Session 3 of Methylprednisolone

Week of 28th May to 3rd June 2007

As this week starts with a Bank Holiday, I am having my Methylprednisolone from Monday through to Saturday, as well as giving myself my three days of Campath. I had to remind myself what the steroid dosage is; 2 grams in 250 ml of saline solution - a hefty dosage - or ‘industrial quantities’ as Steve Devereux puts it! It is also eight weeks since the last lot rather than the four weeks it should have been, so will that make any difference? The week goes quite well. I feel tired most afternoons and have one or two hours sleep each day. I also have that strange dulled vision that comes with Methylpred. - as if my specs need cleaning. On Tuesday I felt quite light headed and on Saturday, a bit sickly. On the other hand I had a pint with Jim on Wednesday and lunch with Keith at the Royal Oak on Thursday, followed by a visit to the farm barn conversion they are having in Henfield. I also had to change a wheel on the A27 coming home on Saturday as we had a complete blow-out and shredded tyre - really annoying after just 2400 miles. So that was a test of my energy levels. Needless to say I was very tired afterwards and had a good sleep in the afternoon. As the week progressed so my taste buds started to be affected, with the taste of some things being altered more than others. But the good news is that my overall appetite seemed to hold up ok. But I found that I want Metoclopromide to ensure I don’t feel nauseous and I ask for a spray to deal with a dry mouth. My weight hovers around 76 kgs all week but whilst my Hbn is 10.4 across three blood tests and my PLTs average 142, my Wbc went from 1.2 to 6.1 and 5.7 and my Neutrophils from 1.0 to 5.3 and 5.0! I am told this is the Methylpred.

Our computer decides to die this week. Not only that, but it is giving off a nasty smell. We get a local PC engineer to have a look at it and he is able to remove most of the data files, but stops short of email and its address book - which is a right pain. Here’s hoping he can sort those out as well. It has been a real frustration these past two months as I have been off email all that time and recently Tina’s went down as well. Meanwhile we decide to use my brand new laptop as our main PC, complete with WiFi, bells and whistles.

I get an interesting call from Paul Hill telling me that the Health Trust’s legal person has viewed my blog and pointed out that I have referred to fellow patients by name. This contravenes the Data Protection Act apparently and I am asked to remove them. I suppose if I had got their permission, it would have been alright - shame really. On Sunday I am feeling really weary and my legs are aching. My food is just about ok. I am not enjoying my breakfasts now and my Saturday and Sunday dinners have been good only because it’s Spanish pork casserole.