This Week I….

Hello! How’s things? Good I hope?

I’m currently eating a sandwich and preparing for another exciting Sunday afternoon snoozing on the sofa with the Pugs. I’m very much looking forward to it as I am TIRED.

But first, this week I….

Did not take steroids

Happy, happy, joy, joy. Week 3 of my chemo cycle is a week without injections or steroids.

This meant that I gradually started to deflate and feel like a normal human being.

I had a minor meltdown on Tuesday because it was my Dads birthday and I’d convinced myself I’d feel fine and be able to have a couple of beers, then I did have a beer and felt awful so I got a sad on and went to bed. I felt much better in the morning after a good nights sleep.

Went to the dentist

For the first time in at least 15 years I’d say, maybe longer.

As part of my Multiple Myeloma treatment they want to give me a bone strengthener called Zometa. Considering I have a collapsed vertebra I’m quite keen to have my bones strengthened, but before I can have it I had to have a dental check up as the drug can affect healing in the jaw.

Obviously there is not a single dentist in the whole East of England accepting NHS patients (I only checked Norwich, this may bit be true), so my Mum paid for a private check up and I crossed my fingers there was nothing wrong.

I spent 10 minutes in the waiting room listening to a child cry and scream, which was not the most relaxing reintroduction to the world of dentistry. Then I was in the chair for about 5 minutes. They checked my teeth, took some x-rays and told me that apart from a bit of tartar they were perfect.

This appears to have weirdly irritated people who assumed I would need major dental surgery after neglecting my teeth for so long. But I am very, very pleased.

Then I walked home. It is half a mile, it’s probably the furthest I’ve walked in one go since May. I would like to report I am now very unfit!

Went to the beach

On Wednesday we decided to take the pugs for a run on the beach at Waxham. The my love running around on the beach and I love the sea, though personally I prefer a pebble beach to shoes full of sand.

It was a bit breezier than I anticipated, so I’m glad I had shorts under my dress!

We even saw some seals swimming just off shore. I’ve never seen seals in the wild before so it was very cool. I know I live super close to where they all come in and have babies but I’ve never been to see them.

Then we ate a sandwich and went home again. It might not sound exciting but after a hectic few months it was a dream.

Bought a huge t-shirt

For my birthday I got an Oodie. This was very exciting, I love it, it’s like living in a cloud, though it’s a bit warm for it right now.

Then I saw that Oodie were selling oversized t-shirts for summer, and I thought “oooh, that looks comfy”, but they cost £44. Now. I’m willing to spend a bit more money on things that are worth it, but £44 for an oversized t-shirt seems a lot even if it is made of bamboo and has pockets.

So instead I went to Big Dude Clothing and bought an 8XL t-shirt for £9.99. I kind of wish I’d bought a different colour now as this turquoise reminds me of hospital scrubs, but for £9.99 I can buy 4! I promised Mr LLL that I would only wear it on snoozy days and not just spend all my time sitting around the house in it. This may or may not be true, who can say?

Had some good news

Thursday was my first appointment with the haematologist since I started my treatment. I had my bloods taken when I went for my injection on Friday, so they were about half way through the cycle.

The important number they are looking at is the levels of Paraprotein in my blood. Normal people who’s bodies are behaving themselves don’t have any Paraproteins at all. Mine were 8.7 when my bloods were first taken, which is actually still relatively low.

This time they were 5.8.

It’s been a while since I’ve had some good news, and I was starting to feel more human as the steroids wore off, so I may have drunk an awful lot of wine to celebrate.

Hurrah!

Got a new plant to kill

I actually went for coffee with my friend Jess who moved to Bristol and was back visiting, but I had such a nice time catching up that I forgot to take any photos.

She did not only buy me a coffee, but also a lovely plant as a gift that she reassured me she checked was very hard to kill. She knows me well.

Had a poorly Pug

Late on Friday night I thought Peppa was twitching her eyelid slightly. Sometimes this is the first sign of an eye ulcer, but it was so slight I wasn’t even sure I’d seen it or if she was just sleepy.

The eyedrops they give you at the vet are so expensive, and I’d been told they were the same stuff you get for conjunctivitis, so I thought I’d pop to the pharmacy on Saturday and buy some and just keep an eye (he he) on it.

Sadly when we woke up on Saturday her eye was completely closed, and when we looked at it we could actually see the ulcer on her eye, so off to the expensive vets it was. They had no appointments left, so apparently we had to pay an additional £30 “sit and wait” fee. Wonderful.

Poor Peppa was obviously in pain and not her normal feisty self. The ulcer is quite deep, and she has had eye drops every 2 hours since, and with painkillers she has recovered some of her feisty self. We’ll take her back next week to get it checked and make sure it’s healing.

Drank Cocktails

Because I’m making the most of this week before I go back on another fortnight of steroids! So last night I ordered us cocktails from Tipsy Jar, we ordered pizza from pizza express and watched the football (I think that went a lot better than most people expected).

Possibly the poshest football drinks and takeout combo we could manage.

And that was another week in my exciting life.

How was your week?