Wednesday June 17 - Tuesday June 23. RELEASE DAY!

Due to my reaction on Monday I was still on a lot of antibiotics, as well as my growing collection of pills and steroids. Wednesday was quiet, just a lot of observations and checks.


On Thursday I had another magnesium transfusion. The magnesium transfusions I always find quite odd as they make you feel really warm. Again, there's no pain or nausea but just a fairly strong feeling of heat which can be quite weird. Thursday had a brief but very good anomaly in my treatment, for the first time since this all started in April my red blood count actually rose without the need of a transfusion, from 82 to 88! Obviously this is far too early to mean if the ATG treatment is working, its likely to just have been effected by all the drugs and stuff I'm on, as well as the fact that I've literally been doing nothing physical. But it's surely a good sign. My red blood count has since gone back to falling as it was 86 on Friday, but still to have a fairly large jump can only be a positive.


While I have been at hospital I have been trying to not be too lazy and just watch tonnes of youtube and TV. I was told when I was first admitted on Wednesday June 10th that the biggest thing I would struggle with would be boredom. I've got to admit, the doctor was not wrong. When you're limited to one room for a long period of time you can go a bit stir crazy. I didn't want to waste my time in hospital and tried to do a lot of reading and if possible some writing. Incredibly the Anthony Nolan Charity got in touch with me and offered me a chance to write a post for them, which I really enjoyed doing especially for such a good organisation (http://blog.anthonynolan.org/2015/06/patient-stories-adams-blog-about-his-aplastic-anaemia-treatment/). This went up online on Friday.

Top Job.

By Saturday I was off the majority of antibiotics but I still have a lot of steroids and pills to take daily. I also had the top stitch of my Hickman Line removed on Saturday which is a lot cleaner and simpler than I thought it would be. It's literally just a small snip and then it kind of falls out. I was expecting something a lot more climatic and dramatic. In the evening I had a transfusion of platelets as my count had been 6 that day.
Saturday was probably the most boring day at hospital. The days are incredibly long and there is only so much music and reading you can do in a day before you start running out of interest. The days are made longer by how frequently the nights are broken up by having my ops checked. Each night at hospital I'd be getting woken up at 2am for my checks, then again at 6am. At 7am I would then have blood taken and then at 8am breakfast would be served. As such it is really difficult to have a proper sleep as realistically the longest period of uninterrupted sleep I''ve had in the past couple of weeks is about 4 hours. I don't want to complain as I know the staff have to monitor me in order to make sure that I'm OK, but I cannot begin to describe how excited I am to have my own bed and sleep without being woken up.

Hello Ladies.

I. AM. HILARIOUS.

Olly and his sister came to visit on Sunday which was really good especially after how excruciatingly bored I've been the last couple of days. A few hours after they had left I received a unit of blood as my red blood cells had dropped below 80.


Freddie from University came down on Monday followed by a few mates from home which was great. We took over the ward common room which gave me the opportunity to leave my room and use my legs. I didn't have any transfusions that day and I was told that I would be leaving hospital on Wedneday.


Today after breakfast I was informed that I wouldn't be leaving hospital on Wednesday but that I would in fact be leaving today! Because of this I got topped up with blood and platelets etc so that I can go home. Chris came today and helped me pack all my stuff away with my mum. The staff at King's and my ward (Davidson) have all been incredible. Their kindness, patience and professionalism goes above and beyond what I expect of anyone. They all really are fantastic, I've been treated so well. I can't praise them all enough. Even the food has been really good, seriously. I was surprised too, there's quite an extensive menu and I strongly recommend the Chilli Con Carne if anyone ever finds themselves as an inpatient at Kings.
I will be back frequently at Hospital as an outpatient as there is still a lot to do, and I won't know if the ATG treatment is working for 3 months. As such my blogs may be a lot less frequent as it'll be back to the normal routine of transfusions.
Most of all I'm excited to have my bed tonight and to not be woken up at 2,6,7 and 8am.I'm going to sleep like a log. I wonder if I'v been institutionalised and will struggle in the outside world...

Final door sign.

Still going to have the Hickman for at least the next few months, maybe up to a year.