Peter’s Hospital Diary

Yesterday was the annual trip up to King’s College Hospital for my annual check-up. You may recall that all stem cell transplant activity moved from Guy’s to King’s about 18 months ago. I’m pleased to say that all seems well, although the King’s outpatient department seems rather more chaotic than Guy’s! There still seems to be a little residual GvHd (which is probably good!) and I may be slightly iron deficient, but as my blood results hadn’t been reported by the time I left, I can’t be certain yet, however I will be notified if I am anaemic or if there is anything else of concern.

I had a long chat with Dr Kazmi, not just about the illness, but about developments at King’s and Guy’s in general, and plans for a new cancer centre at Guy’s hospital. I also saw Orla, who used to run the day centre at Guy’s and has just moved to King’s, so she has a challenge to get it running as well as the unit at Guy’s! However it was lovely to catch up on news of the wonderful team that treated me – most still working in the London Hospitals area! So a good day out – although changes to the rail timetables meant that the journey out to Denmark Hill is even less straightforward than it was!

Also on the health front, I had my second cataract operation last week – this one on my left eye. The improvement is even better – with distance vision really good – better than that of the right eye. My check up for that is next Wednesday, at an early hour, so it will be another trip up to London to St Thomas’s.

And a bit more good news, my dissertation was accepted, so I should be graduating with my MSc in July!

Back here, the sun is shining, and I am slowly getting the garden back into shape, although the weather has been a bit chilly for the last week – but overall, definitely “Onwards and Upwards”! 🙂

Tags: Haematology, New life!