30th June
Game #5 today –
France V Nigeria
Unfortunately we
had the worst seats in the stadium! The very last row (MM) right at the top of
the stadium. It was such a long way up; we didn’t want to go down again for
drinks ;-) We couldn’t see the stadium screens either :-(
29th June
Brasil played
again today - OMG - too much
stress!! Even Mr. Calm (aka Rafael) couldn't watch!
Nearly the
saddest boy in the world!!!
What a
stressful afternoon! To see him in tears before the final penalty goal was
heartbreaking
As soon as the
game was over - we all jumped in the pool with our clothes on
Rafael is now
the happiest boy in the world!!!
28th June
My sister in
law Idayana arranged a Festa Junina party so that Gabriela & Rafael could experience
it in Brasil ;-) So many cousins!!!! And many great friends too :-) xxx
27th June
Winter in Brasilia
- 5 pm in the afternoon!!
26th June
Off to game #4
I wonder whom Gabriela is going for???
We really
enjoyed this game. We had great seats and the crowd was a mix of people from
all over the world and everyone was in a good mood, having lots of fun!
Cristiano
Ronaldo didn’t play very well. Rafa was cheering for Ghana :-)
4 days of chemo down and 1 to go!!!! Rafael really hates taking the tiny Temozolomide pills :-(
He says it's the worst part of everything he goes through :-( I wish I could make it easier for him, he opens his mouth wide and I drop them right at the back of his throat!!
Anyway, last day tomorrow :-)
We went to visit
the President today – well, her house anyway ;-)
It’s open to the
public every Wednesday. When we arrived, our ticket time was about 3 hours
later, so we went to a local restaurant on the lake and passed some time there,
watching another game!
Look at all
that hair!! 5 o'clock shadow
Watching the
- and getting ready to go to the National Stadium to watch Brazil V
Cameroon!!!!!
The stadium was
packed with Brazilians; it was almost impossible to get a photo with a person from Cameroon ;-)
Prince Harry was
there too!
Rafael really enjoyed the game, especially getting to see Neymar play and score a few goals :-)
22nd June
Today is our
first born daughters birthday :-( :-( :-(
Happy Birthday
sweet Angel Liviane. We love you and miss you SO much!! 13 today - wow, we have
a teenager! Please keep watching over Gabriela & Rafael xxxoooxxx 22/06/2001
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We had an absolutely
fantastic day!!! Our friends Valeria and Ken hosted a very special 10th birthday
party for our Rafael so that he could celebrate in Brasil with his family and
friends :-) They really outdid themselves - it was a perfect birthday party!!!
Yes, the never-ending birthday is still going!
The decorations were superb, but the cakes and lollies
were just amazing!!
 |
| Gabriela's Godfather - Ricardo |
21st June
Off to the
hospital again to check Rafael’s blood counts and get the go ahead to start chemo
again on Monday. Ho hum...
We had to wait
a L O N G time at the hospital yesterday for our 2 minute appointment with the
Dr. Frustration!!! Rafael's counts are all good, so he will start chemo again
on Monday for 5 days He did say that finger prick hurt less than it does at
home, plus they give him and juice and food afterwards
19th June
Game 2 :-) In the newspaper today they said 40,000+ Columbians are in
Brasilia - well I know exactly where they all are!!! A sea of yellow at
the stadium!
Rafael really
enjoyed this game, we all did. Was great to see James Rodriguez playing :-)
18th June
We went to
another restaurant today to watch the Australia game. A few of Dom’s friends
came along too. I had my Aussie flag held high and lots of people were also
cheering us on ;-)
17th June
We are having a
great time; the weather is about 27C every day, no rain, shorts & t-shirts J
Today Brasil
play again. There has been no school since the WC started and on days like
today, people only work until 12
15th June
Yesterday
Rafael was playing with ball and the dog and he bumped heads! So far, it looks
like Loki is winning ;-)
Our first game
in today!! Switzerland V Ecuador.
We were seated
in what would normally be reserved for the Hospitality packages. However, as
there weren’t enough sold, all of the F&B outlets around us were closed! We
couldn’t even buy water, it was crazy! Eventually they allowed Dom (and others)
to go downstairs to Level 1 and buy drinks there.
We had a group
of young Swiss men sitting next to us and they made the game a lot of fun. We
enjoyed hearing them sing their Swiss chants ;-) I even wore their beer on the
2 occasions they threw their cups in the air!
As we were
leaving the stadium, we ran into our friend Brad from New Zealand, who is
staying with another friend of ours. We took him to a restaurant for dinner and
to watch the next game.
I asked Gabriela to check if the beer was cold enough ;-)
14th June
We went to a
local eating area tonight to watch Australia V Chile. There we not many people
there, so it was just basically us cheering the Aussies on ;-)
12th June
We met with Dr
Cordoba nice and early – 8am!! The World Cup starts today and the whole country
will stop work after 12pm ;-)
Once we
explained that we didn’t have medical insurance, Dr Cordoba referred us to the
public children’s hospital hear in Brasilia. All of our other blood tests and
appointments will be there :-)
Rafael's platelets were borderline for a transfusion - 20. So the Dr asked us to get them checked again tomorrow at the hospital "just in case"
We went to watch the opening game at Dom's cousins house - it was very loud ;-)
11th June
Our flight to
Brasilia was at lunchtime and we both slept very well last night :-)
We met some
nice Aussies on the flight as they were heading on to another city to watch the
1st Socceroos game.
Our first stop
was at a blood pathology clinic to check Rafael’s blood counts before our
appointment with his Brasilian oncologist tomorrow morning.
We were
impressed with their system. They gave us a card with a pin # and a time that we
could go online and check the results ourselves!!
10th June
Rafael and I
arrived at the airport extra early today so that we could make the most of our
special purchase – 2 passes to the First class lounge!!
Rafael ordered
fried eggs and bacon for breakfast and I had Eggs Benedict with a few strong
lattes!
The lounge is
very nice and we made the most of our time there. I even managed to have a few
early glass of champagne ;-)
The flight to
Rio stopped in Santiago first. We enjoyed the flight a lot. We were seated in
Premium Economy and it was so nice to be travelling on a full fare ticket for
the first time in 20+ years!! We pre ordered our food, wore comfy clothes and
travelled happily :-) Of course, Rafael didn’t like the food and ate nothing :-(
I knew the
onboard manager, David and he was able to introduce Rafael to ex Socceroo Stan
Lazaridis. He also tried for Mark Bosnic, but Rafael had fallen asleep by then
;-) The captain invited Rafael to the flight deck after landing to look at the
flight deck, but he was so tired – sleep walking ;-)
When we arrived
in Rio, our dearest friend Sergio was waiting at the airport to meet us. Our
hotel was very close, so he came along too and we went straight to the
restaurant for some dinner and a few beers ;-)
9th June
Mark dropped us
off at the airport for our first leg of the trip, MEL -> SYD
We caught a
taxi to our hotel, which was very close to the aquarium.
We met our
friends Justin and Angelee and their daughter Isla who is a NB warrior too.
Rafael loves
the aquarium; it’s the second time he’s been to the Sydney one. I was very
impressed that he could name all the types of sharks – even a lemon Shark!!
His special
buddy Matt is in Sydney for work and he managed to make some time free in the
evening to pop over to the hotel and chat about soccer and sharks. After he
left, Rafa said "I'm actually VERY happy! Matt is SO nice" :-)))))
8th June
All packed and
ready to go - I'd better not forget to pack these in the morning!! Thousands of
dollars worth of chemo and medicine!
6th June
Rafael had a
blood transfusion today to top up the oxygen in his blood to help him fly with
less stress on his body :-)
5th June
On Tuesday
night, whilst struggling to swallow his chemotherapy, Rafael said "The
best day of my life will be when we get to bring Leo home. No, wait, it'll be
when I get rid of my cancer!" He is so excited about having Leo move in
when we return from Brasil it's all he talks about
On Wednesday
morning, Mumma Kaz called me with the bad news that Leo had another epileptic
seizure, a really long and bad one and he was still at the vets. He was not in
a good way
How can I tell
Rafa that Leo might not make it? That if he does, he might have big problems?
After speaking
to Kaz again throughout the day, I sat Rafa down last night and told him about
the seizure and that the vet was doing everything she could. Leo was booked for
an MRI today, but it had to be postponed.
So instead of
spending his last day at school, we drove up to Saffron and spent a few hours
with Leo and the gang. Leo was trying to walk (imagine a drunk dog) but he did
wag his tail and gave us lots of kisses!!
Life is so hard
for Rafael, his 1 wish is for Leo to come and live here.
Day 1 of chemo.
We had to go into RCH again today and we ran in to Dr Peter!!! So happy to see
him and he was very happy to hear that Rafael was off to the World Cup!!
1st June
Today Rafa & I went to visit SOTH before we leave
for Brasil next week. Rafa had lots and lots of cuddles with all of the dogs,
especially Leo and April Anne ;-)
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