Peter's Hospital Diary

Well that was an interesting week – not just professionally. I felt a bit better after I travelled up, although eating food was a bit of a struggle, but as the week progressed, I gradually felt better.

I came home on Friday evening, had a meal, felt OK. Saturday was good, we had a visit from an old school friend, Ian and his wife, in the morning and we had a couple of other friends round on Saturday evening – but this morning – wallop, almost back to square one again! I guess the combination of some rich food and a bit of alcohol. I do feel much better now, but I guess I need to remember that my immune system needs a bit longer to recover from these things! I was a little worried in case I had triggered GvHd in my gut but I think it was just a nasty virus. Someone in the Hotel had the same thing last week-end.

However, it was a good weekend – especially seeing Ian, who I haven’t seen for a about 3 years. It’s strange, we were great friends at school, (one memorable week travelling up to Llangollen by canal!) but when we left we drifted apart, and only met up again about 6 years ago.

So its back to work tomorrow morning – I must go and put some fuel in the car!

Onwards and Upwards!

4 Comments »

…about feeling good, because the weekend hit me with a norovirus “the vomiting bug” infection! I felt fine on Friday as I drove home, and OK Friday night, but by Saturday lunchtime I was feeling a bit under the weather (very rapid onset) and went for a lie down. I did enjoy a cup of tea – but only the first time – and I spent most of the rest of the weekend in bed. The lack of fluids caused my blood pressure to drop and when I got up, I promptly fainted and bashed my nose – it looks worse than it is. However dietician Rachel’s isotonic drinks recipe came to the rescue and after the first 12 hours I was able to drink something. By Sunday night I could manage some food, and I am back at work this morning – if not feeling 100%, at least a lot better than I was. Most unpleasant!

There is a strange irony to this too! We ‘hot desk’ at work, and I don’t think the occupational health issues are really considered. Computer keyboards and mice must be prime sources for the transfer of infection, so I bought some bactericidal wipes – which I started using last week! I guess it was just one of those things.

Onwards and Upwards!

5 Comments »

A good few days since the last post! After the chilly trip home, I spent Saturday doing some of my coursework, and then out to “The Anvil” Theatre in Basingstoke for a Concert given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – excellent. Sunday saw the conclusion of the coursework module, and that was submitted on Sunday evening – one more piece to do for this phase of the course!

Yesterday saw me travelling up to London for another couple of days of ECP. The team were on good form after the Christmas break. All was pretty routine, although I seemed to bleed more than usual when the canula was removed – but nothing serious! At least the accommodation was a bit warmer this time – I was in a different flat, with a much larger room, quite pleasant but a bit spartan!

After the ECP finished this morning I jumped on the staff bus – with my notes – for the trip over to Guy’s for the haemotolgy check-up. I was the last patient and met the new specialist Registrar – Dr Andy Retter. We had a quick debate about whether more blood samples were needed, and decided that as the ECP team had taken some the day before, it seemed a bit unnecessary, which was fine by me. While I was waiting, Dr Raj stopped by and we had a chat, and then it was in for the ‘main’ chat with Dr Retter. As we hadn’t met before, we had a long chat, but the bottom line was that there doesn’t appear to be any change, no lumps, and blood results unchanged from last time, so everything seems stable.

I was delighted to see fellow transplant patient Jean (one of the original three!) and her husband, john. Jean looked really well, although she has had one of the many coldy/’flu bugs floating round and had lost some weight. She said that Mark (the other one of the trio) had been in earlier – so I was sorry to have missed him.

Finally I saw Rachel – the dietician – who I haven’t seen for a while. I did her ’strength test’ – not quite as good a result as before, possibly as a result of the infection and losing a bit of muscle tone. However she was please to see that I had put on a bit of weight (still about 63Kg) and we had a long chat about diets and so on (and her MSc thesis) before leaving to catch the train home.

Tomorrow morning I shall be up early to drive back to work – home again on Friday!

But a good start – Onwards and Upwards!

1 Comment »

And that pretty much says it all! Monday morning’s drive to work was ‘challenging’ as I drove through snow storms on the A303, and although they died down as the journey progressed, it made things interesting. weather wise it just got colder as the week progressed – the coldest I saw in car as I drove from the Hotel was -7C! I had a meeting in Bristol on Tuesday – a 30 minute train trip took 90 minutes by replacement coach as the points were frozen at Bath! I wonder how they manage in really cold countries?
This morning wasn’t too bad at -4C, but the windscreen froze in the half hour between loading the car before checking out and actually driving away, in freezing fog, to the office.
Still, it has a been a good but very busy first week back. The weekend will be spent finishing off the coursework (with one more remaining) and then I have ECP on Monday and Tuesday, and back up here on Wednesday!

O&U!

4 Comments »

The decorations are down, and the festivities are almost over – we saw the New Year in at Caroline and Gabor’s, and now I’m thinking about to go back to work!

Although I have posted the generic ‘Annual Newsletter’ I have been reflecting on the last year in more specific terms. It has been a year of change for me – I retired from the Navy in September and started a new venture which was exciting, and found myself working back in a similar area – so not quite leaving my comfort zone. On the health front I have made some steady progress – perhaps culminating in passing my diving medical, although with the advice that as my immune system is still not fully functional, I shouldn’t go diving. And as a bit of a warning, I had the week in hospital with some nasty ‘flu bug!

But overall I feel stronger and fitter than I did twelve months ago, and although I failed in my goal to end the Christmas season at 10st 8lbs (67Kg) I have increased my weight to 10st 2lbs (64Kg) which is an improvement from the start of the year! The ECP has helped my mobility in my shoulders and arms, so that has been a great bonus, so I feel a lot better this January than last!

However there have been sad moments. The death of John – a fellow blogger – who died indirectly from the effects of chronic GvHd in May this year, and whose experiences persuaded me to undertake ECP. Ironic as I think he would have benefited from it, and it was beginning to look as if he would have been referred for assessment. He also battled long and hard to get improvements to his home that would have improved the quality of his life – sadly he died just as they were about to be implemented.

The death of fellow LeukaemiaCARE trainer Elspeth in October was also a moment of sadness; both John and Elspeth were inspirational and gave me strength, as did the support of family, friends, readers of the blog and the medical staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals. The death of my Godfather in new Zealand was also a moment for reflection about many things.

On the plus side, friend Simon came through a difficult time, and many of my fellow transplant patients are also doing well, in spite of their various trials and tribulations along the way! Sharing experiences when we occasionally meet in the waiting area of the haemotology clinic is always interesting!

But enough of the introspection – the sun is shining outside – it is a new year, with new challenges and opportunities (the first being another piece of coursework for the PGCert), so in every sense….

Onwards and Upwards!

1 Comment »