It's been a while... nine months without a working blog. So much has happened during that time, but hardly any of it is worth the telling.
My shielding counter is showing 261 consecutive days. This just about sums it up:
Author Archive.
Catch-up #5
November 2019...
Watched more Rugby.
Attended the village's War Memorial on 11/11 with CJR as we always do, to pay our respects to The Fallen.
Transit of Mercury 11/11 - started at 12:35 - crap weather, so I couldn't observe it. I'll try to hang around for the next one... in 2032.
Several clinics. Skin GvHD is now Grade 2... most hard-earned body-hair lost again... steroid pills augmented with steroid cream and skin-rehydrating lotions, creams and bath oils. I'm now a fully-signed-up soap-dodger!
14/11: Went to GP to make an appointment for the flu jab and for childhood vaccinations, they denied having received a schedule/prescription from LRI. 15/11: Phoned Hambleton, was told that the vaccinations schedule/prescription had been raised and sent.
21/11: Went to GP to make an appointment for the flu jab and for childhood vaccinations, they denied having received a schedule/prescription from LRI. 22/11: Phoned Hambleton, was told that the vaccinations schedule/prescription had been raised and sent.
28/11: Went to GP to make an appointment for the flu jab and for childhood vaccinations, again they denied having received a schedule/prescription from LRI. 29/11: Phoned Hambleton 3 times, turned out that the vaccinations schedule/prescription had NOT been raised and sent even though the jabs were due to start around November 1st and I'd been reminding them about it since September so that I could get the appointments booked before the jabs were due. Turns out that my lack of confidence in the process hadn't been misplaced after all. Fruity invective was applied - I suspect that it didn't make me any less vulnerable to Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Hib, Hep b, Pneumococcal, Men A, Men B, Men C, Men W, Men Y and seasonal flu, but it made me feel better and no needles were involved.
Black Friday Deals... I'll cover that subject in the December 2019 catch-up post. Stay tuned.
Catch-up #4
Here we go... October 2019...
To be fair, there's not much else to add to what's already been posted.
Attended Glenfield Cardio clinic for an ECG test to check for damage caused by the SCT treatment, everything was OK, nothing to worry about.
The car passed its MOT Test yet again. Two days later it blew a headlight bulb. A week later it blew the other one. Go figure.
Ella got Shingles, she found out about it after she'd visited us, so I had to go back to LRI for tests and to be given industrial-grade antivirals in case I'd been infected. My test results came back negative, but the pills-change made me feel crappy for a few days. After some R&R and some standard antivirals, Ella had recovered.
The Virgin Media SuperHub emitted a muffled bang, smoke, and a smell of burning electronics, all web access was lost. Tested the Hub with a replacement power supply... nothing. Tested the original power-supply with a multi-meter... it was fine. Reunited the Hub with the original power-supply... nothing. Phoned VM, explained, they did diagnostics from their end and declared that the Hub's internal power board had blown so they raised an order for a new Hub to be sent out and told me to disconnect and remove the duff kit just to be safe. As I was removing the Hub from the shelf to disconnect it I dropped it on the bookcase, and it started working. So much for remote diagnostic testing, eh? I called VM again to cancel the replacement, they confirmed cancellation but a day later the allegedly-cancelled replacement arrived anyway. Conclusion? VM's internal communications systems and diagnostic testing systems are shite. Oh, and the old Hub continues to work better than it ever did before the incident.
Passed the six-months post-SCT milestone. Clinic staff took the usual clinic blood samples for the usual clinic tests, patched the needle-hole and sent me to the waiting room to wait for the doc. After seeing the doc I was about to leave when I was called back in... they'd forgotten to take the extra blood samples for the extended tests that they do at six-months post-SCT. Another hole-in-the-arm later, I managed to escape.
Watched a lot of Rugby.
We had been planning another epic bonfire/firework party but had to abort due to me being infection-prone and not being able to do much due to ongoing issues with GvHD.
Sent to the naughty step
I consider myself to have been justifiably chastised, and I've been "encouraged" to start making amends. I'll probably go for the month-per-post approach, with post titles taking up where the titles following the previous long hiatus of late 2015 left off. The next post should cover the previously-uncovered bits of October 2019. I'll try to keep the medical side short and sweet, but to be fair there's not much else with which to pad it out...
but I bet I could find some shite like this if I was to trawl through my photos:
This Wednesday's crop. Harsh invective was dispensed.
Gap filler
This one has no idea how big his arse is, and no idea that it's hanging out:
"You cannot pass!"
Mind the gap
Ford Focus fitted with Rear Parking Senseless:
Not the smartest of ideas on refuse-collection day, I know how cavalier the bin-lorry drivers can be.
