An itchy few weeks....

Apologies for the lack of an update recently, but to be honest it's been the last thing on my mind for the last 12 days. In fact the past few weeks have been one painful, itchy, sleepless blur. A couple of weeks agoe put on a specific antibiotic to try and get rid of the abscess under my arm. Unfortunately I had an allergic reaction to this antibiotic, resulting in a rash which quickly covered my face and neck. It felt like severe sunburn and looked as though I'd spent way too much time under a high intensity sunbed. After a few days my face then started to swell up and my eyes closed as a result....a very handsome young man indeed!! In addition to the face I also started to get small blisters on my upper torso....not so painful, but extremely itchy. All this meant no sleep, which of course just added to the frustration. The swelling continued to get worse last weekend, so I was advised to go to A&E. Three hours later we returned home with more anti histamine tablets, but nothing else. A&E didn't want to prescribe any steriod based creams due to the effect it could have on my immune system, so all the time my breathing was unaffected, I'd basically just have to man up and grin and bear it....just what I wanted to hear!! Relief finally arrived last Wednesday when my consultant did prescribe some steriod based creams for both body and face. Having used them for the last two days, my face has calmed significantly, however my body (which they think is folliculitis) remains quite spotty and still very itchy. I've also been prescribed sleeping tablets, so I've finally been able to get some shut eye. After a nightmarish two weeks, I'm finally starting to feel normal again.

I've also been back to Hammersmith twice since my last update for more immunoglobulin (antibodies) and my pentamidine nebulizer (for pneumonia). Most importantly for now, my blood counts are improving, so for the medics and vampires amongst you, here are the readings:

14th Feb; WBC 4.6, neutrophils 2.0, Hb 9.8, platelets 176
20th Feb; WBC 6.1, neutrophils 2.2, Hb 11.4, platelets 232

As I think I've previously mentioned, the improving blood counts are great news, it indicates that my stem cells are growing well. What it doesn't show however is the impact the transplant has had on my cancer. I'll only know this in two months time, when I have a bone marrow biopsy.

Fortunately my platelet count of 176 on 14th Feb meant that I could have my Hickman line removed. I would describe it as a painless, but fairly brutal process. My image of a doctor putting two feet on the side of the bed and tugging with all his might was actually not far from the truth. There was none of this 'we'll give a gentle pull and if the line doesn't come loose we'll need to cut the cuff out first'. The cuff by the way is a kevlar disc just under the skin onto which your skin grows to hold the line in place. This 'baby' was coming out whatever....even if it meant half my internal organs coming out with it. Two hard tugs later and the line was out....unfortunately minus the cuff. This decided to stay inside my body, which now makes me the proud owner of a third nipple!!! Though this does potentially open up a whole new career, to be honest I'm not a great fan of having bits just left in my body, so my consultant has promised to cut it out once my skin condition is under control.

So, all in all, the past two weeks have not been the most pleasant experience...very tiring and very frustrating to say the least. Still, I have come out of it all with a third nipple, and there's not too many people in the world that can say that!!!