"This time last year"......

29th September 2015

Day 0+348 days


Today marks one year since I was admitted to the hospital in Moscow, and again I will say how the time has flown and what a year it has been!!  (Warning... this next month may or may not be filled with continual memory blogs again and again, okay so the "may not" is crap as of course it will be!!). 

I think about it constantly at the moment and look at the photos of what I was doing "this time last year".  It all feels surreal, the preparation and waiting that went into this amazing and significant event in my life seemed to take so long to arrive and now here we are a year later already.

I would have liked to compare what I did today to what I did this day last year but since I sat in an airport this morning, then on a plane, then sorted bags and did washing, and then was pretty exhausted from not sleeping enough last night my day wasn't all that exciting!  So instead I'll compare it to what I did yesterday, now that was pretty significant compared to where I was "this time last year!".

So as you (may) and I (really) remember, "this time last year" I could not walk very far without extreme difficultly and the use of a cane (and at times also a wheelchair).  Walking around the markets in Moscow was exhausting and the trip to the Red Square although amazing was very brief as it was way too hard.   On the day of my admittance getting from the gate to reception and then to the hospital ward at A.A. Maximov was also difficult to say the least!!



Walking around the markets was tough but amazing to see!

Finally got to meet Dr Fedorenko and Anastasia who changed my life!



The beautiful hospital.

My first room and I was very lucky to have a private room with a couch which Paul enjoyed using!

Well yesterday Paul, Seb and I were in Adelaide and I walked from the hotel to the zoo, around the zoo, to the museum, around the museum, to the mall, through the mall and back to the hotel - a total of 13,110 steps. I think this is my most amount of steps I've stepped in a day since return and if I do say so myself I think this is pretty bloody AMAZING!!!!!

What a great day!

Loved being able to spend the day just walking around!

If this is what I can do after a year, imagine what I'll be able to do after another!

#HSCT #lovinglivinglife #Determined

A couple of things...

23rd September 2015

Day 0+342 days

Tomorrow marks exactly 1 year since we left for our life changing experience in Moscow, hard to believe it and I have a lot to say about it but that's not what I wanted to write about at the moment as I need to make this quick as I really need to get to bed! (okay now I'll take a breath!)

Life is going along at a fast (normal) pace at the moment and I don't want to miss the little things along the way.  I notice these things in the moment and write about them in my head but then forget to actually type it up and these little things mean a lot to me.    

It used to seem so far to cross!

Seb's school (like most of them) is not great for parking and for the Junior school the best place to park is on the other side of the oval and to walk in.  Well when he started at this school, he was new and young so, I walked in there a lot but as the time went by the idea of walking across that oval was excruciating to say the least.  He's older now so he mostly catches the bus or we drop him off but in the last month I've had to walk in a couple of times and I can tell you that walking across that oval now feels Amazing!  I feel like I have this spring in my step and a smile on my face - must look a bit strange at times I'm sure!!

So nice to be able to go walking with the boys!

On the weekend the dogs were going to the vets for their annual vaccinations and I said "how about we walk", love being able to say and do this!



















That's all for now, best I get to bed as we have lots on tomorrow! x

Isabelle is in Europe at the moment - missing her like crazy!!

Gotta love Spring in Brisbane!

Tuesday 1st September 2015

Day 0+320 days

It’s the first day of Spring here in Brisbane and what a beautiful day it is!

This photo I took (yes gotta love a selfie) is of me in the garden on Sunday.  Paul and I have neglected our yard for quite a few months – had a bit of other stuff going on which took priority.  Anyway I was feeling like getting out there as the weather is just gorgeous at the moment.  Warm but not too hot, sun shining but doesn’t feel like it’s going to burn you.  I have to be careful with my 10 month old baby chemo skin as during the first 1-2 years you are prone to burn quicker than you once did.  Considering I didn’t go out in the sun at all last summer my usually olive skin body is quite the lily white at the moment which is very unusual.  Living here in Queensland and bringing our kids up here we’ve always been pretty conscious when in the sun for extended periods of time, starting the teenage battles now with Isabelle who wants to “get a tan”..  Remember the days when we used to use that Coconut oil when at the beach!  Good thing for me I was living in Victoria so using it didn’t happen too often since summer didn’t last too long – won’t be telling Belle about using that!!

Anyway as usual I digress and go off in my own little world.  The point of the little post is that I went out on Sunday and did some gardening.   Photo of me that I mentioned back at the start is me wearing one of Paul’s old work shirts.  This used to be quite a common occurrence back when I used to get out in the garden more often so it felt like a little bit of a milestone worthy of recording!!  Yay for me!!  When Paul realised what I was doing and came out to help he realised the mess I was making which in the past would result in me hacking up the garden making a mess then saying “I’m exhausted” and leaving him to it.  Well this time I actually helped out to the end, well almost to the end, I did leave him to do the lawn mowing.  So much nicer doing these things together instead of him having to go it alone while I pass out on the couch.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again “it’s just the little things that we want to be able to do again!”.

This past couple of weeks feels like “MS, WHAT MS!”..  Feeling like a normal family again doing normal everyday things without hesitation, boy how I’ve missed that!

(Note to self:  The date on this won’t match the posting date but I wrote it on the 1st September and hadn’t got around to posting.  I think I refrain from posting thinking I have to always do it for the wider audience when I really began this for myself so I’m going to try and write more for me again!)