Peter’s Hospital Diary

A good few days since the last post! After the chilly trip home, I spent Saturday doing some of my coursework, and then out to “The Anvil” Theatre in Basingstoke for a Concert given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – excellent. Sunday saw the conclusion of the coursework module, and that was submitted on Sunday evening – one more piece to do for this phase of the course!

Yesterday saw me travelling up to London for another couple of days of ECP. The team were on good form after the Christmas break. All was pretty routine, although I seemed to bleed more than usual when the canula was removed – but nothing serious! At least the accommodation was a bit warmer this time – I was in a different flat, with a much larger room, quite pleasant but a bit spartan!

After the ECP finished this morning I jumped on the staff bus – with my notes – for the trip over to Guy’s for the haemotolgy check-up. I was the last patient and met the new specialist Registrar – Dr Andy Retter. We had a quick debate about whether more blood samples were needed, and decided that as the ECP team had taken some the day before, it seemed a bit unnecessary, which was fine by me. While I was waiting, Dr Raj stopped by and we had a chat, and then it was in for the ‘main’ chat with Dr Retter. As we hadn’t met before, we had a long chat, but the bottom line was that there doesn’t appear to be any change, no lumps, and blood results unchanged from last time, so everything seems stable.

I was delighted to see fellow transplant patient Jean (one of the original three!) and her husband, john. Jean looked really well, although she has had one of the many coldy/’flu bugs floating round and had lost some weight. She said that Mark (the other one of the trio) had been in earlier – so I was sorry to have missed him.

Finally I saw Rachel – the dietician – who I haven’t seen for a while. I did her ‘strength test’ – not quite as good a result as before, possibly as a result of the infection and losing a bit of muscle tone. However she was please to see that I had put on a bit of weight (still about 63Kg) and we had a long chat about diets and so on (and her MSc thesis) before leaving to catch the train home.

Tomorrow morning I shall be up early to drive back to work – home again on Friday!

But a good start – Onwards and Upwards!

Tags: ECP

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And that pretty much says it all! Monday morning’s drive to work was ‘challenging’ as I drove through snow storms on the A303, and although they died down as the journey progressed, it made things interesting. weather wise it just got colder as the week progressed – the coldest I saw in car as I drove from the Hotel was -7C! I had a meeting in Bristol on Tuesday – a 30 minute train trip took 90 minutes by replacement coach as the points were frozen at Bath! I wonder how they manage in really cold countries?
This morning wasn’t too bad at -4C, but the windscreen froze in the half hour between loading the car before checking out and actually driving away, in freezing fog, to the office.
Still, it has a been a good but very busy first week back. The weekend will be spent finishing off the coursework (with one more remaining) and then I have ECP on Monday and Tuesday, and back up here on Wednesday!

O&U!

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The decorations are down, and the festivities are almost over – we saw the New Year in at Caroline and Gabor’s, and now I’m thinking about to go back to work!

Although I have posted the generic ‘Annual Newsletter’ I have been reflecting on the last year in more specific terms. It has been a year of change for me – I retired from the Navy in September and started a new venture which was exciting, and found myself working back in a similar area – so not quite leaving my comfort zone. On the health front I have made some steady progress – perhaps culminating in passing my diving medical, although with the advice that as my immune system is still not fully functional, I shouldn’t go diving. And as a bit of a warning, I had the week in hospital with some nasty ‘flu bug!

But overall I feel stronger and fitter than I did twelve months ago, and although I failed in my goal to end the Christmas season at 10st 8lbs (67Kg) I have increased my weight to 10st 2lbs (64Kg) which is an improvement from the start of the year! The ECP has helped my mobility in my shoulders and arms, so that has been a great bonus, so I feel a lot better this January than last!

However there have been sad moments. The death of John – a fellow blogger – who died indirectly from the effects of chronic GvHd in May this year, and whose experiences persuaded me to undertake ECP. Ironic as I think he would have benefited from it, and it was beginning to look as if he would have been referred for assessment. He also battled long and hard to get improvements to his home that would have improved the quality of his life – sadly he died just as they were about to be implemented.

The death of fellow LeukaemiaCARE trainer Elspeth in October was also a moment of sadness; both John and Elspeth were inspirational and gave me strength, as did the support of family, friends, readers of the blog and the medical staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’s hospitals. The death of my Godfather in new Zealand was also a moment for reflection about many things.

On the plus side, friend Simon came through a difficult time, and many of my fellow transplant patients are also doing well, in spite of their various trials and tribulations along the way! Sharing experiences when we occasionally meet in the waiting area of the haemotology clinic is always interesting!

But enough of the introspection – the sun is shining outside – it is a new year, with new challenges and opportunities (the first being another piece of coursework for the PGCert), so in every sense….

Onwards and Upwards!

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Just off to a party, but…

Happy New Year!

Onwards and Upwards!

See you in 2009!

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I hope you all had a very Happy and peaceful Christmas, as indeed did we – albeit rather busy and with lots of people here!

I finished work on Tuesday afternoon and drove back home and then met up for “the Planning Committee” AGM at “The Rising Sun” for lunch and to discuss the main agenda item – the date of the next meeting! A very pleasant afternoon, followed by a carvery at another local hostelry, then off to the Midnight Service.
Christmas Day was frosty, although warm in the conservatory in the morning. We had twelve people round the table for lunch, before gathering round the tree for present distribution – the conservatory had cooled off a bit too much by then! Olivia (who has grown a little since she last featured here!) was in her element!

Boxing day saw us out for a walk, followed by cold meats etc – a calmer day than Christmas Day, and then over the next few days guests departed. Sunday saw us travelling up to Bristol for the day for another family re-union on Felicity’s side – the occasion being a Ruby Wedding Anniversary. At the moment I am working on some more coursework (it arrived just before Christmas!) and enjoying the break.

Before I finish, a quick word about our Christmas cards. We used to send Charity Affinity cards, but it seemed silly sending something that was thrown away afdter a few days, and from which the charity only received a small amount, so again this year we are donating what we would have spent on cards directly to a charity – LeukaemiaCARE. However we have sent out newsletters by a variety of means – post, e-mail, hand, but for anyone who hasn’t received one, I have placed it in the ‘About’ section. On the subject of Charitable giving, for personal reasons can I commend The Anthony Nolan Trust, Cancer backup, and Macmillan Cancer Care, as well as other cancer related charities I have listed in the sidebar.

Happy New Year – Onwards and Upwards!

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A very Merry, Happy and Peaceful Christmas to everyone!

Onwards and Upwards…

Peter

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I arrived home on Friday evening to lots of hustle and bustle for the first family event of the season, with the children’s cousins coming to visit yesterday. They duly turned up for lunch (14 round the table!) and the family “Secret Santa” event afterwards. Those that stayed went out into town later and had a leisurely start this morning!

Meanwhile other Christmas preparations continue – the gammon is cooked, and Felicity has gone to a Carol service – I would have gone too, but it is outside and I am still feeling a bit suffily. However I did get my bit of outside activity this morning, washing the cars.

I have brought out the Christmas decorations for the blog and updated them a little.

I am working for two days this week – off tomorrow morning and returning Tuesday afternoon, then that is it until the New Year!

Onwards and Upwards!

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I am back at work (a silly o’clock start this morning) after my two days of ECP, and a not particularly brilliant weekend suffering from snuffles, headaches etc – which thankfully seem to be getting better! However Felicity did sterling work in getting the Christmas tree up and decorated.

ECP itself was uneventful in the process, but the procedure was enhanced because of some staff training, carried out by Claire (a representative from the manufacturer Therakos) who was training two new staff to the dermatology day unit. I now know more about ‘buffy coats’ and psoralens (the UV activated drug that does the work) than I thought possible! Still, I have always tried to find out about my treatments, so it was another educational experience! The girls were all going out in the evening (an educational seminar?) so I hope you all had a good evening, and I suppose now is the time to wish Ian, Suki, Dawn, Emma and all the other staff (too many names to remember – sorry) who have looked after me for the last six months a happy Christmas!

London itself was cold – and the accommodation wasn’t much better – I don’t know if it was me, or the heating system, but the radiator didn’t seem to get above luke warm!

Rachael picked me up at Winchester on my way back – in her replacement car, a Fiat Punto. A “tidy motor” is probably as good a description as any – although that is probably doing it an injustice, as it seems to run well, and is a bit bigger than the Saxo – and lower insurance. But at least she is mobile again, and as Gill said in a comment, most importantly, no-one was hurt.

I am working for the rest of this week and a couple of days next, then I’m off for Christmas and the New Year.

So – Onwards and Upwards!

Tags: ECP

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Prophetic words last week, as youngest daughter hit a patch of black ice, skidded into a field and hit a tree a glancing blow. Fortunately she was unhurt, and the car was drivable, but although there was no structural damage, investigation showed that it would need even more work (in addition to the repairs) to get it through its MoT, so she cut her losses and replaced it. It has been cold all week, and I was glad of the de-icer on several mornings!

Meanwhile I had a sociable week, going out for dinner (a Thai Restaurant in Limpley Stoke) with middle daughter on Tuesday, a visit to my sister on Wednesday, and out with a group from work for a Chinese meal – an “all you can eat” extravaganza in Chippenham on Thursday. (and for those that were asking about last week’s Indian restaurant, it was this one The Rajpoot in Bath.)

I came home on Friday to go to a Christmas do where I used to work in Portsmouth, but I seem to have developed another cold, so today I have a bit of a sore throat and some snuffles!

This week is ECP week on Monday and Tuesday, then back to work on Wednesday – finally finishing for Christmas on 23rd!

So… Onwards and Upwards!

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I am slowly getting back into the week ending routine! I was able to leave work relatively early on Friday, so I was home by 5:30 – on with the washing machine and unwind! Yesterday morning was spent doing some of the admin stuff followed by a trip to the shops to do those things that couldn’t be done during the week. One of the purchases was a DAB alarm radio for use in the hotel – the radio they provide is pretty poor and doesn’t have an alarm function, so I hope this will be better.

last night I was out for a beer or two, and I woke up this morning to a heavy frost – just the sort of weather to encourage the setting of a fire, which is now burning merrily in the grate as I speak!

So it will be a quiet afternoon, and then back on the road first thing tomorrow for another four nights away.

I am being careful not to ‘overdo things’ – my evenings are failrly quiet, although this week I am taking Katie (middle daughter) out for dinner (she is working in Bristol on her placement year).

So – Onwards and Upwards!

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