Monday, 22nd March
Welcome ALL to my world
Well now then, Mr. Boris has you all on lockdown. Finally, in my opinion it should have been done about a week ago but I’m just me and not really worth listening to most of the time and if you do you’d probably have fallen asleep before I’d have finished.
This is not really a blog update but just a general update. It’s been 189 days since I first went into the hospital and was in complete isolation for a while then, but you’ll have to look back to find out more about that, more importantly, that period in the hospital was what everyone was told to do at the start of the weekend and half the country decided to go out and make the most of the fresh air and sunshine despite being told to stay at home from all the medical professionals… but no let’s listen to Borris, the class clown from 1987(?).
Today it’s also been 74 days since I got out of the hospital, which is basically where everyone is now due to no one taking heed of the social distancing malarky which in all honesty was a joke.
Anyway, I think that’s all I wanted to say, this all should have been done a lot sooner and people will die on the height of it. On a lighter note for me you’re all now in the same boat as :D hello and enjoy the cruise, cruises are bad atm don’t go on a cruise.
Stay safe and be productive, I truly cannot wait for all the stories, books, films, paintings and other artistic work that come out of this, use you imagination and become a genius please, the world needs more of it.Wednesday, 18th March
Another Spanner in the Works
So now the number of Covid-19 cases are increasing and people are starting to get more concerned about it as it’s spreading like wildfire around Europe. With cases now in the UK and Ireland, things are very close to home and only a matter of time before the number of cases increases rapidly here too.
I feel generally things won’t change too much for me, I generally am socially distant and have for the most part been self-isolating for a few months and already during this time have been washing my hands regularly being careful of bugs and avoiding crowds. In fact apart from getting the bus, non-peak times, I don’t think I’ve been anywhere where there have been more than 10 people and any time I go out to places where there are people I’d say 99% of the time it’s a flying visit and I’m out as fast as I can.
I can only think of 3 occurrences over the last 6 months where I’ve “stuck around” for longer, two of those being over the last couple weeks waiting around having a coffee to kill time but on all occasions it’s been low peak and very quiet. That will be the one thing that I’ll not be doing anymore. Not sure how I’ll kill time between seeing the doc and getting the chemo now though, probably just end up sitting in the car.
So following on... on Wednesday, PICC day and doing exercises seems to have worked again and no need to phone the hospital, quite liking this. Tuesday we decided that we should maybe stock up on a few things in case we needed to completely lockdown for a few weeks, I’d say the majority of stuff we had enough of but got a few extra things just for more long term. It certainly wasn’t panic buying, I only carry around a basket rather than trolly and my normal shop is basically a full basket. Got a few super noodles, some extra cereal and a couple of tins of fruit. Had enough soup, beans and spaghetti already so no need for that so long term I was grand and just the normal shop for fresh food was really needed.
Think I got sorted before all the real panic buying really kicked off though, all seems a bit mad and no consideration for others. Put the bin out on Wednesday and bringing it back in on Thursday I had a look in a bag of soil that I threw potatoes in probably near a year ago. In the bag a couple of plants had started to grow and there were a few potatoes quite turgid made me think that they have actually grown, I can’t think how potatoes would last a year in a bag of soil without decaying but the plants don’t look like potato plants so I’m really not sure. A year ago I was thinking of growing loose leaf lettuce so I think I’ll do that now and get some seeds. For the craic as much as anything, plus I like plants.
The bonsai tree I got on clearance a month ago is coming along rightly you wouldn’t think a month ago it was all brown and leaves falling off. Now there’s new branch growth of maybe 3 inches and all green fresh leaves and looking really good.
Another quiet weekend, just the usual keeping the head in the sand and on Monday I ran out of sugar so I had to leave the house, a quick trip to get sugar and got another box of cereal. While out I went and got some lettuce and runner bean seeds. I had planned to plant them today but the weather wasn’t good so I ended up not.
I went on the exercise bike for an hour and been spamming all my recorded shows, I seem to be enjoying my science and engineering documentaries and shows that involve hiding from hunters or surviving in the wild. Tonight though I put on xXx followed by Snatch, I’m writing these posts though so it’s more on in the background.
Tomorrow/today (after sleep) is PICC day so I’ll get up have a bite to eat and get on the bike before they come and then see about getting a top-up of fresh food to last me another while so I don’t have to dip into the longer shelf life foods just yet.
Anyway, I’m all caught up again, just remember to support small businesses at this point in time rather than the big shops, one sale will mean all the difference to the small shops so please go to them first and get what you need.
I hope everyone keeps well and takes sensible precautions when it comes to this virus and bugs in general. Stay safe.Tuesday, 17th March
Uncertainty
Thursday morning came and back to the hospital for the next cycle of chemo, today the plan is to see the doc, get bendamustine and obinutuzumab, but this wasn’t the case as per. They took me into the blood room after waiting around the normal time that they would get the bloods taken although I’d mine taken yesterday. Didn’t really seem to matter as they seemed to add extra checks seemingly to waste time then out to the waiting area again and waiting again the normal time to see the doc and then they order the drugs and so the whole point of getting the bloods the day before was pretty much wasted, not wasted but there was no real purpose as such.
I had a few hours to kill before the chemo would be ready so I went looking to go for a fry somewhere, the last time I was on chemo I always went for a fry between hospital and chemo, I thought I’d do the same again. I went to Deanes but they didn’t do frys and I ended up having a sausage bap I think it was called something else though and a coffee. It was before lunch and so was nice and quiet. I was listening to World War Z still and having a coffee, it was really nice so much so I had another coffee just sitting there watching the world go by listening to my book. I’ll remember this for a long time.
I went back to the hospital and the drugs weren’t ready yet, I’d expected this anyway and I didn’t think they’d have time for the long infusion, this just means I’ll have to get it tomorrow instead but I’m up again to get the Bendamustine again and not really an issue. As far as I remember it was all pretty uneventful, they kept referring to this being cycle 4 which I guess it is as the first was a half cycle but I was assuming they were counting it as a cycle but now I’m not sure if I have one or two cycles to go, I guess I would prefer the two to make sure that I was getting it done properly and will be more likely to have worked.
The Friday morning was an awkward one, I had an appointment with respiratory at 9.30 but shouldn’t have been an issue. I went to the treatment room to get my pre-meds, but I don’t exactly know why but took them an hour before they even started to give me them (I got there at 8) and they had to phone respiratory to tell them I’d be a bit later. Finally got all the pre-meds and down to respiratory. I bumped into the main consultant on the way there and had a brief discussion about the CT results then went on into the actual appointment.
My lung capacity and strength are all within the normal range which I’m pleased about, but I didn’t see the main consultant and was with one I hadn’t met before, she was happy and wasn’t concerned about the pains still being there. Scan result showed that the lungs have cleared up considerably and they would be happy to discharge me but they thought it might be a good idea to keep me on the books and come back in 6 months just in case anything was to happen.
Back to the treatment room and more waiting around for a drug that was supposed to have arrived the day before and finally a go. No issues and went through ok. My doc came round later to speak to me about the CT result which she was very happy with and said after the treatment she thinks the lymphoma should be in recession, obviously a good thing and asked about siblings bringing up the bone marrow transplant again. She isn’t directly involved in this and will be another doctor taking the lead, so from what I’ve gathered this will be going ahead but I don’t really know any more than it might be.
Friday was the first day the Covid-19 thing really seemed to be a thing, the hospital were being extra careful with coughing and what you touched making sure that everything was wiped down after especially in the respiratory appointment, completely understandable as everyone there and at the treatment room are all high risk. On the way home I got a call about tablets that had just arrived and I'd need to pick up, organised to do this on the Monday just and get home to relax.
Another lazy weekend staying in the house, the following week I did a lot of reading I got onto a roll of completing a book each day for a total of 9 days in a row, admittedly not big books and most of them were Shakespear plays but still it was a book a day for 9 days. The 10th day was interrupted with having to chase up Universal Credit as they had lost forms I’d sent in over two weeks before and told me that I shouldn’t have even go those forms to complete, but of course, it was my fault and I should have known this. I was very unhappy at all the time wasted, blood was boiling.
I did have a wee day out in Bangor on the following Monday or at least on the outskirts of Bangor, I went to get the windows tinted and had 3 hours to kill so walked to Bloomfield which I’d never actually been to before, smaller than I was expecting but took my time going around. I got a new bag in the Trespass store. I still had a lot of time to kill so went in for a coffee and sat and read, after being there for an hour I decided to head in the direction to pick up the car, there was a wooded area which seemed to have a nice walk around it so aimed for there.
Unbeknown to me it was pretty miserable outside and was raining constantly, but I had a good coat but my trousers got wet enough but weren’t so bad that it was uncomfortable. Had a walk around the wooded area, it was called Balloo Woodland. The gate was in the middle of a lake(puddle) so had to climb to get around it and didn’t go back out that way. Got a call to say the car would be ready in about half an hour so took my time and headed over, it was a little longer but I was chatting to the guy while he was finishing up, turns out he lives quite close to me. Pleased with the car, I think the tint goes well with the black.
I think I’ll continue on to another page for the next week with covid-19 taking a grip on everything.
And so I dunno if I’m cycle 4 or 5 or if I’ll be getting the bone marrow transplant and that was before coronavirus had any grip so now I really don’t know what’s happening.Tuesday, 17th March
Longer than I thought
The last time I updated the blog turns out to have been a full month ago, I thought it was 2 weeks and not really sure where they have disappeared to in all honesty. The days are just disappearing, I can only assume this is a good thing.
I ended the previous post when I was about to go to get my CT scan, Went to the GP first to order tablets and just got the bus into town, I distinctly remember this bus journey as I was listening to World War Z and one of the chapters was about Armagh.
The CT scan itself went well, it couldn't have gone worse than the last time back in December when I was physically sick moving from the bed into the scanner hooked up to oxygen and on copious amounts of pain killers. I was able to hold my breath ok each time I had to, although of course the PICC line didn’t work and they had to quickly stab me so they could give me the dye during the scan, at least that worked ok.
The next day with being out and about the previous day I had a cough again and sniffles, seems to be any time I go out this is the case, and because of this I kept the next while quiet until it settled again which if I remember correctly was the Friday and I got out for a bit of a cycle again, it was nice and went to Comber and back, this time tracking it on the GPS and taking pictures along the way there so I could work on a project that I’ve been meaning to for about a year, but I’ll not be working on this any time soon, but I have it there for when I will.
I have a pile of books hiding out in the box room so I ended up getting a bookcase so they are more accessible and I look intelligent showing them off, despite a fair few being kids books but I feel I should maybe have read them when I was younger so I’m making up for not reading them then ie Roald Dahl and Chronicles of Narnia. I went to a local bookstore to get a few books that I should have read or ones that I know I really like, to fill it up a bit more and will probably get a few more, I have a couple of collections that I would like to add to it.
After the cycle the other day, of course, I ended up with a cough again and I keep it quiet at the weekends anyway as they tend to be busy out and about so I stay in to completely avoid it, not that I go out much during the week either and when I do its to quiet places and don’t really come in to contact with people. After the weekend I wasn’t really up to much and caught up with TV I’d recorded over the next couple of days.
Wednesday morning was PICC time, this time I done some exercises. I went on the exercise bike for a while and flapped my wings, it seemed to help last week so hopefully will be the same this week and well, it worked, didn’t even have to phone the hospital and they were able to get blood which was the plan to help speed up the process tomorrow for hospital, but even if everything goes to plan it’ll be tight to get it all sorted as they’ve planned.
I'll add the rest on another post, give you a bit of a break, or just continue straight away.