Remission

It has been a busy day, possibly the best day I have had for good news since we discovered that Harry is a perfect match donor.

I slept well; diarrhoea is gone for now, and only my bladder wakes me which I am not used to. But given the trauma it has suffered, I forgive it. It is still a bit of a ceremony to get to the loo, so I keep some bottles by the bed. Nigh-time is certainly a lot more comfortable.

The orthopaedic consultant and his team came again, and I 'fessed up to him that I blogged he was smart, decisive but a bit of sadist. He laughed and agreed, and then inflicted agony on me again, but as ever it does get the pus moving. However, there was too much tissue sediment for it to drain a lot, and he ordered another flush of saline. He also urged me to do what he was doing (I thought "you must be joking"). Later on in the afternoon, the nurse changed the tube, dressing and bag, and performed the flush. There was a little flow, but I pressed down on the tender area and the pus flowed (along with my tears).

I may have another go before turning in, but I won't be able to see the effect so it won't be so rewarding. They have booked me for an ultrasound tomorrow to see how much pus is left, and to see if there are any other pockets of pus that have not been reached.

Harry came for a visit at 10:00 and the physio also came. She also proceeded to torture me, but I am not very self disciplined so I do need somebody to push me (Rose likes playing this role). Finally I got to relax, and chat with Harry ... and then my doctor came in to visit.

He told me some very good news. When I was admitted, 40% of my hlood cells were blasts (the primitive cells that do nothing and indicate cancer). The preliminary results of the bone marrow biopsy indicate blasts at 2%, the normal being under 5%. So, I am in remission. I still have to wait for the results from the solid matter tests (another week), but this is still very good news.

The doctor was also very upbeat about my leg. He thinks it will recover in a few days. He wanted me to restart taking oral Clindamycin, to clear out any residual infection. But since this has a side effect of diarrhoea, I asked him to wait until I can walk properly and the drain is removed, and he agreed. With a fair wind I might be going home sometime next week for a week or so. My fingers are crossed.

I have always thought of remission as a gate to pass. It is now open, or at least opening. For those of you who know the musical "Fiddler on the Roof", the opening song has the full cast belting out "tradition!", and in my mind I hear them singing "remission!" the other side of the gate. As an aside, when we were kids our Mum took us to the West End to see the show, starring Topol! I can still remember it (or at least fool myself into thinking I can).

To tie up the rather tortured time sequence in this post, I had a nice chat with Harry until about 2pm, and then a little nap before the nurse came to minister to my leg drain. Time has flown somewhat since then.

On the catering front, their standards have slipped again, and I think I am forced to write. Lunch was poor, and half of dinner was missing! I had to buzz the nurse to chase after them, which is gross misuse of nursing time IMHO and I was not happy to do it.

As a footnote to the BBC iPlayer, I watched Top Gear, and it took over 200M! This in "normal" quality. Don't think I'll be watching anymore. It had to stop 3 times to catch up with streaming too.

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