So Easter has been and gone and it's been a good couple of weeks since the last update. This cycle of treatment is particularly intense due to the fact my MRD came back positive, so it came as no surprise to my consultant that I rocked up at the Marsden on 2nd April with an infection. In fact a couple of weeks previously he had even double checked with me that I had a plan in place for that precise situation. So I shouldn't have been surprised either really.
However, after the previous week's treatment of Vincristine and Peg-asparaginase and some sessions of anti fungal at Maidstone, maybe I had eased myself into a false sense of security. So when I turned up at Maidstone Hospital on 1st April for my Ambisone appointment and they found I had a temperature of 38.6, it was a surprise to say the least. Yes, I hadn't been feeling 100% that day and yes, I thought it was just due to my haemoglobin dropping, but I had been taking my temperature at home so wasn't entirely prepared for a week long stint in hospital.
Maidstone were very good at getting blood tests and cultures done (as they are always concerned a peripheral or central line can be the cause of an infection) and getting me through A&E to a side room where I could get IV antibiotics. I then got moved to a side room on a ward, where, after a pretty rough night, I was then transferred up to the TCT ward at the Royal Marsden. Luckily the tests Maidstone had done came back pretty swiftly as an E Coli infection that was sensitive to a couple of antibiotics that I was then put on (in addition to the broad spectrum ones I'd already been started on). These types of infections are fairly normal according to my consultant, since the intense chemo reduces the natural protection your gut wall has against its own natural colonies of bacteria (which you very much need to survive). What essentially happens is that the bacteria (which normally doesn't harm you and just sits nicely in your gut) manages to cross into the gut wall and into the blood - cue neutropenic sepsis. So you can try your hardest to avoid an infection, but unfortunately you can not and would not want to sterilise your gut. You'd have thought my mum would have been pleased, therefore, that the whole thing was completely unavoidable and that she had not in fact poisoned me!
Chemo continued regardless of the infection since the main aim is to kick this Leukaemia's arse, after all. And after a week of feeling extremely rough and being given fluids (which my body kindly retained so I managed to put on 6kg in 2days!! Cue the return of the jelly baby appearance), IV antibiotics, and a plethora of other drugs, I was finally discharged. So Easter was nicely missed, as well as some glorious weather, and any potential time I had hoped to spend with Phil gone. The best thing, however, was the evening I got home I managed to drop a wooden stool on one of my toes. So now, I'm even more crippled. I can't get out and go for a nice walk or anything, or drive, because my toe is purple. Things just keep getting better! I also, very sadly, missed Sean and Kath's wedding. What with my neutrophil counts generally plummeting, a hospital appointment, Phil having a cold and then - the toe - I unfortunately was destined to not be able to go... :( It did look like they had a beautiful day though, and they were so lucky with the weather! I'm just sorry to have missed it.
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| The toe... |
This week entails some more Ambisone appointments at Maidstone Hospital (Mon, Wed, Fri - standard), and a trip to the Marsden for a clinic appointment with my consultant on Thursday. And hopefully trying to not be an inpatient again for at least another couple of weeks. (I have been warned already by my consultant that another trip in with another infection is probably likely at the end of April. - oh yay...) All apparently normal for this kind of intense treatment! Lets just keep everything crossed it's all working!!
Anyway, I do apologise for the rather uninteresting and quite moany instalment this week. I do, however, want everyone at uni to know I am thinking of them all with their OSCEs coming up. I wish you all the best of luck, though I'm sure you don't need it, as from what I can see from all the pictures, you are all practising your socks off! I really am hoping to come up and visit at some point, but when that is likely to be I am unsure. It seems planning anything just ends up badly at the moment...so will have to wait and see!
Much love to you all xxx
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