Monday 8th November 2004 - Sunday 14th November 2004 (Day ?)

On the Sunday night, Alex had stopped all antibiotics. When he woke in the morning, there was a light rash over his head.

Kirsten and Tom were still away in Spain during the first part of the week, so Alex and myself filled our days together. On Monday, Alex even went to nursery. I sat with him for a few minutes but the girls at Abacus know what to do and I was released to the world quicker than I expected.

A few hours on my own don't mean relaxing. After over four months in hospital there is so much to catch-up on. Banks, accountants, boat moorings, insurance, MOT - well you get the idea.

Alex was pretty tired after nursery so he went straight to bed. On the way home I had to shout and sing loudly to stop him kipping in the car and being wide awake at home. Less than a mile from home he was so deep asleep that nothing I could do from the front would disturb him. Carrying a dead weight out of the car was easy.

After his afternoon nap, I noted that the rash had spread onto his forehead and nose.

Kirsten and Tom came back on the Tuesday and we had a couple of days, almost as a normal family before Alex had to go back into hospital for the bone marrow harvest on Friday. Alex was under for about an hour, much less than I expected. After a few hours being wobbly on his legs, he was back to walking. Kirsten was due to say with him overnight so he could be monitored closely and a blood test taken in the morning.

Late evening, Kirsten called to say they had done the blood test early and I could come to pick them up. No need to stay overnight.

Over the weekend it was obvious that Alex was still suffering from the harvest. Most of Saturday he was unable to walk. He did try but it was as if his legs were not strong enough. There's two puncture marks on his lower back from the operation but no bruising on the surface. Sunday he was still wobbly but getting better.