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!