Hb and BN..........

Karen firmly now beind closed doors in hospital as she waits for the Bone Marrow to regenerate. Her Hb (haemoglobin) was low today so she required a blood transfusion. easier said than done as all her veins are, as Karen says, 'shot to pieces', and so it was difficult to find a place where the needle and drip could be inserted.

Long day at school today with Parent Teacher talks continuing after school, still am relaxing now with my first glass of Beaujolais Nouveau 09!

Goes off like a bottle of pop!...............

Feeling very tired still. I don' think I have been to bed much before midnight since Karen was diagnosed!

Karen at home again this evening as her Blood Count is high enough, it will soon plummet and so are expecting she will have to remain in hospital for two weeks or so from tomorrow as regeneration of the Bone Marrow takes place.

Had an interesting time with my first years at the Secondary School today. We were talking about anger and I explained that often we are like fizzy drink bottles and that when we are shaken up to such extent, we are all capable of exploding. To demonstrate this I bought in some fizzy drink and I told the class to gently throw it to each other and then when I had counted to 10 the person left holding the bottle had to try and open it without the liquid going everywhere. That was the plan, however one of the class decided that the bottle was a rugby ball and he was going to throw a pass down the length of the field/classroom. The result was that the person he was throwing it to nearly broke his hand trying to catch it, missed and the bottled smashed and cracked apart on the floor. Most of the lesson was therefore spent mopping up fizzy apple juice from floor, chair and schoolbags....guess who was then able to demonstrate what anger really is!

Chemo over.........

Karen had her last bag of Chemotherapy today. She is home for tonight and tomorrow before returning for the final stretch of regeneration.

A day of mixed feelings, happy that the Chemo has finished but still worried and scared about the future................

There's no place like.............

Day spent in Frankfurt with my mum trying to think of Christmas gifts for the whole family! Had coffee and cake in a department store before visiting 'A Taste of Britain'. 'A Taste of Britain', as you might of guessed, is a shop in Frankfurt where ex-pats can find some of their favourite British goodies. It is only a small shop but on its shelves you can find such delights as Marmite, Walkers Crips, Cadbury's chocolate, HobNobs and, in the fridge and freezer, steak and kidney pies. OK you pay a premium, for example a pack of bacon rashers cost 7 euros, but for an occasional taste of back home it is fantastic!

In the afternoon we picked up Karen who has been granted parole for the night...two bags to go!

Going..........

Just 3 bags of Chemo left now.................

Schweinegrippe Fever..............

Working at both a large primary and secondary school means that I am often at risk of becoming ill, no not to may badly behaved students but to the presence of all sorts of nasty viruses etc. This risk is now heightened by the arrival of Swine Flu on German shores (must visit the German coast) and with rumours abound, my daughter and I had our vaccination today. It is of course very important given Karen's condition that we do not pass on this and any other virus to her. The hospital do not have the vaccine yet, however I was informed of a doctor who had the elusive vaccine in Frankfurt. It seemed I was not the only one who knew for as soon as we entered the surgery we were greeted with a wall of people all demanding to be vaccinated. I felt sorry for the receptionists who were finding hard to cope. At one stage the Doctor came out and had to shout at the assembled masses, it all seemed a long, long way from the serenity of our former surgery at the foot of the Chilterns! Still I am happy that it has been done and I can relax a little back at school now.

Karen doing as well as can be expected. She now only has 4 Chemo bags to go but is feeling a little sick and very tired. We hope that she may be allowed home for the night over the week-end.

Cards and Chemo

Following on from moving the class around, today I introduced the yellow/red card tactic, a popular ploy in maintaining class discipline. Basically the first misdemeanor earns the child a yellow card and a second 'foul' means a red card is shown and parents are informed. Tough love I know but if the children keep a clean sheet then after a period of time they can choose a reward. Two yellows awarded today!

Karen got a call from the hospital to say that a bed was now available. So when I had finished school I returned home and then took her to the hospital. As soon as she arrived she had a blood test and then the first of 6 Chemo bags began to drip through. Mixed feelings as of course I am sad that Karen is back in hospital however I am also happy that at last the final treatment has begun. I just hope and pray that she does not feel to sick or that fever returns. She will be very tired I know as the two hourly eye drops have begun again.......