The Fall and Rise of Neutro Phil
Today I discovered the Ford Ward at St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, and a very nice ward it seemed. It's a lot more spacious than the Ruth Myles Unit, and it was odd to see lots of patients' doors left open. All in all, I wouldn't complain if I had to be rushed in there, though I'm not too keen to have to be rushed in anywhere.
The nurses seemed lovely, and I had my blood taken (once they'd changed the bung, as the one I had needed a needle and wasn't very keen on letting a needle have much blood). I then came home and rang them for the results: my neutrophils have actually gone down from 0.7 on Friday to 0.5 today... I'm not sure why, as it's been a while since I had any chemo, but I guess my body is still taking time to recover from everything. Anyway, what it means is that I won't be going back to St George's yet: I haven't organised when I'm next going into St Richard's to have it tested again, but they were suggesting towards the end of the week.
Obviously that's a bit frustrating, as I want to get on with treatment, but at least this way I'll be able to make the most of the gorgeous weather expected this week: I know it's not going to be much fun being stuck in a hospital room when the sun is out this summer... I enjoyed the weather today from Sue's garden in West Wittering, and went for a nice walk along the beach. Then it was to St Richard's for what I think was the first time for almost 16 years.
Also, it's looking as though I'll be able to go to Grandma's funeral, though with a low neutrophil count I'll have to be careful to avoid anyone who is spluttering at all. Harriet's coming south at this very moment, so it'll be lovely to have her around; Tom and Fred will probably be going straight up for the funeral on the day. Fred's been deep in exams but finishes on Friday, after which he'll have a good 15 months before he needs to be back at uni... He's got his year abroad coming up, and is going to... Rome! The school he's teaching at is actually very close to where I lived: about halfway between there and the school I taught at, so that's quite fun. I look forward to visiting...
Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine... Do send good vibes to encourage my neutrophils: much as I'm enjoying home it would be good to get on with things. The sooner I get on with the treatment, the sooner it will all be finished!
The nurses seemed lovely, and I had my blood taken (once they'd changed the bung, as the one I had needed a needle and wasn't very keen on letting a needle have much blood). I then came home and rang them for the results: my neutrophils have actually gone down from 0.7 on Friday to 0.5 today... I'm not sure why, as it's been a while since I had any chemo, but I guess my body is still taking time to recover from everything. Anyway, what it means is that I won't be going back to St George's yet: I haven't organised when I'm next going into St Richard's to have it tested again, but they were suggesting towards the end of the week.
Obviously that's a bit frustrating, as I want to get on with treatment, but at least this way I'll be able to make the most of the gorgeous weather expected this week: I know it's not going to be much fun being stuck in a hospital room when the sun is out this summer... I enjoyed the weather today from Sue's garden in West Wittering, and went for a nice walk along the beach. Then it was to St Richard's for what I think was the first time for almost 16 years.
Also, it's looking as though I'll be able to go to Grandma's funeral, though with a low neutrophil count I'll have to be careful to avoid anyone who is spluttering at all. Harriet's coming south at this very moment, so it'll be lovely to have her around; Tom and Fred will probably be going straight up for the funeral on the day. Fred's been deep in exams but finishes on Friday, after which he'll have a good 15 months before he needs to be back at uni... He's got his year abroad coming up, and is going to... Rome! The school he's teaching at is actually very close to where I lived: about halfway between there and the school I taught at, so that's quite fun. I look forward to visiting...
Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine... Do send good vibes to encourage my neutrophils: much as I'm enjoying home it would be good to get on with things. The sooner I get on with the treatment, the sooner it will all be finished!
posted by George at 6:25 pm
5 Comments:
George, you dude - that was the best poem ever - my wife and i are very happy now. I think she's writing lots and lots to you about the amazing adventures we had yesterday. she is a good wife... XX
Thank you for my poem Gorgeous Georgeous!!! Me and the other simmies girls had the most fantastic time yesterday, participating in ‘race for life’. I spent most of the race behind a girl who had ‘I Survived Cancer’ on her back- it was beyond inspiring. As you can imagine, knowing us girls, there was much amusement to be had along the way. We began the day with a warm up, consisting of a sprint to the station, screaming “hurry up” and dropping water bottles as we very nearly missed our train (not good with mornings…) Couldn’t find the start of the race – despite 10,000 other competitors all walking towards it…spent a lot of time wandering, rather confusedly, by the portaloos (very smelly). Jon was our number one (or should that be only) supporter, and playing ‘spot Jon’ was a fantastic distraction from the agonizing pain in our legs/arms/chests/heads etc… Even better was playing ‘spot other simmies’, which usually resulted in breathlessly shrieking ‘I love you wife’ (Jo is sooooooo embarrassing) across vast expanses of sweaty runners. Having jubilantly and emotionally finished the race and having sung many rousing renditions of ‘oh to, oh to be, oh to be a, simmie’, we turned cockney from exhaustion, traumatized the till-men in tescos and ‘ad a picnic’ in Hyde Park. We entertained the general sunbathing public with amazing acrobatics involving handstands, cartwheels, piggy back fighting, wheel barrow races and a six person human pyramid. We ended it all with drinks in Richmond proudly wearing our shiny shiny medals with, randomly, both the Australian and Portuguese rugby teams. Culminating in drunkenly betting each other ridiculous things involving the Australian rugby team, and secrets that will never be told….
forgot to give a million trillion kisses love love lovexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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My Poem was equally awesome, and amazing.. But I didn't run my little legs off, instead have been having fun in the library, yeah..fun..library.. great place, so much fun..yeah..Not really.. Poo..
Go George,
Enjoy the sunshine at home, thinking of you masses and masses and was so fab to chat to you on MSN yesterday! Lots of good strong neutrophil vibes coming your way!
Take care and tonnes of love, Ellie xxx
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