(16) Two Weeks Home - Post Treatment

It's so nice to be home!!

When the big chief said I was able to go home early, I cried.

We changed our flights, at that stage I didn't care if it was in the luggage compartment, I just wanted to get home! It was not looking likely to get out of Mexico, with Delta Airlines (who we'd already booked with), on the day we had hoped, but after 4 hours and 3 assistants, we made it happen.

The Flight from LAX to Australia was easy to change with Qantas. I insisted on travelling all in one hit. which ended up being just over 34 hours in transit!

It started with a 2 hour drive from the clinic to Mexico City, flight from Mexico City to LAX, got to LAX to be advised that our flight from LAX to Melbourne had been cancelled, and we were now flying into Sydney an hour earlier. (which got us to Adelaide earlier). We weren't fused about where in Australia we had as a stopover, but it was tight. We made it to Sydney, on Australian soil was so nice!! But we had no time to do anything.. we were hungry and planned to get something to eat at the airport but we didn't have time! We were told we would not make our connecting flight to Adelaide! I had allowed a little more time in Melbourne. We did make it, just!!!

And to see our girls waiting for us in Adelaide was the BEST!!!

Recovery at home has been slow. My legs don't want to work properly so I don't go far. My immune system is severely compromised so I lay low to avoid catching anything as I my body can't fight anything off! I am not sure where my white blood cells are currently sitting, I see the Haematologist & my Neurologist in the coming days. While at the clinic we were having daily injections to stimulate the blood cells, they had to be at 4000 before I was able to commence preparations for the journey home. The first blood test I had post Stem Cell Birthday was 100, that was low but to be expected. 48hrs later it was 1700, it had to be at least 4000 to keep things on schedule, I didn't think I would make it but I got the green light and it ended up being 14,000!!!!! I was ecstatic!! Firstly, because it was surprisingly high but mostly because it meant I was ready to go home!!

We were saddened to learn that a 29 year old, from our group had passed away in a Puebla hospital from an infection during our time in Mexico. Rest in peace brave MS warrior.

It has been 2 weeks home now and I am feeling stronger but have many limitations. The body has about a 10-minute limit to do anything low impact - this can be emptying the dishwasher or pottering around the house! Frustrating, yes! But it could always be worse!!

The visits now have been more regular, and it is so nice to see friendly faces! The edible treats, flowers, coffee's and catchups have been so nice, I feel very spoilt!

Although I can’t wait to go for a run, (hopefully), for now it’s slowly slowly.

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Sam Fights MS

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