Tuesday…more ECP

The snow was pretty much washed away by the rain on Friday night and Saturday morning, but Sunday was quite a pleasant dry day – time to get out and do a bit of outside stuff.

However Monday brought a trip up to London for another round of ECP, which went well, and the bonus was meeting up with Simon for a few long over-due beers and a chat. A great evening, Simon looking well (but bald and – well – polished 🙂 ).

It seems the rooms in the hospital ‘hostel’ have two heat settings – off and full blast. Last night was full blast, although I managed a reasonable night’s sleep, in spite of the sirens and traffic noise.

The second session of ECP was uneventful, and on completion I grabbed my notes to nip over to the haematology clinic for my 4 monthly check-up. (It should have been next week, but I moved it to coincide with the ECP)..For about the first time ever – no bloods! They had been taken the day before by the ECP team).

I had a quick chat with Rachel (dietician) who was pleased to see that my weight had increased to just under 11 1/2 stone (73Kg), but my grip strength was much lower, which is probably the result of the infection I had over Christmas. We did have a chat about diet – it seems that chemo/transplants may have a long term effect on metabolism, although there is little data on it. These things are coming to light now as survival rates are improving. So it looks as if I shall be having some cholesterol checks as part of the long term follow up!

My next stop was with the Doctor, and an old friend, Matthew, who helped look after me during my second (self donated) transplant in 2004. He had been away doing research and other things, but now back at Guy’s. It was good to see him, and hie seemed equally pleased to see me after yet another transplant.

I have had some concerns in the last few weeks. I had the bad cold over Christmas, with aches and at one point I was a bit concerned about my glands. I have also been waking up at night feeling very hot “night sweats” which is also worrying, although with the cold weather, I have had the heating on higher than normal.

But I had a very thorough check up, nothing abnormal physically, and the blood results (including LDH – a cancer marker) were all normal – in fact it looked as if my kidney function might be a bit better). The conclusion was that it was all linked with a viral infection – possibly mild swine ‘flu (even though I had the vaccine) So I was quite relieved!

Still, I need to remain vigilant, and he pointed out that it is easy to arrange a scan if required if I am concerned. So I will see if the night overheating subsides once I get back to my routine.

So… Onwards and upwards!

4 Responses to “Tuesday…more ECP”

  1. Richard on 22 Jan 2010 at 1:03 pm #

    Peter glad all looks like progress and methinks that the hot night sweats could be something else entirely 🙂

    We still have some piles of snow in the drive, seems like a long time ago and so strange to see them. Particularly as we are having lots of correspondence with Oz at the moment (Melbourne, Sydney and all points North East) where there is lots of sun, talk of the beach and temperatures of the mid 30s)

    Keeps me going tho’ whilst rodding out the septic tank this morning 🙁

    Richard the potentially smelly and in my case onwards and downwards.

  2. Gillian on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:59 pm #

    No snowy lumps here now – hopefully you have managed to dispose of yours successfully Richard!

    Soon be time to break open the Pimms again, send us piccies of sunshine and we can pretend it’s summer already 🙂

    xxx but not too close to the ever fragrant one…..xx

  3. Richard on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:02 pm #

    Still some snow in lumps here and not much Sun…..i’ll keep my eyes open, if I can

  4. Gillian on 26 Jan 2010 at 8:43 pm #

    loved the sunny piccies Richard – at least it looks like we might make it through a week without more snow 😀

    Any sign of Peter – or is he still clearing his drive?

    xxxx

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