Has summer nearly gone?

What happened?  I seem to have been intending to log on and add another post for the last couple of weeks, and it transpires over 2 months have passed by.  I guess I've been busy, but it's been a strange couple of months.  The usual regular visits to hospital have been interspersed with extra visits occasioned by infections requiring treatment.  To the best of my knowledge I haven't been in contact with anyone who's been affected by anything infectious yet I've still managed to have a couple of chest infections.  So that entails a visit to the helpline ward in Cheltenham; bloods taken, chest x-ray, usually a urine sample and probably sent home with antibiotics.  Last time I felt ropey I got checked out in Gloucester and the conclusion was that it was hay fever on top of usual side effects.  By the following day I had a temperature so phoned the helpline.  Yes, they wanted to see me.  Of course they did!  So we went in, and they did the bloods etc. routine and decided to admit me.  It was fourth time lucky getting the cannula in, which was strange as I'm usually obliging about these things, then a litre of fluid and antibiotics.  I was ok to come home after three nights in - with oral antibiotics, naturally.  I frequently wonder how I ever had time to go to work, then I realise that before I was ill there were no trips to hospital at all.

While the weather has been suitable for it we've had the house painted, and it looks really good.  We had a variety of suitable paint available, mostly white and sandstone.  It all went into a huge tub and was thoroughly stirred.  The result is a most pleasing rich cream reminiscent of Cornish clotted cream ice cream.  It was all finished a couple of weeks ago, but the window sills are still glittering white.We now feel sufficiently weather proofed to face the winter, and just hope that visitors don't go straight past - or turn round and go away again in shock.  I can no longer give directions by saying "it's the grubby yellow house on the end"

The hot water system in the camper failed some time ago, so has been taken out.  This has resulted in a leak which is being attended to as I type.  With a bit of luck it will be sorted out by the time we set off tomorrow morning for a weekend in Wells. (On the phone it's often necessary to clarify Wells, not Wales.  Perhaps in print I should specify Somerset rather than Norfolk.)  I have pointed out that running water isn't hugely vital - after all, only dirty people need to wash ; )

Summer seems to have arrived

Gypsy enjoying the sunshine

Although I haven't heard any cuckoo singing, lhude or otherwise, summer seems to have finally "comen in".  It's coincided nicely with my being mid-cycle with medication, so just when I'm feeling limp and lethergic I have something else to blame it on.  I sat on the bench in the garden, with my feet up on a box, doing a little gentle knitting while the cat sought out the real hotspots.  We have a path of round stepping stones which heat up nicely so she tried out a couple of those before finally settling on a quiet spot by the bird bath.  The birds kept out of the way, but she gave a couple of flies the run around for a bit of light relief, returning to her station to meditate.












The heat was positively Mediterranean, with the sky providing a background to the Honey lilies that I couldn't resist.  This photo really was taken yesterday in my garden in Gloucester.

Nectaroscordum siculum ssp. bulgaricum
(Allium bulgaricum):
Sicilian honey lily

I could have included the garage wall behind it for context, but it just wouldn't have the same impact would it? But the garage wall provides a useful service by casting shade over our garden bench in the late afternoon so I can enjoy sitting in the garden without getting scorched.  In spite of not having slept at all the previous night I continued to not feel sleepy, but the warmth was soothing and last night I slept like a log.
Didn't make it to the knitting group this week because of feeling ropey, but feeling more relaxed now.  Amazing what a couple of days of sunshine can do.  I can feel a barbecue coming on this evening, I may even treat myself to a beer.  Who needs to go on holiday?  As Seth Godin said “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from”. I've been watching the evening programmes on the Chelsea flower show and enjoying the different garden designs. I was rather taken with the little dog kennel with a downspout to fill the water bowl in the caravan garden.  And with Doris, the 1950s caravan!  And what a pleasant surprise that the Furzey Garden, with lots of not very fashionable rhododendrons, won Gold.   A just reward for all their effort and hard work fundraising for their first time at Chelsea.  Furzey Gardens making news

Spring has sprung a leak

Long time no blog.... circumstances and all that.  Partly because I was feeling rather better than for some time, so spending more time away from the laptop.  Even made contact with and attended a local knitting group; quite a novelty having a social evening out. First solo social excursion for quite a long time.

And then last weekend it decided to rain rather a lot just when I developed a bit of a sniffle.  But there was no way I was phoning the helpline on Sunday in case they wanted me to hike over to Cheltenham in all that pouring rain. I'm sure it would have been worse for me to go out in that.  So I waited until Monday, when I was advised to leave out Tuesday's chemo meds and phone on Tuesday if I was worse.  And I was, so spent nearly 4 hours on the ward, donated another blood sample, and was allowed home (just) with antibiotics.  Hooray!

I can smell wonderful food being prepared by ace wife, so had better be ready when it arrives - not that I'm reluctant about good food of course.

Playing catch up

It's been a busy few weeks since my last post, with a fair share of ups and downs. We drove up to Newport Pagnell for our granddaughter's christening on 3rd March and spent a delightful day with family and friends, that was a definite up. Shame it was followed by a down the very next day; we spent 5 hours on the helpline ward in Cheltenham with me having blood & urine tested, and a chest x-ray and ecg.  Came home with vast amounts of antibiotics to nobble the chest infection, and spent most of the week in jamas recovering.

In spite of residual cough felt heaps better by Saturday and decided I was ready for a solo expedition.  My first since illness struck in Dec 2010.  So I tootled off to the Co-op on the mobility scooter and bought flowers for my ace missus. A great sense of achievement!  Sunday was good too; an afternoon spent in friendly company at a craft and social session organised to celebrate International Women's Day. So a whole big weekend of UP.  Followed by another down - feeling really wobbly on Monday, with return of sore mouth and throat.  Thought I'd seriously overdone things at the weekend and hoped I'd feel better on Tuesday.  Felt worse, so phoned hospital and had to go in and get checked again, this time at the Edward Jenner Unit in Gloucester.  Turns out the fur coat I've acquired on my tongue (and all down my throat and over soft palate) is oral thrush caused by heavy duty antibiotics ......

So I spent four hours on a drip having extra fluid, potassium and calcium and then came home with two kinds of anti-fungal treatment and some more potassium stuff to fizz in water and drink. Yum!

Perhaps strangely the other UP of the last couple of weeks has been getting a firm date for my retirement. My last official day of employment is 31st March, so from 1st April I will be officially retired.  It feels positive.

A rash, an allergy, and family connections

Having seen the dermatologist it transpires the rash has been inspired by my latest medication.  As it's the first medication for myeloma to which I've responded it looks as though the solution is to continue the medication and manage the rash.  I now have some posh wash which is non drying and soothing, and a supply of non drowsy making long lasting antihistamines. Which work very effectively. And as I don't have to look at the rash that's fine by me.  Next haemo review is this Thursday so fingers crossed that I'm still responding to the meds.
Had a splendid day on Tueday; little cuz (if you'd like to see who this is have a look at charliefrancismusic.com) drove up from Cardiff and took me out to lunch.  He can't do serious home visits here (although he came in for 20 mins for a cuppa before driving home) due to severe cat allergy. (He has a severe allergy to cats, not an allergy to severe cats.) I had a voucher for a free lunch (buy one from the specials board and get a second free, that kind of free) from Blooms garden centre which we felt obliged to put to good use.  So we had pie, and pots of tea followed by lots of conversation.  I'd taken a couple of little folders of old photos so we could do some catching up, and after reviewing some family history and memories we sorted out the rest of the world. And having done that we needed cake.  Charlie came in for a cuppa until his eyes started to itch, then drove home with a box of music I've passed on which he will use for sight reading practise before passing on to another suitable home any that he doesn't wish to keep.  There was also a biscuit box (the modern plastic kind that doesn't rust) containing old family letters from the 1930s. Letters sent by her parents and siblings to my mother at university.  All sorts of family insights, and comments on current affairs; including a set sent after they had listened to the king's abdication speech on the wireless.  Then on Thursday we watched the DVD "The King's Speech" with friends which gave context to that period of family history.

A rash development

Bizarrely, having felt amazingly well for the last two or three weeks, I have developed a rash.  I have, belatedly, become a spotty teenager.  Having phoned the hospital to report this, as required of any new development or change in "wellness," I was asked to go in and be inspected.  It transpires the rash is probably not catching, but as my consultant is not a "rashist"  (his terminology) I am to be referred to a dermatologist just to make sure.  I also, unsurprisingly, have more tablets to take.  Not many - just a weeks boost (5 a day instead of 1) of my antiviral, and some antihistamine to stop the itching.  That's working already; what a relief : )

I'm also starting to notice benefits since my steroid dose has been reduced, fairly drastically, to 40 tablets a month, down from 240.  The hamster cheeks are subsiding, which should mean there's less room for the itchy spots to reside. Bonus!  And the proximal myopathy (wobbly legs, particularly on sitting and standing) is definitely subsiding in sympathy with the retreating hamster face.  So much so that I was getting quite excited at the prospect of sufficient snow for tobogganing. But the snow came to nothing, which is just as well as I'm not truly up to tobogganing in body, although in spirit I'm perched at the top of that slope and ready to go!

In the beginning...

... well not exactly the beginning, but until last Thursday I felt rather in limbo.  Last Thursday I saw the occupational health doctor at the hospital, who had thoroughly read the report from my consultant.  She asked lots of questions and wrote lots of notes.  The upshot was that she believes I'm not fit for work, so she's sending off the paperwork advising that I'm retired on grounds of ill health.  So it's the beginning of a new phase, and I will be on permanent holiday.  Essentially there won't be any change to what's been happening for the last year; I'm not suddenly going to be flying off to go skiing, or snorkelling - or even walking.  The curtain has finally fallen on my working life, and after a strange interlude of critical illness it's about to rise again on a new mystery. What next?