’s in a similar position in that she doesn’t feel sick but she’s not well and won’t be “well” for at least months and months so has to just be patient.

I still have no ANSWERS about my feet but I feel they are getting stronger and stronger and they hurt less and less, but it cycles so I will have bad days again no doubt. I keep walking through it! Its weird though cause one day I have a weird gate then it gets more normal then off again. I’m not sure how it looks to neighbours who are probably worrying about this poor disabled guy who’s limp moves from right side to left side and back from week to week! Anyway they are 90 % today so shopping is on.

My energy is improving! I can clearly note the change. The shower is not such an issue nor are tasks around the house and I’m getting longer walks in. I’m not giving up my afternoon nap though, that just too comfortable!

Looking to hear how the 60th birthdays for Jim & John went along with the celebration of Lauren’s grad and Sean’s birthday. I rekon he’s 23 but bluey thinks I’m letting a romantic timeframe cloud my judgement. We visited Ginger and Sean early in our relationship and he was a teenager then and that was 20+ years ago so ………

Anyway hope the weekend went well.

More later
Chris

mid week review

Hi folks,
Not much to report. Had bloods done on Tuesday and everything is down a little which is good except for red cells 'cause I'm lower than normal in that cell. The rest are all higher than norm so it's good to have dropped a bit.
Still feeling good and had a gym session Monday and a big two km walk yesterday. Walked all aroung the point and up the boardwalk to the opposite side and then over the top of the peninsula back to our side and then back home. Tired at the end but fellt good that I could do it. Had a 2 hours nap afterward though.

That's my life, a little excercise a little napping, a little video, a little shopping or errands with Joyce, a little visit to the docs....busy busy busy.

The Mabardis are coming for dinner and to drop Callum off. Hes staying with us for the weekend while the horse crasy rest of them go to Gatton. We of course weren't able to be at Gatton Heavy Horse Show this year. So this was an opportunity to spent some quality time with Cal. I rekon he will be my excercise for the weekend!

more later
Chris

My Week

Here is Bluey and her pal Arlene. Thanks to Arlene for this photo, she must have been cleaning way back in the corner of the closet!

First of all thanks for your patience this week. I got seriously slack and that may have worried some folks.... but no news is good news in this case.

Monday afternoon I saw the physio again and he worked my back a bit but basicaly I've done what I can, except to keep up with the stretches and excercise. So unless I get a relapse I won't be seeing him soon.

Tuesday we went to clinic and had my lumens flushed and blood work done then waited to see Schoozenbootz and we got a very good chunk of information this time. I will always have a high platelete count (higher then your normal) because of the missing spleen so the current rise in my platelettes is my normal.
And they do not want me to get GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease) where my new cells recognize my real body as a foreigner and try to attack it. And they don't use that as a way to get rid of the last of the fibrosis (scaring) in my bone marrow. That's a treatment that they use for chornic luekemia not not worth the risk in my case as it will probably go away in the next two years without their help. They don't do a bone marrow biopsy until day 100 and they also do a DNA test on the new cells at that time to confirm they are the right ones....ie not my old ones regrowing. So it is okay to not have GVHD! and I really am doing very well.

We were pretty excited so we went to a morning movie and saw the Singer it was excellent. rest and walks later.

Wednesday we nested and stayed in our PJ's all day and just vegged. It was ANZAC Day where Australia and New Zealand celbrate the men and women that gave their lives in the various wars. It's much bigger then Rememberance day here as it falls on the anniversary of Galipoli. google it.

Thursday we saw two movies at Portside Cinemas. The curse of the Golden Flower very neat and a huge scale. Very bloody and tragic so we watched a second one. Scoop so we had a comedy to finish on. It was okay.

Friday started early in the clinic again this time for imuno globulin (every Friday). I felt good so we tried to find a chair and foot stool because the one we ordered has been back ordered....again. we went to a new area where thare are several furniture shops in two close building. It did end up exhausting me but we got them all covered without finding anything as good as the one we ordered! So i slept for a bit then Jo and Gene arrived for as short visit.

Friday night was casual and good as we got caught up but we were all in bed by 9:00pm! Next morning we went out for my first resturant meal! We had stopped at this outdoor place walking distance from here before I went into hospital, and the kitchen is open to see and it's sparkling. We stopped on Thursday and double checked that my meal could be fresh cooked from fridge to heat to table. They were great and on the morning he had put us in a nice table and reserved the one next to us so we would have a little 'breathing room' Very thoughtful!. Great meal, great visit then we all took a ferry ride to the other end of the route and back. We were on the top deck and it was fresh and very nice. i was a little tired when they left at noon but a nap revived me and Bluey made great ribs for dinner.

She is amused each time the nurse at the clinic asks me how I'm eating and I say I'm not eating as much as I used to. 'cause she rekons I am shoveling it in. I may be but it's not sticking all that good, nutrition wise, cause I'm still losing muscle bulk and weight I think. Anyway I'm getting some good advice from friends on that front and have upped my carbs and have felt a litte more energy is available. I really have been dong more activities so that's good. I just need to ramp it up so I build some bulk. Tommorrow we hit the mini gym in the building and I'll do three rows on the rowing machine, then rest and three rows then two rows then one row. Oh it's tiring just thinking about it! Who knows It may go way better than that. No matter what..... it will be extra excercise and that's good.

Today we are blogging, emailing and reading the Sunday paper.

I thinking about Gayla's new lenses in her eyes.... old ones slide out new ones dropped in. Amazing... and she can see right away!
Ginger is on a revialtized hip and praticising her dance moves for the big birthday party next week. Twin cousins Jim and John are significantly older.....then i am ;-) actually it's only a few years but they always were so big to me. Have fun guys. I can't pass up the opportunity to mention my second cousin(?) John's daughter Lauren who is completing her degree this week and has just announced that she is receipient of a Fulbright Grant. Congrats Lauren.

I'm also thinking about my sister Melissa and her fiancee Mark and Mark's up coming fight of his own.

I used to love Spring in the Pacific Northwest of the continent. So get out and enjoy it. Oh yeah the weather here, as we close in on autumn, is a cool 26 degrees C during the day and makes good sleeping at night as it goes down to 18. ;-)

Bluey is a rock. And despite losing weight ... I still have a roll.

more later
Chris