T+120: Mixed chimerism baseline

At the clinic yesterday I got the results of my mixed chimerism basline tests. There are still some of my cells left, but no more than is considered normal. As I have said in the past, the more interesting test will be in 3 months time, when they can compare against this baseline to see how I am progressing.

I have stopped taking anti-sickenss medication, and I have not felt nauseous after almost a week. This is the first time I have successfully managed to stop (the pills are Ondansetron and Domperidone). I have had two previous attempts at this that ended in failure, but this time I am more hopeful as I have stopped taking the ciclosporin, which is a known cause of nausea.

My creatinine levels have dropped (which is good), and because I have stopped taking the ciclosporin, I no longer have to drink 3 litres of fluid per day. Oh joy!

After the clinic I had my pentamadine nebulizer, which I must have once a month until my lymphocytes recover (currently they are 0.3, and normal is about 1.5). Pentamadine is an antibiotic to guard against lung infections. Whilst waiting (one does a lot of waiting in hospital) I met another patient who had his transplant in February. He had lymphocytic leukaemia (as opposed to my lymphoblastic variety), but is the only other patient in the clinic I have met who had some kind of leukaemia. Unlike me, he had no serious infections during his chemo, but rather depressingly his blood counts tumbled a few months after transplant; I rather assumed that things just get better as time passes! They treated him by giving him more donor stem cells (which they had frozen from the original donation), and it seems to be doing the trick.

The phlegm still rumbles on. I gave them a sample to see if they can discover what is causing it, but they did not sound very hopeful of that. It is only a small annoyance, and I would say that I am now more fit and healthy than I was last December (when I got out of breath playing golf).

On Wednesday, Rose played in the National Golf Club Challenge final, for which the ladies section at our club qualified earlier this year. The competition supports the Seve Ballesteros Foundation (for cancer research) and it was played at The Shire golf course, which is the only course in England to be designed by Seve. Rose and her team came second, so congratulations to them.

I am looking forward to the rugby world cup final, and I will be supporting France (even though they did not deserve to beat Wales) - allez les Bleus!

T+108: My first week at work

The week passed very pleasantly. I find I am able to work 8 hours a day with no problem; I can see that before too long I will be back to my normal 10+ hours per day!

I had my first Thursday clinic this week. I still have the phlegm (2 weeks now), but the doctor said we should let it clear up without drugs, and it may take some time. Because I am more at risk of infection, I will be having a flu jab this year - I booked it at my local GP surgery for October 30th (the earliest they have).  I have stopped taking the ciclosporin, the immune suppressant drug. This is another milestone passed, as it means my donor immune system can fully recover. Apparently this does take some time, so I am still more at risk than normal.

I hope that my new immune system has killed all my original stem cells. They finally took blood for the mixed chimerism baseline. I do not know when the results will be ready, but it takes some weeks I think.

I drove into London by myself for the clinic, and it made me rather tearful as I was driving the same car (a Toyota IQ) on the same route and parking in the same car park that Rose used all those times she visited me in hospital. She really was a superstar, and her visits were the highlight of my time in hospital.

Aside from the phlegm (which is only mildly annoying), I feel very well, almost back to normal; I am now able to drink half a bottle of wine (or more) with dinner! This is the best definition of "nomal" I can think of :) This means that I may make less frequent posts to the blog (bi-weekly perhaps, to coincide wth the clinics).

I cannt sign off without mentioning the rugby world cup. The French certainly deserved their win over England, and Wales looked really good in all areas. I am disappointed that England lost, but playing against England  always lifts the spirits of our opponents! This was never more true in this case - France were so poor against Tonga, but so good against us. The semi-finals will be interesting ...

T+101: Vieux Chateau Certan

Yesterday was day 100 post transplant, the first milestone in the long road to recovery. We celebrated with a bottle of 1990 Vieux Chateau Certan, which was purchased around 1998 (in the UK). This is a Pommerol, made with predominantly merlot grapes, but also a good proportion of cabernet franc and some cabernet sauvignon. The wine was beautifully mellow, still with some tannins, and very rich and well rounded. In 1996, Parker predicted a plateau of maturity for this vintage between 2003 and 2020, so he was spot on! We have two more bottles in the "cellar" (which is not a cellar at all, but a collection of Eurocaves).

I still have the phlegm and greenish tongue, more or less the same as before. It looks like it is not going to go away unassisted. Aside from that I am in good health, ready to start work tomorrow, and looking forward to going to Honfleur in ten days time.

Meanwhile, the Indian summer continues here in the UK, with another sunny day in the high twenties; the golf course beckons ...