Georgie's First Day at Pymble Public

Just a really quick  hello. The evenings seem to disappear and then I wonder why I am feeling weary in the morning. Michael and I are both getting used to doing the domestics. So instead of emailing I was ironing!! Welcome to life back at home in beautiful sunny Sydney. Anyway, Cate had another great day at Pymble Public today. She has made some nice little friends and so far so good. Georgie has also been really keen to get to school so today was the day. They both looked so cute in their uniforms - sort of grey/blue check with a fine yellow stripe and a bright yellow hat with the wide brim of course. Lucky they both look great in yellow. After a rocky start when she quickly changed her mind upon entering her class room when she realised that we were not following things improved. The Deputy Head rescued us and she took G off and kept updating us throughout the day. Much  to our amazement she lasted the whole day. Not sure how she will be tomorrow but she seemed to have fun and insisted on the teacher giving her homework which the teacher was reluctant to do. Our wonderful oncology nurse consultant went out to the school today to meet with all the admin staff and teachers to brief them so apparently that went very well according to both sides. After much thought and discussion we have decided to put Georgie into Year 1 to take the pressure off so we hope this is the right decision. Cate is very happy with her Year 3 teacher who is new to the school.

 

So after dropping the girls Michael and I spent the rest of the day ticking some things off our list...... new NSW licenses, bit of shopping, bought a car, grocery shopping and then home to Charles who had been entertaining his grandmother all morning.

 

I think we are house hunting again tomorrow....

 

Georgie's nurse came to the house after school to administer her chemo and she will be here by 8am tomorrow so give her the last dose of that drug for the week and take out her needle to the port so she can be free of the tubes and needle until Monday. We are back to Westmead on Monday and we shall see our consultant, Dr Luce so we have been advised to take a packed lunch. It is likely that Georgie will have to have another blood transfusion on Monday so perhaps we shall take dinner as well.

 

Better get to bed.  8am is just around the corner.

Love to you all. I am sorry that some of you are having problems with the blog. I shall consult my technical adviser who had to help me again and see what I can suggest.

Sally

xxxxxxx

 

FINALLY..... AN UPDATE

Hi Everyone - I had hoped to write sooner but the days since we arrived in Sydney have flown. We have been back ten days which is also hard to believe. I am still to unpack my suitcase but the rest of the family are organised. We have only spent two days at Westmead Children's - the first day back to meet some of the doctors and nurses and have an orientation of the Oncology wing and then last Monday for a full day of treatment. It was an interesting day spent sitting in the clinic with many other children and their parents. All the children seemed to have a different type of illness and so no ones treatment is the same. It was fairly confronting and by the end of that long day I felt extremely drained. Georgie did really well and took most of it in her stride. We came home with a large brown paper bag of medicines - chemo drug, antibiotics, mouth washes etc.... and then the oncology nurse has made three house calls to administer her one of her daily doses of chemo using her porta cath. It is fantastic that Westmead have this service which saves us three trips to the hospital in a week for this next phase of treatment. This second phase lasts for 28 days. Daphne and Dianne are the two nurses and they are just wonderful.

Tomorrow we are out there for 7.30am as G has to have a general for a lumbar puncture - chemo to the brain and her other chemo drug. Not sure how long we shall be there. Each time you go they take a blood test to check her levels so we shall see how they are as to when she will have to go out for some more transfusions. So far she is doing very well. She is looking great. Still has alot of hair. Just shows how much she started with as it is everywhere all the time.

We went to the two public schools that we were able to choose between given our current address and we have decided to send the girls to Pymble Public School. Cate starts tomorrow and is so excited. We have bought uniforms and school shoes to great excitment and Georgie is also really wanting to go as well so we shall see how the beginning of the week goes. We are still deciding which class she will go into. Cate will be in Year 3.

We have been car shopping and house hunting...... one much easier than the other. Shall keep you posted there.

It is wonderful to be back with Jill and Dave and to have seen the aunts and uncles and cousins last weekend. We had a lovely play with the Smiths last Saturday afternoon and looking forward to catching up with other friends over the next few weeks.

We have to get our clocks into Sydney time as the bedtimes are alittle out of whack. Late to bed but sleeping in so it does feel like we are on holidays (sort of...).

Michael is enjoying spending time with all of us - Bruiser is keeping us all on our toes. What an understatement!

I am doing fine. Still does not feel like we are back to live but I am sure that will change as some regular activities start up ... school, work...

We are missing our Dhaka "family" and all our buddies in Singapore who all took such wonderful care of us and helped and supported us in so many ways. We so appreciated everything that you all did and feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends in our lives.

Not sure if this will work but shall try to post then perhaps I will need to get further instructions again... Lots of love Sally

Update from Sydney

The Seymour's left sunny Singapore last Wednesday night and headed home! After 3 1/2 years in Bangladesh, they are finally back in Sydney. Reports are they are all doing well but extremely busy setting themselves up. As you can imagine there is a lot to do! Visiting schools for both girls, buying cars, looking for a home and keeping up with hospital visits.

They are currently staying at Mike's parents' place waiting for furniture to arrive. The best way to contact them is via the blog so keep the messages coming.

Andrea
xx

The Seymour kids

This was taken on Tuesday 2nd March at Tanglin Mall in Singapore. The Seymours loved Cafe Beviamo - especially Georgie and they were there for one last bite before leaving for Australia last night.

Great to see/hear news from the Seymours! Georgie is looking good so I hope the medication will be gentle on her. I know the routine from past experience so I am thinking positive for all of you :) Here in BD life is as usual. Gym, work, home, etc. nothing really exciting, but that is OK. Erik, the ice cream man, had a big concert with his band the No CLUE?s and the Super Mad Cows at the Nordic Club on Thursday night followed by Shams and his band. It was a roaring success with a mad crowd of kids aged 2-13 break dancing in front of the stage and keeping the adults at a healthy distance. Not sure if that is what the club had planned but certainly I think the kids had their best night in Dhaka. Miss McKay, Elliott, Ward, Arestia and Mr Curley came to show their support from AIS/D - more power to them! Apparently there's a new concert planned for May so I guess Dhaka is rocking (well.....)

Take care/marielle

Three Days to Go in Singapore

It is hard to believe that we are only three days away from moving back to Australia to live! We have had a lovely couple of days getting to know each other again and catch up on some sleep after our dreadful Thursday night both in Singapore and in the air for Michael, Cate and Charles. Georgie had treatment on Friday morning and we are off tomorrow morning for the two procedures - bone marrow aspiration and the spinal needle as well as all the chemo drugs. Not sure if they will want to give her anything else. Wait and see. We may also meet Georgie's Sydney doctor tomorrow so that will be wonderful. Michael had an extremely busy five days in Dhaka - lots of hugs (apparently) and not alot of sleep but he survived and made it to the airport Thursday night with two children and a reasonable amount of luggage. He was not totally sure what was in his bags but that was the least of his concerns that night.

We leave after midnight on Wednesday night and arrive at about 11am on Thursday. We will get the children settled and then the three of us will head off to Westmead for orientation and then back the next day to start next phase of treatment.

We shall keep you all posted. Love Sx