Monday 18th to Sunday 23rd March 2008
I am up to London for a day’s work. I have a meeting two floors up from my office and another in the afternoon at Scotland Yard, which gets me out again. With plenty of background reading to do at home, Easter and our week in La Gomera to come, I shall not be back in the office for two weeks. In the evening we go to Worthing and meet up with Matthew and co. to see Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It is Ella’s birthday and this is her special birthday treat. It was great, but bless her, she fell asleep half way through the second half of the show!
On Tuesday I have the Citroen serviced, do some paperwork and then go to Brighton for my Pentamidine nebuliser. As usual the taste is bitter and I cough up loads of stuff on the way home – and yet more productively with my physio once I am home. I work all day Wednesday background reading for my project, while Tina has a day out in Tunbridge Wells with cousin Jane. I get a call to tell me that my Dermatologist’s appointment is on 11th April. That is quick. I am still to hear from the ENT people about an appointment for my sinus problem! Incidentally, my sinuses seemed to have unblocked some days back and I stopped using the nose drops. However, a few days later, back it came and so I am back on the nose drops again. It seems to have regressed quite a lot – which is slightly uncomfortable and very annoying.
Thursday morning is my Brighton clinic and I see Tim Corbett. My weight is 75 kgs – no change in two weeks. It takes three attempts to get blood from me today! My blood results are good – Wbc: 3.1; Neuts: 1.6; Lymph: 1.1; Hbn: 12.9; Plt: 77. My neutrophils have stayed constant remarkably for the past four weeks without any GCSF injections being necessary - all very good news. Tim comments on my sinusitis persisting, because my immune system recovery is slow. The more detailed breakdown of my white cells indicates this and shows that and I need to remain on Ciprofloxacin (or similar), Voraconozole and monthly Pentamidine and Vigam for the time being. Tim says it could be a year before I can come off these. He has yet to get a full response from Mark Jackson on my changing over to Colomycin, which needs a nebuliser being supplied as well. I hope to hear more on that later. Apart from the usual rattles in my chest, there are no problems with my physical examination. Tim agrees that a dermatologist should look at the place on my head, albeit it is has reduced in size and appearance. He will send me a copy of his GP letter so that I have it with me when we go to La Gomera, should I need it for any adverse reason. I will take my supply of Amoxycillin with me anyway, just in case I pick up a cold. I am to see him again in three weeks.
We have Easter weekend away at Linda’s in Leicestershire and we leave after breakfast on Good Friday morning and have a really enjoyable time. On Saturday Tina, Linda and Anita go shopping to Nottingham, while Bob, Paul, Tom and I go to the pub. I later find out that three pints of Pedigree at lunchtime is just a little too much for me in my slightly dodgy state of health. I am a little subdued for the rest of the day! We wake on Easter Sunday to a carpeting of snow, but it is gone by late morning. We have a good circular walk along the towpath to Shackerstone and back – about two and a half miles - with a stop for refreshment in the village. This is followed by plenty of lung evacuation physio! My sinuses are still playing up. We drive home on Monday morning and the day turns into a clear bright afternoon but still with a wintry feel about it. Can’t wait to fly off on Wednesday for a week of sun, rest and recuperation.
Monday 24 March 2008
Thursday 20 March 2008
Back to Work – Week Two
Monday 10th to Sunday 16th March 2008
I spend Monday at home doing odds and ends. I do a couple of hours work reading documents relating to my project. I am already feeling rather full stomached - or is that my stomach is shrinking again? - after only two days without Omeprazole, so I resume my tablet in the evening. It was worth trying, if only to see that I still need it!
I am up to the office on Tuesday. Martin has generously increased my daily fee and has had a contract drawn up. I get hold of some more background information for my project and go over to the offices on the Embankment to sign my contract. So here is a little more exercise for me, but I am tired in the evening. I am at home again on Wednesday. I do some sorting out reference my resuming self employment, including talking to Graham Hole over my likely tax and national insurance needs – very timely as it is budget day! I have two very productive lung physio sessions. I guess there is no end to this!
I work from home on Thursday but go to the doctor as I have a troublesome place on my head which has been there for about two years. It started off as dry skin, but has gone on to be irritating and occasionally sore and scabby. It has become a larger scabby place in the last few days and I didn’t want to wait another week until I say Tim Corbett. I am reassured that it is non-problematic sun damage. I get a referral to a dermatologist at Brighton and some anti-biotic Bactroban ointment to ensure any potential infection is dealt with.
I go to the office on Friday. I have a big coughing-up session about 11.30am, but I am able to find somewhere quiet for it, fortunately. Otherwise it is an uneventful day and evening, although I have to do my physio when I get home. I am very pleased with my first two week’s back at work and I think that I can manage whatever comes as long as I know my limitations.
Saturday is a relaxing day in preparation for Ella’s 7th birthday fancy dress party this evening down at Worthing. We go as cowboy and cowgirl - complete with hats! It is the usual children’s birthday chaos with Charrise doing a great job keeping everyone entertained and in order. Matthew and co. come to us for Sunday lunch and afters. It is a lousy day, so we don’t venture out. I do an hour of physio in the late afternoon. It is quite difficult and I am also tired. I fall asleep twice, hence half and hour becomes one hour! The nasty place on my head seems to be easing with the regular use of the ointment.
I spend Monday at home doing odds and ends. I do a couple of hours work reading documents relating to my project. I am already feeling rather full stomached - or is that my stomach is shrinking again? - after only two days without Omeprazole, so I resume my tablet in the evening. It was worth trying, if only to see that I still need it!
I am up to the office on Tuesday. Martin has generously increased my daily fee and has had a contract drawn up. I get hold of some more background information for my project and go over to the offices on the Embankment to sign my contract. So here is a little more exercise for me, but I am tired in the evening. I am at home again on Wednesday. I do some sorting out reference my resuming self employment, including talking to Graham Hole over my likely tax and national insurance needs – very timely as it is budget day! I have two very productive lung physio sessions. I guess there is no end to this!
I work from home on Thursday but go to the doctor as I have a troublesome place on my head which has been there for about two years. It started off as dry skin, but has gone on to be irritating and occasionally sore and scabby. It has become a larger scabby place in the last few days and I didn’t want to wait another week until I say Tim Corbett. I am reassured that it is non-problematic sun damage. I get a referral to a dermatologist at Brighton and some anti-biotic Bactroban ointment to ensure any potential infection is dealt with.
I go to the office on Friday. I have a big coughing-up session about 11.30am, but I am able to find somewhere quiet for it, fortunately. Otherwise it is an uneventful day and evening, although I have to do my physio when I get home. I am very pleased with my first two week’s back at work and I think that I can manage whatever comes as long as I know my limitations.
Saturday is a relaxing day in preparation for Ella’s 7th birthday fancy dress party this evening down at Worthing. We go as cowboy and cowgirl - complete with hats! It is the usual children’s birthday chaos with Charrise doing a great job keeping everyone entertained and in order. Matthew and co. come to us for Sunday lunch and afters. It is a lousy day, so we don’t venture out. I do an hour of physio in the late afternoon. It is quite difficult and I am also tired. I fall asleep twice, hence half and hour becomes one hour! The nasty place on my head seems to be easing with the regular use of the ointment.
Wednesday 12 March 2008
I Get Back to Work after 14 Months
Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th March 2008
After living with my sinusitis for over four weeks, at last I have a CT scan on my sinuses on Monday afternoon. I am told that a scan result will be with my consultant for my Thursday clinic. I do a bit more clearing of the garage.
I go up to Earls Court on Tuesday for my first working day for 14 months and to discuss a contract and what Martin and Steve want me to do. I take the 8.26am train, getting to the office at 9.45am. Just right for me, except that I have to catch the school bus from here! I have an hour or so in the office chatting with the old team before Martin and Steve arrive. All seven of that main team are in and make me very welcome. I am made even more welcome by Steve and Martin. It is great to be back, but even nicer is the warmth of that welcome from the top duo. Almost brought a tear to the eye! Martin has an interesting project for me looking into consultation arrangements across London. I don’t have the complete specification today but it looks like six months’ work to me. My plan is to take early opportunities to get out and about and see how I cope with walking the streets of London, climbing up and down tube station stairs and generally exercising myself as I predict quite a bit of my future working life this year will be. I am free for the afternoon, so I test out my stamina straight away, by travelling across to Holborn to meet up with an old analyst contact from my 2006 project. It is a very worthwhile visit in all respects. I walk a total of about two miles, some of it unnecessary as I go to the wrong station for my train home. It is quite exerting and I cough up a load of gunge sitting on the platform at St Pancras, but I consider that I passed the test. I catch a bus home from the station and get home at 7pm. Quite a day!
On Wednesday I finish sorting out the garage contents and take a load of rubbish to the tip. I leave a message on Pete Korell’s blog, including asking him to email me if he has time.
I have a morning clinic at Brighton on Thursday and see Sangeeta. My CT scan shows that the right drainage hole is still blocked, but I have to say that it is feeling slightly better. Carry on with the nasal drops. She tells me that I have an appointment with the ENT team in the pipeline for sometime soon. My blood results today are - Wbc: 3.3; Neuts: 1.7; Lymph: 1.2; Hbn: 13.3; Plt: 96. I do not need a GCSF injection and can wait for the next clinic in two weeks to see how the neutrophils progress. I am to continue with the Pentamidine nebuliser, which I am scheduled to have in two weeks time. I then go to Staplefield for lunch with another former work colleague Dave Scales. We go back to 1976 in the Burgess Hill CID, when he was my boss, but we haven’t seen each other since May 1997. It’s really great to meet again and we do an immense amount of catching up.
I have another day in London on Friday, getting up early to catch the 7.19 train. The team has organised a national conference of Neighbourhood Policing and I have a sitting and listening day. It is very relaxing and I make a couple of useful contacts for my impending project! I even have a chat with Tim Godwin who comes in the do the closing speech - yet another blinder of course! He is delighted that I am back. We babysit for Matthew and Charrise in the evening, including my driving them to and from their friends. Today is another test for me, as not only do I have a day in London, but I drive a total of 76 miles, half of which is after midnight and an hour or so dozing on the settee!
We have Tony and Pam visit us for the weekend. We meet up at the Royal Oak for lunch on Saturday and have a leisurely rest of the day with plenty of chatting. We have an energetic walk on Sunday morning up at Wakehurst Place. It isn’t that we walk very far, but the first half is mainly downhill and so the second half is mostly uphill - and very steep at that! Another test for my dodgy lungs! My stomach has seemed to be well back to normal for the past two months, so I decide to stop taking my daily Omeprazole tablet ands see what happens. For the first time in my living memory there is only one club from the top flight - Portsmouth - in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The others are West Bromwich, Cardiff and Barnsley - who beat Liverpool and Chelsea in their last two ties.
After living with my sinusitis for over four weeks, at last I have a CT scan on my sinuses on Monday afternoon. I am told that a scan result will be with my consultant for my Thursday clinic. I do a bit more clearing of the garage.
I go up to Earls Court on Tuesday for my first working day for 14 months and to discuss a contract and what Martin and Steve want me to do. I take the 8.26am train, getting to the office at 9.45am. Just right for me, except that I have to catch the school bus from here! I have an hour or so in the office chatting with the old team before Martin and Steve arrive. All seven of that main team are in and make me very welcome. I am made even more welcome by Steve and Martin. It is great to be back, but even nicer is the warmth of that welcome from the top duo. Almost brought a tear to the eye! Martin has an interesting project for me looking into consultation arrangements across London. I don’t have the complete specification today but it looks like six months’ work to me. My plan is to take early opportunities to get out and about and see how I cope with walking the streets of London, climbing up and down tube station stairs and generally exercising myself as I predict quite a bit of my future working life this year will be. I am free for the afternoon, so I test out my stamina straight away, by travelling across to Holborn to meet up with an old analyst contact from my 2006 project. It is a very worthwhile visit in all respects. I walk a total of about two miles, some of it unnecessary as I go to the wrong station for my train home. It is quite exerting and I cough up a load of gunge sitting on the platform at St Pancras, but I consider that I passed the test. I catch a bus home from the station and get home at 7pm. Quite a day!
On Wednesday I finish sorting out the garage contents and take a load of rubbish to the tip. I leave a message on Pete Korell’s blog, including asking him to email me if he has time.
I have a morning clinic at Brighton on Thursday and see Sangeeta. My CT scan shows that the right drainage hole is still blocked, but I have to say that it is feeling slightly better. Carry on with the nasal drops. She tells me that I have an appointment with the ENT team in the pipeline for sometime soon. My blood results today are - Wbc: 3.3; Neuts: 1.7; Lymph: 1.2; Hbn: 13.3; Plt: 96. I do not need a GCSF injection and can wait for the next clinic in two weeks to see how the neutrophils progress. I am to continue with the Pentamidine nebuliser, which I am scheduled to have in two weeks time. I then go to Staplefield for lunch with another former work colleague Dave Scales. We go back to 1976 in the Burgess Hill CID, when he was my boss, but we haven’t seen each other since May 1997. It’s really great to meet again and we do an immense amount of catching up.
I have another day in London on Friday, getting up early to catch the 7.19 train. The team has organised a national conference of Neighbourhood Policing and I have a sitting and listening day. It is very relaxing and I make a couple of useful contacts for my impending project! I even have a chat with Tim Godwin who comes in the do the closing speech - yet another blinder of course! He is delighted that I am back. We babysit for Matthew and Charrise in the evening, including my driving them to and from their friends. Today is another test for me, as not only do I have a day in London, but I drive a total of 76 miles, half of which is after midnight and an hour or so dozing on the settee!
We have Tony and Pam visit us for the weekend. We meet up at the Royal Oak for lunch on Saturday and have a leisurely rest of the day with plenty of chatting. We have an energetic walk on Sunday morning up at Wakehurst Place. It isn’t that we walk very far, but the first half is mainly downhill and so the second half is mostly uphill - and very steep at that! Another test for my dodgy lungs! My stomach has seemed to be well back to normal for the past two months, so I decide to stop taking my daily Omeprazole tablet ands see what happens. For the first time in my living memory there is only one club from the top flight - Portsmouth - in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The others are West Bromwich, Cardiff and Barnsley - who beat Liverpool and Chelsea in their last two ties.
Monday 3 March 2008
A Week in the Garage and some Movement with the Sinusitis
Monday 25th February to Sunday 2nd March 2008
The initial plan to get up to London to discuss my return to work with Martin has to be put off for a week, so the main theme this week is clearing out the garage! It has been used as a store for convenience and a most annoying collection of rubbishy items for well over a year. Time for a “Spring” clean. Of course I have to be careful about damaging or cutting my hands and overdoing things with my energy levels still below par. But I bang my head on the garage door instead and need a plaster on it for the rest of the week! Anyway I do a steady two hours on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, after a short walk out and my lung clearing physio. On Tuesday evening I get a call from Tim Godwin. He says he wants me back at work on Monday! Ha, ha - just a small matter of a contract is needed, but a great motivation nonetheless. I get another nice message on my blog from Pete Korell in Wisconsin. He is about to see a consultant in Wilwaukee on the prospect of a transplant, but first had to negotiate permission with his insurance company. Not the best thing to have to do when you are ill as well! We don’t realise how lucky we are in the UK until we hear these stories. Anyway Pete, hope you get all the right answers and you are able to go through to your transplant.
Tina and I do two fast trips to the local tip on Wednesday morning with all the stuff I have rooted out of the garage. Then I see Richard Cook, my GP, about my sinusitis. This has been with me for very nearly four weeks and I am getting fed up with it! The nose spray we bought from the chemist has not made any effect. He prescribes me some Mometasone, a steroid based spray and some more antibiotics, this time Doxycycline for seven days. We go to cinema for the first time for about 18 months, if not longer, to see Oscar winning Daniel Day-Lewis in “There will be Blood” - superb. Whilst garage clearing on Thursday morning and doing some essential nose blowing, my left ear pops for the first time since in these past four weeks. At last! In fact it happens three times. Just goes to show what the proper medication can do in just two days!
On Friday I have my Day Unit appointment for my monthly Vigam immunoglobulin infusion plus a blood test. It is another four hour session. My blood results today are - Wbc: 3.9; Neut: 2.5; Lymph: 0.9; Hbn: 12.5; Plt: 104; and CRP: 16 - so I don’t have to take home any GCSF, but the CRP shows that I still have infection in me. My weight today is 74.7kgs - up slightly from last Friday. It is worth recording that my current daily medications are anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-biotic, namely Aciclovir 200mg 3 times daily, Voriconozole 200mg twice daily and Ciprofloxacin 500mg twice daily. Additionally I have Omeprazole 20mg once daily and a garlic pearl twice daily for my stomach. Then it is Vigam and Pentamidine once monthly.
We have dinner at Val and Michel’s on Friday evening, meet up with Lu and Roger for lunch at the Royal Oak on Saturday and a fillet steak dinner at home that evening. Sunday being Mothers’ Day, we go down to Matthew’s for lunch of a superb Jamie Oliver Italian leg of lamb - absolutely delicious! Matthew and I take Ella and Mia on their bicycles to the local park on a fairly chilly afternoon. It certainly blows the cobwebs out of my lungs! Needless to say I get home for a big lung evacuation session. I am certainly getting plenty out from in there lately. Better out than in as they say. My sinusitis is still very much with me, well over four weeks since it started, but I am feeling a few movements from the congestion up there, so the medicine must be working.
The initial plan to get up to London to discuss my return to work with Martin has to be put off for a week, so the main theme this week is clearing out the garage! It has been used as a store for convenience and a most annoying collection of rubbishy items for well over a year. Time for a “Spring” clean. Of course I have to be careful about damaging or cutting my hands and overdoing things with my energy levels still below par. But I bang my head on the garage door instead and need a plaster on it for the rest of the week! Anyway I do a steady two hours on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, after a short walk out and my lung clearing physio. On Tuesday evening I get a call from Tim Godwin. He says he wants me back at work on Monday! Ha, ha - just a small matter of a contract is needed, but a great motivation nonetheless. I get another nice message on my blog from Pete Korell in Wisconsin. He is about to see a consultant in Wilwaukee on the prospect of a transplant, but first had to negotiate permission with his insurance company. Not the best thing to have to do when you are ill as well! We don’t realise how lucky we are in the UK until we hear these stories. Anyway Pete, hope you get all the right answers and you are able to go through to your transplant.
Tina and I do two fast trips to the local tip on Wednesday morning with all the stuff I have rooted out of the garage. Then I see Richard Cook, my GP, about my sinusitis. This has been with me for very nearly four weeks and I am getting fed up with it! The nose spray we bought from the chemist has not made any effect. He prescribes me some Mometasone, a steroid based spray and some more antibiotics, this time Doxycycline for seven days. We go to cinema for the first time for about 18 months, if not longer, to see Oscar winning Daniel Day-Lewis in “There will be Blood” - superb. Whilst garage clearing on Thursday morning and doing some essential nose blowing, my left ear pops for the first time since in these past four weeks. At last! In fact it happens three times. Just goes to show what the proper medication can do in just two days!
On Friday I have my Day Unit appointment for my monthly Vigam immunoglobulin infusion plus a blood test. It is another four hour session. My blood results today are - Wbc: 3.9; Neut: 2.5; Lymph: 0.9; Hbn: 12.5; Plt: 104; and CRP: 16 - so I don’t have to take home any GCSF, but the CRP shows that I still have infection in me. My weight today is 74.7kgs - up slightly from last Friday. It is worth recording that my current daily medications are anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-biotic, namely Aciclovir 200mg 3 times daily, Voriconozole 200mg twice daily and Ciprofloxacin 500mg twice daily. Additionally I have Omeprazole 20mg once daily and a garlic pearl twice daily for my stomach. Then it is Vigam and Pentamidine once monthly.
We have dinner at Val and Michel’s on Friday evening, meet up with Lu and Roger for lunch at the Royal Oak on Saturday and a fillet steak dinner at home that evening. Sunday being Mothers’ Day, we go down to Matthew’s for lunch of a superb Jamie Oliver Italian leg of lamb - absolutely delicious! Matthew and I take Ella and Mia on their bicycles to the local park on a fairly chilly afternoon. It certainly blows the cobwebs out of my lungs! Needless to say I get home for a big lung evacuation session. I am certainly getting plenty out from in there lately. Better out than in as they say. My sinusitis is still very much with me, well over four weeks since it started, but I am feeling a few movements from the congestion up there, so the medicine must be working.
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