Blog: June 2014

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 :-) 

 25th June

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!

 23rd June

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

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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 1^st 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" :-)))))

8^th 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!

6^th 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 :-)

5^th 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.

 2nd June

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 ;-)