Aplastic Affair

Nigel had a review on Tuesday and managed to skip transfusions again (: thank God for that. His platelet counts have gone up to 52 but his white and red blood counts have gone down again. We've just received a call today to say that he has been tested positive for viral infections and will need to be warded again for a week on the anti viral drip. Sounds like needles and blood again on a daily basis. Some things, you'll never want to get used to dealing with. Please do keep him in your prayers. We trust that God has a plan and that He'll carry Nigel through.  In His love and ours,  Brenda & Nigel 

We've just gone for full blood counts. Mine are still short of hitting the regular red blood intervals but I'm the least of everyone's concerns.  Nigel's white blood cell counts have fallen, but we're seeing an increase in the red blood cell and platelet counts. He'll have once/ twice weekly outpatient appointments for blood checks/ reviews/ transfusions will Day 100.  There'll be another chimerism test somewhere in there. And we hold our breaths for Day 180 where we've been cautioned of Graft vs Host Disease. His recovery process of a five year time period will be a long (graph) road ahead.  And we remember to celebrate milestones.  Today is 2 days belated celebrations for his first month counting from his new birthday.  19.11.2017.  Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and walking us through this journey together. We've prayed for provision and miracles and our prayers are answered day by day.  We're richly loved a...

We're eating. You know how they always market meat from animals that are 100% grain fed? Not that we need any marketing here. But we're on that grain fed diet. Or at least Nigel is. (: Today I was reminded of God's promises with the people of this Earth. His covenant with His people. (: You alone can rescue - Matt Redman Who, Oh Lord, could save themselves? Their own soul could heal? ... You alone can rescue, You alone can save. You alone can lift us from the grave. You came down to find us, Led us out of death. To you alone belongs the highest praise. (: Do keep us in prayer for our blood counts. We'll both be at NUH for the day. Nigel's concerned that if he has to do transfusions, I wouldn't be back in time to cook dinner. He says we wouldn't be able to eat at the Science canteen because it'd be too crowded at lunch hours. Pray for a short day out ;) Things'll fall into place someho...

4pm. And Nigel's finally home. For the first time in 59 days. All his blood counts are still on the downward trend. We'll be back on Monday for the next blood count at 9 am. Both him and I. So please do keep our blood counts in prayer. He's scheduled for transfusions of red blood cells and platelets in the afternoon. We should also be getting the chimerism test results then. We're praying for dominant donor cells. For the first time in a long while, we don't have numbers. They aren't defining our emotions. There's a feeling of wild abandon in this sudden freedom. (: I'll be first to say that we're all still sitting on edge, the thoughts on the back of our minds as we watch him move around the house, as we watch him take his temperatures thrice daily, as we see him follow his menu of medicines. So we continue to pray. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought...

Quick updates. All his counts have fallen. The WBC has fallen today to 5.06, because they've stopped the G-CSF jabs yesterday. We're still waiting for the results of the second chimerism check before the doctors decide about his discharge. Nigel can almost come home already! (: He says he might have to be back outpatient twice/thrice weekly. But he's just looking forward to being home. Perhaps a change of environment will do him good. I'll be honest to say that I am fearful. His nurse came in just now and told him that if his temperature hits 38 degrees Celsius or if he has diarrhoea, it's back to the A&E. He will have a memo given to make sure he has immediate treatment. I know she's just letting us know but it made me wonder about the days ahead when Nigel is without the round-the-clock care that he has right now in the ward. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, pres...

We're dialing 6.66 to let the devil know that we're going home soon enough. (: That's his WBC counts for today.  And they've stopped the G-CSF jabs for now. To see how the WBC counts are affected. Please do pray that they increase anyway. His hemoglobin counts have gone down to 8.3 probably because they've been destroyed faster than they can be produced. Let's hope that the whole bag of spinach he had for dinner tonight would fix that. I can hold them with three fingers now! (: That's not really counted since he took Cyclosporin before dinner and they've stepped up Magnesium tablets to four times daily now instead of two. But let's celebrate small successes with big smiles :D I was hoping to share a Llaollao with Nigel but he's not allowed to take any yoghurt for a while yet. No live bacteria and cultures. Do pray for his complete healing. The road is long and we know that God'll carry him on His sh...

My little brother. Is not so little anymore. (: Three course meal today. Wbc counts are at 4.15. So he has an absolute neutrophil count of 3.44.  Hemoglobin levels at 9.3 And the platelets are at 7 for today. He had a bag of platelet transfusion in the evening. And took a nap right after a (fruit)ful discussion with his cheery and very busy nurse.  He didn't eat all of that. But he finished the rice tonight and most of the ingredients except for the steamed golden pomfret. Thank you for our after dinner snack. (: And we just wanted to say, please don't be sorry to hear about us. We're thankful for your generous outpouring of support on the GiveAsia site, for your time, thoughts and prayers for us both daily. By His stripes, we will be healed! And all of God's people say? Amen! In His love, Brenda & Nigel

Daily Delights. That's what they called it on the menu anyway. Fishcake beehoon soup. Nigel says seriously, last warning. :p He chose it over grilled chicken and couscous because he wanted noodles so no sympathy there from me. But he ate it up anyway because there aren't many more days left in the hospital. He had additional sides of stir fried chye sim and prawns and steamed minced pork with egg. And a nice little box of golden kiwi and blueberries prepped by dad. (: Plus he got a (photo of) the least feminine flowers a couple of his friends got him. Thanks for the thought but no flowers allowed in the ward guys. They are still giving him the daily administrations of the G-jabs. But he shakes his head and says he only needs the G.O.D jab (: His wbc counts have gone up to 3.75 and he's been told that they want to bring up that count to 5.  His rbc and platelet counts are still dropping though and those will still be reliant on transfusi...

Give thanks with a grateful heart. Especially if it's for a bowl of XO minced pork noodles from Newton Circus. ;) Kidding. Give thanks with a very grateful heart because we have good news! (: Nigel's wbc counts have risen more than double up to 1.71 and he now has an absolute neutrophil count of 1.10. Yay! It was the junior doctor on duty today though and she was shocked to see such a sudden jump.  She told Nigel that the readings might be wrong for his rbc counts. Hmm.  Just a while before Monday comes around. Perhaps we can be better advised then. Whatever the case is, we'd just like to say thank you for covering him in prayers. Because By His Stripes, Nigel is coming closer to complete healing! (: Please do continue to keep his blood counts in prayer. He's still classified as a fall risk patient because his platelet counts are very low. Platelets help our blood clot so when the counts are low, dangerous internal bleeding could occur. ...

Let's cut to the chase. White blood cell counts : 0.62. That's definitely gotta be worth a celebration. (: And it was a celebration indeed. The food blogger, Nigeleats is back! For a limited time only. He finished up the entire serving of piping hot beef brisket spinach noodles. If you'd like to try it too, it's from Wong Kee Noodle: 118 Depot Lane. (: Before you guys start rushing off to try and buy him food though, thank you for the thought but he really shouldn't be taking food from outside unless it's cooked on the spot and gets to him still hot.  Today was a special request from him and also because my own iron levels needed some help. So before we get carried away (wiping off our drool) from today's little celebrations, I'd just like to ask that you cover Nigel's red blood cell and platelet counts in prayers. They are still showing no signs of increase. His hemoglobin levels fell to a dangerous low of 4.6 and he...

What's Taboo? To anyone with aplastic anemia, there's a lot that's taboo. And that's actually come in handy for our Taboo Challenge. We're breezing through the deck with so many words that've now become easypeasylemonsqueezy when put into context. You need stem ___?  Your head is now ___? If you're filling in these words as quickly as Nigel is, thanks loads for keeping up with us! And if you're visiting, feel free to pick up the deck and keep going with him (: We cleared almost 40 tonight even amidst the flurry of evening activity. So the other big thing that's taboo is really the cell counts and it's ironic how we're talking about them all the time. And I'm glad that today is not one of the days when it's taboo to talk about it aloud. We're looking at 0.18 today. Praise God! And we're hoping that it will continue to climb exponentially without any more G-CSF jabs needed. Just did my research today and these ...

Rainy evening today. Nigel wouldn't know if there was a storm raging outside while he's safe within the confines of his ward. But he was shivering. From a fever pitch of 38.8 degrees Celsius. The nurses have broken the rules to adjust his aircon temperatures above the upper limits of 24 degrees Celsius. How's he doing today you ask? Well, a fever couldn't be good. And it definitely isn't in his case. He didn't eat much. Not because the food was unpalatable... I mean, it wouldn't be surprising given the photo evidence. Truth: I'm sure that's probably a small part of the reason. If you ever hear him ordering Malay Tomato fish with rice, please just stop him for me. The menu isn't extensive and we've definitely exhausted it in 51 days but anything would be better than fishy fish. So that's two mouths of rice he ate. A bit of that fish. Some homecooked cabbage with dried shrimp, a couple of baby prime pork ribs and a few mouths o...

It's Day 20 and the white blood cell counts are still stagnant at 0.04. The doctors were honest about their anxieties and the need to do a second transplant. What it entails though, is chemotherapy, radiation and the other half of my life (Kidding. (:). His primary doctor says it's gentle chemotherapy. Nigel says, there's no such thing as gentle chemotherapy. I don't beg to differ. He's got his two feet firm on the ground, that much I'll say about my little brother.  He is little. To me. We're eleven years apart. Don't take my word for it.  Point proven? (: Mum brought home some childhood candies and while we both knew these were terrible tasting chocolates, we never knew that there were two holes at the side for eyeglasses. God gave this boy a sister to be there for his entertainment always. It's been 50 days of hospital food. He isn't impressed but he does try to eat what he can. I bring dinner daily, but he's picky about...

Hello, you've probably read about us on  Giveasia . I have ended the crowdfunding site as we've reached the initial targets. We're richly loved and greatly blessed by the support that has poured in on the site. I'm starting up this blog to share updates on Nigel's recovery process. Today is Day +19. We're counting the days after the transplant of the stem cells which was done on the 19th of October. This week (Day 18-25) will be the week where we're all looking out for the counts of all the white, red blood cells and platelets to increase to show a possibility of successful engraftment before the next chimerism check on Day +30. The white blood cells as of today's full blood count is at 0.04. He was given an injection at his stomach area to help the white blood cell counts. Do keep praying with us. Nigel has let me know about the Saints' who've done so much for him and are still wanting to do more. We're very thankful for the love...