Peter’s Hospital Diary

Another check up yesterday – and I needed it! The palms of my hands were a livid purple yesterday morning, prompting the response from Linny (consultant) “Yes, that’s definitely GvHd!” She then went on to prescribe another small pharmacy including large tubes of the topical steroids, some oral steroids, and some Piriton (an anti-histamine, familiar to anyone who suffers from hay fever!) for me to take home.

I then went to have a lung function test. This is to check that I haven’t sustained any lung damage as a result of the treatment, but one of the tests showed a 20% decrease in lung function, probably a temporary effect because of the GvHd, but we will repeat the test in a couple of weeks just to make sure. Meanwhile I have my next PET scan (the 14th!) booked for next Tuesday, the 18th.

It was a bit to late to take the oral steroids when I got home as they should be taken first thing in the morning, but it certainly wasn’t too late to plaster on the creams! I went to bed early, and took one of the anti-histaminers. Well, it does say that they may cause drowsiness, but I had what must be the best night’s sleep since I came out of hospital! No itching and out like a light! Wonderful!

Enough of the medical stuff – “What about the conservatory?” I hear you say! It is now finished. Simon (the builder) has just completed the last bit of cleaning and sealing, and I have just finished wiring in the sockets. (No anti-histamines before doing that!) The floor still needs to be tiled, but we want the concrete slab to thoroughly dry out before doing that – about 6 weeks. (Which might just be long enough to decide on which tiles to have!)

So – in all its glory…