Friday… The last ECP?
Jan 14th 2011PeterGetting My Life Back!
It is about time I wrote a longer blog, and I did promise some photos from my trip to Lausanne. I did wonder if I was going to be able to go at one point – two days before departure I walked into the living room at home, and noticed a damp carpet. Closer inspection showed the central heating radiator had sprung a leak.
Fortunately I was able to find a replacement next day (when the plumbers’ merchants opened after Christmas) and with some help from Mark, mananged to remove the old one, and fit the new, which although a different make, lined up with the pipework, so the job only took about 90 minutes. Better still, the carpet seems to have dried without any lasting stains.
So I did get away and the picture here on the top left shows one of me taken on the hills just above Lake Geneva, just before going off to Loèche-les-Bains. The second photo above shows the steam coming off the outside bath! For obvious reasons there are no photographs from the inside looking out!
This photo (above) shows the sun setting on the mountain tops around Loèche-les-Bains. And the next day, a cable car, shown here took us to the mountain tops, well, at least the lower levels. Very picturesque and there are, as usual, more photographs in the gallery. The top cable car station was also the terminus for another cable car, of a slightly different type, but again with the spectacular backdrop of the Swiss Alps.
After the two days in the Alps, the remainder of the time was spent sight seeing round Lausanne. I certainly felt very well and very refreshed after my trip! The final photo (below) shows Loèche-les-Bains from the cable car during the descent.
At the moment I am sitting in Gassiot House at St Thomas’s Hospital having just completed the first ECP session, with the second tomorrow morning. Will it be the last? Well, there are certainly no more appointments booked, although I am being called for review in March, which will be in eight weeks time, to see how I am getting on. If the skin GvHd does return I can have more treatment but the hope is that it has stabilised.
My next haematology check-up in the haematology clinic (the ‘Late Effects’ clinic) is next week, when I will be reviewed to see how the side effects of the transplant (primarily the GvHd) are affecting me. One thing that has become apparent is that the minor side effects are attracting far more attention than perhaps they did before – things like the dry mouth, and the dry eyes, – which although important, tended to be overlooked against the backdrop of the lymphoma.
This January is the fifth anniversary of the blog, the stem cell transplant was on January 19th 2006, and it is four years since I was rushed to Southampton, and during my stay there, Olivia was born on January 15th. This morning I took her to pre-school! So lots to be thankful for – especially my anonymous donor.
And 2011 has certainly got off to a good start – may it continue ‘Onwards and Upwards’!
I suppose we are no worse off (and probably better) than most of the country, but this was the scene that greeted us this morning. (and more pictures in the 
I have been on (play) school pick up duty a couple of times, bringing her back here, cooking her some tea (Scrambledy eggs!) and looking after her until Vikki can pick her up. It feels really odd hanging round with other parents – a real travel back in time! And it has been a while since I posted a photo of Livvy here – quite a change – she is nearly 4, born if you recall, when I was having a couple of health snagettes in Southampton General.
It did seem as if the cold weather heralded the end of the world – local shops ran out of milk, bread and vegetables – fortunately I was OK as I had stocked up earlier! (Only joking 🙂 ) But the snow was quite pretty, and the children built this large snowman in the back garden. However the thaw was starting as I drove back to Corsham – only to be lulled into a false sense of security as the second wave of snow fell 
on Tuesday night, which made driving the two miles to work ‘interesting’ in the morning. However that has now all but gone, although the warm wet Atlantic air is causing quite dense fog patches as it meets the cold air from the ground, so the drive home was interesting.
The snow fell, although not in the same quantities as other parts of the country, but enough to cause panic buying of milk and bread at the local supermarket, and getting to work a little tricky. If anything, this morning was harder as the temperature was -7 when I eventually got into the car, and a colleague reported -14 at his house about 8 miles away. However the countryside did look pretty!
This morning there was about 4 inches of snow on the car, and the roads were ungritted. I left early and got in before there had been too much traffic to compact the snow, but several people have rung in to say that they are snowbound. The forecast isn’t good, so it will be an interesting drive back to Winchester tomorrow!