Transfusion

27th March 2009

Hi there,

I'm sitting here waiting for Jed to wake up so I thought I'd write to my network of strength. I'm not doing well, my heart is very sore today. I'm having those; oh why me moments;, why must I hold my son down while they prick, pick and poke him; why did I give him the chemo that made him so weak and sick; why did I decide to let them fry his tiny brain with radiation; why must I take him to that place of sick children.. bla bla bla... and yes, I know why, coz special moms get special children....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa screaming on top of my voice!

Thank you I actually needed to get that off my chest!

Yesterday was kuk (can you say kuk on e-mail??). The professor battled to find a vein to do the transfusion so she had to prick him a few times, once she managed to get one, Jed pulled it right out and the process began again! Jed looked at the Professor and screamed at her "why are you hurting me, it is not berry nice, YOU KNOW"... We also counted Ben10 1, Ben10 2 and he counted through heart broken sobs... but the brilliant Prof got a vein and the transfusion went well. The platelets came from a donor. That story the doctor told us that they do it direct from dad turns out to be only in the movies, in real life, they need to be processed and prepared first. What I want to encourage everyone to do is, please donate blood if you can. Some stranger saved Jed on Friday, I hope that we all get to be a stranger that saves someone one day, so go out and donate!!! (by the way, I never have, but will do it as soon as the opportunity comes up; Norms (Norman George) - my good friend would always try drag me and I just couldn't be bothered, I promise I will be "bothered" from now on)

On Monday we go for another blood test at the Gen. Jed's new name for the Gen is "The Picking (pricking) Station". I will update Jo as soon as I know the results. We would need another transfusion if it remains low. At "The Picking Station" I broke down sobbing when they couldn't find a vein and I was so scared for the transfusion, an old'ish Indian man came over to me with his daughter and asked me why I was crying.... I told him I was so scared to let Jed go through the transfusion. He introduced me to his daughter, a 9 year old with beautiful hair and a gorgeous smile. She is a leukemia survivor he explained and she is in remission, she too had a platelet transfusion. I asked him, "please tell me the side effects, what if it rejects them, what if he gets sicker from it, please please just tell me the side effects (sniff sniff)", he smiled and he said, "the side effect is HE WILL GET WELL from it, yes, he'll get stronger and things will get better"....... a devoted father, who promised to pray for us. I love that old'ish Indian dad.

The Picking Station is actually not that bad, CHOC comes and does baking with the kids or games, they have a big TV in the play room with DSTV on cartoons. I met 5 moms with children who have leukemia (hell now this leukemia is a big childhood cancer sickness), allot of the children were in remission and doing well. Everyone praised the Gen and Prof Janet Poole. I feel more comfortable going there now.

In closing before my long bla bla e-mail continues for another 500 pages I want to say, thank you for the donations we received PLEASE PLEASE use your name as a reference so that I can say thank you. Please don't take that away from me, let me say thank you for helping my son, please! The account is on about R10 000 and we are going to use some of it soon for the medical "self payment gap"! My uncle is exploring medical options in the US and Australia; if he finds a better option then we are gonna have to look into it. I have sent him all the MRI reports, medical reports, treatment plans going forward and info, we are waiting now for their input.

I'm having some arguments with our Heavenly Father and it's not cool please pray for my faith...mmmmm! Please pray as always for Jed, Jordi and every mom and child with cancer!

Also THANK God for the donor who gave Jed the transfusion, for Jed's grannies (who stand by us) and the old'ish Indian daddy (maybe God sent him)

With love and gentle hugs (we only do gentle ones when platelets are low)
Bon, Ray and Jed x x x