Thursday… t+38
Oct 12th 2006PeterLife on hold!
Not a lot to report on the health front, other than we are now 38 weeks since the transplant! I am not sure if there are hints of GvHd! My skin feels a little dry (one of the earlier symptoms before) and at times it looks as if I might have a bit of a localized rash. However there is no evidence of general reduction in the size of the swollen tonsil (and other nodes), although the actual size of the swelling does seem to vary day by day. One or two people have reported that my speech seems normal but I suspect that the reason for that is that I am learning to compensate and they are getting used to it! Certainly talking for any length of time does dry my throat and it tends to ‘catch’, which is uncomfortable. It also makes for restless nights, so I’m not sleeping terribly well. There are also some sore throat and cold bugs about, so I’m not sure if I might have picked up one of those, just to compund things. However I have resisted the Thalidomide so far, and next week I should get the second infusion of donor lymphocytes to promote the GvHd and the desired GvL effects. Then let battle commence!
Other than that, all is pretty quiet. I was in Cardiff yesterday for a trade exhibition, which was interesting (but not quite as exotic as Washington or Brussels – both places I used to visit in my last job!) This weekend I am going up to Birmingham for the Leukaemia Care volunteers conference, where I am doing a short presentation about the training scheme we are running. My next task is to write it (the presentation that is!).
So Onwards and Upwards!