Peter’s Hospital Diary

I have just returned from London for another check up. Yes, I know it wasn’t supposed to be for another 2 weeks, but about 2 weeks ago I felt a bit under the weather and a bit ‘achy’ and last week I felt a bit of a lump on my neck. Now normally that wouldn’t be much of a cause for concern, but as I have a bit of a medical history(!) I rang Guy’s on Tuesday and the Registrar (Rob) suggested that it might be a good idea to pop in to have it looked at.

So I set off nice and early on a well worn trail to Guy’s. The lump was given a severe staring at and there are three possibilities. The first is that I do (or did) have a low level infection, and it is the result of that. The second, and most likely, is that it is just a reaction to the transplant/GvHd that has flalred up, and the third is that the lymphoma really is having another go. Should that be the case, I can have donor lymphocytes to re-trigger GvHd, and/or local radiotherapy. However it was only 5 weeks ago that I had a clear PET scan, so no need to hit the panic button! I also had the results of the chimerism test that was done last visit, and I am still 100% donor – another good sign.

However, we need to discover exactly what is going on, so I had a needle biopsy and I should get the results next week.

It was good to see Mark (you will remember that he was a fellow transplant patient when I had my transplant) at the clinic this morning. He looked really well (well you would after 5 weeks in Menorca!) but his transplant has not taken, and it is possible that he will be going in again for another. Good luck Mark – we are thinking of you!

The needle biopsy was at St Thomas’s (and it seemed a long way on the shuttle bus – carrying my notes, which are about the size of a volume of Encyclopaedia Brittanica) so afterwards I called in to see my old friends at the City Hospital office. Lovely coffee, a sticky bun and a long chat with Nicky. (Nicky was the researcher on the first series in 2001, then moved up to become a producer.) We might do a live follow up interview for this series – I’ll let you know if and when.

So that was today – no cause to panic, but room for a little concern – but I haven’t got this far to let it get back, and I start my full time work on Monday, so as ever….

Onwards and Upwards!