Peter’s Hospital Diary

It must be Monday as it looks very grey and misty over towards St Paul’s – just the sort of weather not to encourage you out on a Monday morning!

Still not in isolation, although as I write, the nurses are thinking of putting up the isolation precautions sign in advance of the blood test results. This is because the blood results yesterday showed that the counts are dropping, and although still have some neutrophils left, the chances are they will be down today. I’ll take some photos of my little room later and get them posted! (Stop Press – I am now in isolation – the door has clanged shut!!)

My parents visited again yesterday afternoon and stayed for about 3 hours. We were saying that we can’t believe I have been in here nearly 2 weeks. The time has flown by. I just hope the next few weeks in isolation pass as quickly.

There was a bit of commotion in the night, and looking out of the room this morning, the little sitting out area is now occupied by a patient occupied bed! I did notice some loud snoring during the night – I wonder if that is why he was moved? (Hope he hasn’t got the link to the blog!) Today started early anyway with the anti-fungal drug infusion at 6:45 this morning!

The current ‘concern’ is over the functioning of my kidneys. Fluid balance has always been a concern, and I have to carefully measure input and output (to use engineering terms) and also monitor my weight – remembering that a lite of saline equated to a kilogram in weight. I have put on weight while I am in here – I can’t believe it is the food, so it must be water retention. It is gradually dropping back to normal, although I was told this morning that I’m not drinking enough (water). My face is very puffy first thing in the morning (the chipmunk look) although that goes down after a couple of hours, and I’m told is a known side effect of the Cyclosporin.

There is some concern about my swollen leg. I have had a tendency to a swollen ankle since I had a lymph node biopsy last October. (Adding to the long list of scars – but at least this one is within my bikini line) It is thought that this is because an enlarged lymph node is partially blocking the drainage on my right leg. It got better after each of the two lots of chemo last year; and goes down at night, but sitting and standing tends to make it worse.

As an adjunct to measuring the circumference of my ankles, I am also having my ‘girth’ measured (makes me sound like a horse). I won’t give you details of the measurements, except to say that the only tape measure available on the ward is too short to go round me, so it is a two stage process involving lots of pen marks on my stomach! You have to smile!

Other than that, I still feel well. My sense of taste is definitely changing, and the ‘gag reflex’ seems a bit more sensitive (TMI) but I don’t have any mouth sores (yet). My appetite seems to be dropping off a bit, though wether that is the hospital food or changes caused by the chemo is hard to say!