Peter’s Hospital Diary

I was going to write this last night, but after two glorious days, the skies clouded over and we heard the rumble of thunder – however this morning the sun is shining again and I am writing this sitting out in the garden…and if you look carefully you can see a pair of colourful shorts – bought in Dakar, Senegal some years ago – that I have been living in this weekend!

And it was a good weekend, the BBQ was pressure washed and put back into use, I mowed the lawn, and found it much less tiring than last time – another good sign! My sense of taste continues to improve slowly, although my sense of smell is still pretty poor. However he white wine that I drank at the wekend – purely in the interests of research, you understand – tasted very pleasant! I also enjoyed some of my father-in-law’s lemon marmalade this morning – the first time in several months as it has previously tasted too bitter to me. Just as well as I noticed some embryonic lemons on the lemon tree (or perhaps bush might be more accurate) this morning – by the time they are ripe in the autumn I hope I’ll be enjoying the odd G&T! And, we finally got in touch with tiler, who is going to tile the conservatory at the end of the month.

On the health side, my skin condition is improving – helped by liberal application of the diprobase. In particular the swelling on my right leg and ankle (which Linny thought was caused by leaky capillaries) seems much less pronounced – perhaps because of the and the Dermovate (the steroid cream) I have been applying to them.

I have taken another step forward and started wearing the contact lenses again. I did start a few weeks ago, but had to stop – not because of a problem with my eyes – although Mark’s (fellow patient) GvHd did affect his eyes – but because my hands were so rough I couldn’t clean them. However the skin on my hands is pretty much back to normal, and my feet are getting there. I might even have to trim my hair soon! (First time in 5 months!)

Which brings me to a slightly more serious note – there are lots of unforseen or less obvious consequences of these side effects. Mine with the contact lenses is trivial, but if you look at John’s blog (you have been looking, haven’t you?) you will see that the consequences of his GvHd are much more severe and have affected his mobility and quality of life. I’m sure he won’t mind me saying that I admire his stoicism – and I’m sure he would appreciate your comments of encouragement!

Hmm – I see the sky has clouded over and a cool breeze has appeared from somewhere – maybe that was summer…

Onwards and upwards (By the way, anyone know how to get rid of red spider mites – two have just been squashed on the keyboard – leaving red smears everywhere!