Thursday… Guys and Gals
May 17th 2007PeterGetting My Life Back!
Well, just Guy’s really… yes it was check-up time again and so it was off on the silly o’clock special to London Bridge. This time with Felicity who was going off to Chelsea for an induction day for a job at the Chelsea Flower Show! Maybe the garden will be looking good in a couple of weeks???
The visit was again it was pretty routine stuff, although this time I had 7 test tubes of blood extracted, some of those extra ones were for another chimerism test to check that my DNA is still 100% donor (in the blood department).
My consuultation with Dr Kazmi (big boss) went well. He remarked that one of the enzymes that characterises liver function was slightly above normal at 77 instead of the normal upper level of 70, but since people with hepatitis have levels in the 1000s it isn’t too much to worry about! (However GvHd can affect the liver so it is something to keep an eye on). One reason could be a slight iron overload from the blood transfusions.
My kidney function is still down, characterised by higher than average creatinine levels. Part of this is caused by the chemo, however being slightly dehydrated can cause this, as can developing muscle. I am exercising more, and so that could be a reason why that is up slightly. Again no cause to worry, but something just to watch. As for the sore mouth, I am being referred to the oral specialist to see if there is anything else that can be done to improve things.
It was good to see Mark and Sarah this morning (both fellow transplant patients). Mark was looking a lot better than the last time I saw him, helped by his return from a holiday. Sarah (of like2like fame was also looking good!
As the whole process had taken just under an hour, I arranged to meet up with a work colleague for tea/coffee and a large slice of full fat carrot cake and then it was back home again!
On the computer front, I have now got my Ipod working with Amrok (pretty good on a linux machine as Apple don’t support it) and have subscribed to a couple of podcasts (including The Electrical Language music podcast hosted by friend Gabor. He really does find some good independent music tracks – give it a listen!
So that is about it for today, and since the last thing I ate was that full fat carrot cake, I think I might just have a bacon sarnie!
Next check up in four weeks, so Onwards and Upwards!
7 Responses to “Thursday… Guys and Gals”
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Jonny5 on 17 May 2007 at 9:14 pm #
All done in an hour?? I need to change Hospitals I recon as it has never been less than about 2 and thats a realy good day. Good to see all is progressing well. I have always wanted to make it to the Chelsea Flower Show but never managed it. Maybe I will give it a go this year??
Isn’t it annoying when it has taken me about 7 Hours to do a New Install of Windows XP inc Drivers etc and yet it has only taken me 35 minutes and a whole less hastle to install Fedora 6?? I decided to wipe the lot and start fresh, something needed for a long time. Initial impressions with Fedora are very impressive indeed, far better than even Ubuntu was before.
Anyway don’t let me stop you from the Bacon sarnie or me for that matter.
See Ya!!
Peter on 17 May 2007 at 10:12 pm #
Glad you like Ferdora. You will need a bit of help when you want to play MP3 files, the codecs need to be downloaded from another site, or I can e mail them to you. But that can wait until later!!
Richard on 18 May 2007 at 6:26 am #
I had a Fedora in the 70s………….
Glad to see progress on the test front. These ‘norms’ are potentially very misleading as you say creatinine levels are higher just from more activity and the levels that are worrying are in the 000′. Kidney function is perhaps best checked in this context by comparing the levels i the blood to that in the urine (creatinine clearance test).
I guess I am about to further mess up my metabolism as I have just bought an expresso machine on E-bay.
Keep it up.
Liz on 18 May 2007 at 8:56 am #
The carrot cake interlude sounded like the best bit of the day to me!
Will you have to wait long for the blood test results?
I hope that Felicity enjoyed her induction day. I bet the Flower Festival will be hard work, but good fun.
Lots of love,
Liz
Peter on 18 May 2007 at 9:00 am #
Liz – routine blood tests are done on the spot, so I get the results then (cell counts etc). The others take a few days, (creatinine etc) but I’ll get those next time. The chimerism take about 2 weeks, but again I’ll get those at the next check-up, 4 weeks.
Carrot cake was good – highly recommended (Starbucks)
Gillian on 18 May 2007 at 12:04 pm #
Never made it to Chelsea – but have done Hampton Court and that was good..
Not as good as the cake at Starbucks – and the Cinnamon Lattes – unfortunately only a christmas special 🙁
Glad to hear it’s all going well
Gillian
Richard on 18 May 2007 at 10:41 pm #
Hey Gillian this caffeine stuff is almost as good as the F30 at the Resort 🙂 There are some Chelsea tickets for sale in our local free paper……….Although not so prestigious I have been told that for home gardeners the Hampton Court show is better.
Peter will you update the reports next week?
Richard flying