Thursday 4th February 2010

I’ve come in for the afternoon/evening shift and the mobile broadband isn’t working so Murray is going home to download this onto the blog for me.

Luke had a really good day today – he’s the best I’ve seen him in a while. He started the day very nauseous and dreaded the thought of his daily steroids (8 tablets) and the other 5 various tables. Dr Dipti came and decided he wasn’t coping too well with taking all the tablets so decided to give him the steroid Dexamethazone through his central line rather than make him have the Prednisone tablets. Apparently they are very similar.
Not sure if this is a temporary measure however the nurse said she was so pleased they decided to change.

He is a bit sore in the back/tailbone – I’m sure a mixture of lying on his back and injection yesterday and lumbar puncture. They’ve given him a soft padded mattress to go on top of the main mattress and this has made him a bit more comfortable.

Tomorrow he has another injection into the backside. So I don’t think he’s looking forward to that.

Blood levels – I forgot yesterday’s so here they both are
3/2 Haemaglobin 94 / White Cell Count 1.1 / Platlets 22 / Neutrophils 0.74
4/2 Haemaglobin 86 / White Cell Count 0.9 / Platelets 33 / Neutrophils 0.66

You will notice Luke’s platelets have gone up – he received a bag of platelets late last night. The nurse mentioned that if the Haemaglobin gets below 80 then he’ll have another blood transfusion.

I got told off by Murray and Luke that I told everyone the wrong names for the drink he likes in yesterday’s blog. It is actually called Ensure which is like Sustagen, not Endure like the cereal Sustain which I wrote last night!!! Sorry I didn’t have the sheet with me last night.

Our new mobile phones still haven’t arrived yet so Amy is very unhappy along with me :o( Hopefully they’ll turn up tomorrow.

I went into work today to see everyone and fill out the necessary forms for leave. At this stage I’m off until early – mid April and will reassess the situation then. It was good to see everyone but I still managed to have a bit of a breakdown (apologies to everyone for that). What I would have liked to say to all of you is thank you so much for all of your support. Knowing that I have such a supportive workplace and work colleagues (friends) makes it easier to cope with what lies ahead.

Well I’d better sign off so that Murray can take the thumb drive home and download this onto the blog. Chris.xx