Jarred is back home :)
10 March 2016
Day +28 after his stemcell transplant. Jarred is finally out!!!! Yay!!! he has finally got to come home tonight to sleep in his own bed which is pretty special and a long time coming. It’s been 4 weeks since the stemcell transplant and nearly 6 weeks that he has not had a night at home. So this is a pretty special day for all of us. Jarred made the difficult decision to give up his flat as he will need to have some with him 24/7 at home and this was not possible to do in a flatting situation. For all those of you helped with the fundraising efforts, Jarred will use these funds to give him at least some independence as he will be without work over the coming year. It’s been a pretty emotional time for him having gone through so much and now still not being completely independent is pretty hard mentally but this Stemcell business is a tough and slow process. But slowly but surely things are on the up for him. Jarred will still have to go to the hospital every day, even on weekends but at least he’s home and surrounded by his family and friends. We have to be careful about what he eats and he is on a special diet and the risk of infection is still very high as he is on an immunity suppressant chemo drug so that his new stemcells don’t try and start an attack, so things that we all take for granted is a bit of a no go for him for a year, like movies, pubs, restaurants, gyms public transport etc basically where theres lots of bugs! ha like hospitals unsure emoticon
We can’t thank the nurses, the doctors, the wonderful people form Canteen, Blood and Leukeamia, and the Cancer foundation who have been there for Jarred and supported him in so many ways, it’s an amazing team of people.
During the last 6 weeks we have been able to be with Jarred every single day and night 24/7 so he never felt alone, it has not always been easy but to be able to be there every day and night was something that meant a lot to him and to us, we were so fortunate to be able to do this not only did the staff make it possible but to our incredible family and friends who made it possible for us, we can’t begin to say how thankful we are, I’m not going to name everyone as I would hate to miss out someone, but all the incredible meals that we received so that we were well fed, the people who helped out with Jarred’s little bro so that he got to school and sport as we tried to keep things semi normal for him, the fund raisers, the flat shifters, the people who flew from out of town just to be there, the dog walkers, the texters, the phone callers, the listeners, the prayers, the people who just said I’m there, well it’s been the most overwhelming experience of our lives. Cancer is a hideous disease and we have seen and heard some pretty awful stuff but it’s the way people come together in this situation that is so mind-blowing. We still have a long way to go, we know that and there will be more stuff to deal with but to have this army of amazing people backing us, well words will never quite get there, so thank you.
Jarred I hope you enjoy your sleep tonight, and enjoy the peace and quiet without the whirling, the buzzing, the beeping, those 5am blood tests, those obs tests, the early morning cleaners, the food people. Sweet dreams.
