Turns out the string was shorter than we thought

After all that in my last blog it turned out my immune system recovered pretty much overnight! They came in to me on the Friday and said my white blood cells etc had recovered after the chemo and I would be out for up to a week by Sunday. It is crazy how the body repairs itself. They let me out then for a few hours on Saturday and I went home for dinner. To say it was incredible to leave the hospital is an understatement.

They then discharged me on the Sunday under strict instructions to come back on Tuesday and Thursday for blood tests and a bone Marrow test, which is the test they do to see how much cancer I have in my blood. I was also told what I could and couldn’t do such as drink water that isn’t sterilised, salads and fruit as the water can all contaminate them. I also can’t have some cheeses and mayonnaise and take away obviously as God only knows what’s in that!

Being home was the weirdest feeling. I had left my house 5 weeks before that with an overnight bag, not really sure what was going on and assuming I would be in there 2 nights max. It felt like I had been away for such a long time but then as the days passed I could feel the sense of normality come back, and that was the nicest part of it! Just having a cup of tea with mom and Clare in the kitchen was brilliant. I also got to see some friends and managed to see little Percy too which made me smile. Megan came up and looked at me funny because I was wearing a hat but Maggie explained that my medicine made my hair fall out and she seemed happy enough with that- She was intrigued by the wig! We went on to make rice crispie cakes even though I’m pretty sure she only wanted to lick the bowl.

The 1st night in my bed was great, it was so quiet. No sound of the air conditioning, which I never realised, is really loud in my ward. I wasn’t woken up at 6 for a blood test, weight check, blood and heart check and temperature check. Eating a fry was pretty great too as was all the home cooked meals- thanks mom/Dee/Maggie/Clare 

The great thing about being home was hearing the noise of the world outside. That will probably never make sense to you guys and I hope it never does but I hadn’t heard an outdoor noise in nearly 5 weeks so to hear planes in the sky and cars and birds and to smell grass and flowers and to just feel air on my face was really re energising. Sometimes in hospital you can’t even remember what that feels like and for the last week I really was trying to remember what it’s like to feel all those normal, everyday things.

I felt really well at home too which was great. I realised how sick I was in those last few weeks before I was admitted. I literally don’t know how I was working and seeing friends and visiting my mom in hospital. I must have been on autopilot because this time when I was home I felt so much better. Stephen will tell anyone how tired I had been in the weeks before my diagnoses. I would literally go to bed at 9 o clock and not think anything odd about it. The pain in my head was so awful at that stage that being awake was tiring. But last week I was in Stephens I was still wide awake at 11.30, I don’t think he could believe it himself!

The best thing about being at home was seeing all my family in a natural surrounding not beside my bed. I hope they all got a break too because coming up here every day must be exhausting. I’m back in the ward now for my next course of treatment. I’ll keep you all updated on what that involves as it all rests on the results of the bone marrow they did last week.

Thanks for all your love and support by the way. It is actually incredible how supportive and loving everyone is. Each and every text, call, letter, magazine, present and card makes each day in here easier so thank you all so much.

Lots of love,
Mairéad