So following on from my pre-Christmas post of 17 Dec approx, Shaun came home on 21 December and we got through Christmas and out the other side into the New Year, moving our lives into the sleepout. District Nurses now come once a week to change dressings and we head into hospital when things go wrong with Shaun’s biliary drainage system (which seems often) – another trip into the hospital today for that purpose.
We had issues with getting regular supplies of Shaun’s nutritional supplement Nutrijuice and now I have to expensively buy it retail ($95 for about 20 bottles) instead because the hospital staff can’t seem to get their heads around getting a hospital dietician to do a script for Shaun to get it cheaper….getting things done in the Public Hospital System I have found is increasingly slow and often forgotten about by nurses and doctors.
Shaun is still to get approval from AIA re getting income protection insurance to start up but there isn’t really a way they can say no….so we still wait to get approval for that to start. We have confirmation letters etc from Gwenda Ward for the insurance company.
Shaun talks about what he is going to do now he won’t be doing real estate (aside from an advisory role in that path)….he may do up classic cars or something in that direction. He’s done a lot of Netflix car programme-watching since he came home I must admit.
On other un-related topics, the world has gone a little crazy outside of our own medical filled days….with protestors at the White House protesting against the new presidency swearing in of Joe Biden and Donald Trump typically isn’t in any hurry to leave the White House! A new strain of Coronavirus meant the UK went back into Stage 4 or 5 Lockdown again….and a vaccine for the initial strain is currently being sent out around the world though in limited doses so far.
Christmas was a non-event in the end…Jesse got money and with it he bought a new / old car prior to Christmas which of course will need things done to it….I gave him $1350 for this and some vouchers. Shaun I gave a moving digital picture frame thing, some framed photos, he got vouchers also and money. Jesse gave me a cute hare tea towel.
Shaun has had some issues with vomiting and so we have to be ultra careful with his diet avoiding dairy and red meat, small meals many times a day/grazing works well. I am looking at all forms of food and cancer diets. Keto and paleo are actually recommended for cancer patients, cutting out carbohydrates and sugar – but for now Shaun is losing so much weight that whatever he eats that stays down is good value right now….seemingly things like pavlova without the cream, plain potato chips, toast and honey, seed bars, crackers with hummus or peanut butter etc, lemon, peppermint or ginger tea with honey etc. Meals consist of a small amount of fish or chicken with baked or steamed vegetables, sometimes home made soup or broth, dessert has progressed to things like a small slice of apple slice for example, or berries and pavlova, or simply an ice-block and peaches.
I’ve got a host of health and cancer books and have had delivered yesterday a cancer supplement called Avemar which is a fermented wheatgerm extract known for its anticancer properties; and used in conjunction with cancer treatments like chemo and radiation has a very good success rate. I’m considering and was advised also that if Shaun takes this supplement PRIOR to even starting cancer treatments, it will build up in his system and make treatment more tolerable. My only concern is Shaun is on blood thinners and this product can increase the risk of bleeding like NSAIDS or aspirin does. However starting off small may be the way to go with taking one pill a day instead of the recommended 5 pills in the morning and 5 pills at night.
Today is Friday 8 January and we will again head into hospital because Shaun’s biliary drainage tubes are again blocked and leaking in all the wrong places! We’ll go in early, see if we can get full blood work done, drains looked at etc. Its a never ending worry. Two days ago we were in the hospital for ‘leaking’ drainage tube issues and they took the drainage tubes out of Shaun’s body and re-inserted some larger ones. When we got home Shaun went into shock and shook for about an hour before calming down. Then the tubes would not drain at all! It was very weird….then they started to leak at the joins! After ringing the district nurse we decided they couldn’t do much as nurses….so back to the hospital today we will go to see the doctors instead.
Since Shaun came home prior to Christmas, we made the slow move of Jesse moving into the house and Shaun and I moving into the sleepout.
Then Matt Fraser from Auckland Scientology Centre came down and did some processing and auditing to try and establish where the root cause of Shaun’s cancer might have come from….Matt stayed at a Bed & Breakfast around the corner in Longlands Road and was great help to Shaun. He will come back in February to do more auditing.
Aside from Matt we have had a stream of visitors…regular visits from Avram (who is taking over Shaun’s real estate business), Michelle and Lynda (Shaun’s PAs), some guys Shaun shore sheep and farmed with back in his Kimbolton days (Kesty Manning, Chris Simpson and Richard Beard), some Property Brokers people (Mike Shaw, Grant Bailey, Paul Roache and his partner Lisa Drysdale), Len and Pam and Lisa (Shaun’s dad, stepmother and sister) who came for three days…to name a few. Cheryl Scott will be the next visitor and Wendee and Ken (friends of mine from Hamilton) were supposedly coming two days ago…but did not arrive (not unsurprising).
As for Jesse, he continues working at Reduced to Clear but has been contacted by the EIT lady who sent his CV off to Village Eurocars for a possible mechanic apprenticeship there. This seemed to go no further until Mike Shaw popped in there yesterday and they had misplaced Jesse’s CV and now want to see him and get another CV delivered….the only thing is Jesse now wonders whether he might instead be better off working at Rosser Road Poultry Farm (his friend Tracey Clay’s parents business) where they have lost some workers recently….the money is good there, the hours though very early. Personally I think Jesse should still drop his CV into Village Eurocars and will do that myself if he doesn’t because I feel mechanics is his life’s purpose somehow and its disappointing that he dallies around when given the opportunity because apprenticeship money is poor.
For me, I tentatively restarted my Medical Transcription course again but haven’t done a hell of a lot (understandably). I have an extension now and it will get done I hope. If I don’t finish it well, so be it. My life has changed so drastically that it is very possible I may struggle to get to the end. But we will see….this course will in fact give me the opportunity to pursue a path working from home as a transcriptionist so it would be well worth me completing it.
I’ll still be working doing databasing at Property Brokers also and many of the jobs I used to do but now for Avram instead of Shaun.
I got my Level 3 Animal Care (Lifestyle Block Animals) Certificate which was great! Another certificate under my belt 
I may use it I guess….if even just for petsitting work in the future or for setting up some kind of wild rabbit care facility one day. Now that is a new thought and one worth pursuing…
OK off to the hospital….back in days to come for another update.
