Thursday… t+68 weeks!
May 10th 2007PeterGetting My Life Back!
It has been a while since I did a countup from the transplant, but it really is 68 weeks since I received my donor stem cells, and of course 16 weeks since I was in Southampton recovering from the effects of the radio and chemo therapy! I am certainly feeling a lot better than I was expecting to after that first visit to Guy’s after I was discharged from Southampton!
So where to now? Well, I am taking the first steps in ‘getting my life back’ in going back to work, and although I am not medically fit for diving (yet!) I haven’t given up hope, and I was at the dive club last night. One of the (many) problems caused by this disease is an inability to plan ahead – particularly when undergoing treatment, as you can never tell how the treatment is going to affect you. The same is true of the early stages of remission. I guess that I am in remission at the moment, but of course, I have been here before, and there is always the ‘what if’ question lurking in the background. But that is no excuse not to make plans and look to the future! It is a while since we took a holiday, so that might be on the cards, and longer term I need to think about what to do when my current contract ends, at the moment in September 2008. So lots to think about.
At the moment I feel well in myself, apart from this sore mouth and sore lips caused by the GvHd. It makes eating a chore rather than a pleasure (although I am still managing the bacon sarnies – albeit with the crusts cut off) but mealtimes are not much fun. Favourite food at the moment seems to be lemon chicken and rice from the local chinese retaurant! Still, this should get better in time, and the rate of weight increase might get better!
The operating system upgrade did not go as well as expected! Although the basic system is working, in that the webserver and the ancilliary bits upgraded OK, the graphical interface and the associated bits did not (technically, I had problems with the X server – the main graphics module) and the ‘windowing’ system that provides the desktop and GUI). At the moment I have got it partially working – I am writing this post on the system, rather than another computer connected to it, but there is still a way to go! Still it has been an interesting learning curve, and it is only when things go wrong that you really learn how they work!
So, in time honoured fashion, Onwards and Upwards!