Transplant Day +6 - The Road to Recovery

Hey Everyone!!

Welcome dear friends to our 6th day after Transplant. Tonight will be a little shorter than usual as we have had a lovely visit from Helen and Jude this evening.

Firstly, Phoebe has done very well today and we believe she may have reached a plateau in her recovery which is an excellent sign. Maged and Shiva have both checked Phoebs today and are really pleased to see how well she is doing. The level of Mucositis in Phoebe’s mouth has so far been extremely mild compared to what we were expecting. She is showing a great interest in her toys and having stories as well as her daily fix of In the Night Garden!!

Throughout the day, Phoebs has had no appetite. This is to be expected at this stage of the treatment and gives no cause for concern as she is currently receiving all her nutritional requirements intravenously. She has, however, been drinking more pre-boiled water today than we have seen in the past few days…oh and of course her usual daily cuppa (she drinks Yorkshire Tea Nowadays!! De-caff mind!!). This is a really positive sign so hopefully things are on the up and up.

What are your favourite things about your children? Today, I discovered how much I love Phoebe’s comic timing; she absolutely has this down to a ‘T’ especially when we are hiding things!! She's just so funny bless her. Phoebe’s understanding of language is incredible and she astounds me every day. Today, she told me she was ‘balancing’ the pillow on her feet; I actually did a double take and asked her to say it again, and it was definitely ‘balancing’!! She also has a great memory and is now counting up to five and remembering "A,B,C,D"!!

Phoebe’s pain level was much better today and we managed this quite well on 2ml of Morphine per hour. She has been much more comfortable and her little bum is just starting to heal. It is possible that we may see some positive changes over the next few days and the doctors are reassuring us that Phoebe is doing really well.

Now..just have to share with you a few more things before we head off for an early night….

We had a lovely visit as always from Sarah our BMT Co-ordinator this morning. She very kindly brought a card which had been delivered via the Anthony Nolan Trust to the hospital; it was from the stem cell donor. Oh my goodness, I have to say the overwhelming feeling of emotions were incredible for us all. Sarah was surprised that we had received contact so soon. I was looking to reply maybe after a couple of weeks and was writing a few things down ready to compose our letter of thanks, not that there are actual words to convey the feelings of indescribable gratitude that we feel. The correspondence, as we explained in past posts, has to be kept anonymous for two years. However, when I read the message the instant feeling was of a comforting familiarity and bizarrely we have almost identical handwriting!! The message read:

‘I am very pleased to have been able to do this for you and would like to wish you all the very best for the future’.

[The online version of 'Connections', the Anthony Nolan Trust magazine, is definitely worth a read. - Ade]

What a wonderful morning!!! and it continued throughout the day. There was a real jolly atmosphere on the ward and the nurses all had fine voices singing the traditional Christmas songs. Gwen, Nan Marge and Geoff came today and, as always, it was lovely to see them. We had yummy BLT sandwiches with the bacon cooked by Val at the Tollgate. Thanks Val!! Miss you all xxx


We have received lots of gifts,thank you all. Phoebe received a parcel from Molly and Becky and it was a lovely Barbie Hat; hopefully we can sort a piccie out for you!!! [Sure can! - Ade] She looks great in it, you are too kind. Thanks for you daily comments and the hat. Kisses to you from us all xx


Thank you Rose for the box of chocolates that you sent with Mum, we are pacing ourselves and these are a real treat, bless you xxx

Phil and Lynne, thanks so much for the Christmas bottle of 'Vom Vass Marc de Champagne Truffle Liqueur', one of my faves!! We look forward to having dinner with you guys when we return home,it’s been too long!! Phil and Lynne are family and have the Vom Fass store at Trentham Gardens; pop down and have a look as they have some fantastic ideas for Christmas Gifts!!! Hope all is going well at the store and we’ll see you in the New Year. Xx

Phoebe received some very special gifts today from our friends Rachel, Darren, Amelia, Jocelyn and Spirit Sam. Rachel’s father has very kindly hand-painted a truly wonderful picture of 'Upsy Daisy'. It is fantastic Peter, thank you so very much, you have a wonderful talent. We will get this framed for Phoebe as her first piece of original art. Thanks too for the purple elephant guys, she loves it and Phoebe’s favourite colour is purple just like her dad!! You are too kind!!

As I said earlier, we have had a welcome visit from Helen and Jude, two very dear friends of ours and mutual friends of Parsnip and Manju. It was great to see them and lovely to catch up on news from home. We received some lovely gifts; thank you Jude, West, Maddie, Alex and 'Chlo-Jo-Malo-Jo' for your messages, the special angel bear and the Angel of Courage. You are so kind. Also, a very special Thank you to your Class F2 Green at Park Hall Primary School for the wonderful Christmas hat you made for Phoebe. We will hang this on the end of her cot. Bless you all and I’m sure Santa will bring you lots of fantastic things as Mrs. James says that you have all been so good!!!

Helen and the Gang, thanks for your gifts,we will be sure to open these with Phoebe tomorrow. xxx

Helen, Jude and I had plenty of laughs about the blog and all the comments…our family and friends are our riches. It's friends like you that help us through these challenging times in our lives, you help to make us the people we are!!! Thank you, with love xxx

It would be great to chat more, especially about the comments on the blog, it’s so entertaining!!! Ade and I will have a closer look tomorrow and answer any of the questions. It was lovely having you pop by folks, but we're going to get some shut eye early tonight…

For now fellow Bloggers...

‘Who does his best his circumstances allow does well, acts nobly; angels could do no more.’

Edward Young

With Love xxx