This Fortnight I…..

Well, it’s certainly been a week!

There was no update last week as I spent most of Sunday trying to get treatment for an eye infection, which was as fun as you can imagine. More on that later!

I’ve spent this Sunday in a slightly more relaxed way, watching Drop Dead Fred and compiling a list of not super scary Halloween movies. Fun!

But now, let’s catch up. This Fortnight I…..

Visited the Bone Marrow Clinic

Because Cancer doesn’t take a holiday, we had to take a break from ours and head back to Norwich to go to the hospital.

I did not know what to expect at the Bone Marrow Clinic. In the end all that happened was they explained Bone Marrow Transplants to me and then made me another appointment for the end of October. The plan is to start stem cell collection early November and then hopefully I’ll be in and out of hospital by Christmas!

I did also find out my current paraprotein levels were 2. This is only slightly down from 2.1 last cycle. I was disappointed, because I have invented competitive chemo and was hoping for under 1.

Bought Wine

Because we had to take a day trip we decided to pop into a winery that was sort of near our holiday cottage and bought local wine and beer.

Any excuse.

Over celebrated

Naturally, on the last night of our holiday we had to go to the local pub and drink some beer.

Then we drank some of the local beer in the garden, then we drank many other things and went home the next day with a headache.

For those of you with doggy pals, we stayed at a cottage in Suffolk owned by my friend that she has transformed into a very dog friendly holiday let.

By very dog friendly I mean they have their own bath, special towels, toys, treats and water bowls, plus beds in all the rooms and they’re allowed on all the furniture. It was amazing even if I was exhausted and just slept for most of it! It sleeps 6 adults and you can find them at Hound and Human Holidays or on Instagram .

Got an eye infection

After a lovely holiday what I really needed was to go home and develop an eye infection,

I think I did that thing where you relax and your body decides it’s now got time to be ill. Thanks body….

You’re not supposed to mess with infections when you’re on all these drugs as they can turn bad fast. So on Sunday I rang my emergency number, and was advised to call 111 to get antibiotics which culminated in a 10pm visit to an emergency GP who was a funny old stick, complemented my arm muscles when he took my BP and told me I was a lovely person and he wished he could give me a hug!

He also gave me antibiotics, which means the infection is now gone at least but I do still have some fetching lumps on my eyelids.

Did not start cycle 5 of chemo

Once again I am medical marvel.

Before I start each chemo cycle they make me take a pregnancy test because one of my drugs is Thalidomide and they’re really twitchy about it for some reason….

The blood test checks levels of a hormone called HCG, under 5 is normal, 6-25 is borderline, over 25 you’re almost certainly pregnant.

For some reason on Tuesday mine was 6. I am not pregnant. Seriously, I’m not unless it’s the baby Jesus. I have a broken back and I sleep all the time.

But still, regardless of my views on this I was not allowed treatment. I went back on Friday for a urine test which is apparently more reliable, but also came back borderline. No one knows why, no one has ever seen it happen before. I am a medical marvel and will probably be written about in textbooks.

They took more blood and next week I will find out if they will let me restart treatment.

Laughed at Waldo

Because he fell down a hole.

We went for a walk on the golf course and they have holes to keep the hose pipes in that are covered with a plastic cover.

Waldo casually wandered across one, it flipped over and plummeted him headfirst into the hole with the lid neatly on top of him and his back legs still on the ground.

First reaction “oh god is he hurt?” Once we’d established that he was bemused but fine we then laughed, a lot, I’m laughing now.

We didn’t take a photo obviously but Mr LLL has helpfully created this artist’s impression.

Got ready for autumn

Yes that’s right, this weeks heatwave is my fault because I ordered pumpkin spice syrup and autumn wax melts

Then I went to TK Maxx and bought candles, but I did NOT buy some very cool plates with skulls on as for some reason they were a waste of money but candles weren’t. Then I regretted it and went back but they were gone and now I am sad. There’s a lesson there somewhere I’m sure. It might be “always waste money” so I’m not sure it’s a GOOD lesson, but a lesson none the less.

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And that was the last fortnight of life in this year that’s turning out to be even weirder than 2020.

How was your week?