September 14: Looking good

Upon arrival at King's hospital I was taken into a small side room for my 3rd bone marrow biopsy. A trainee nurse asked to stay during the biopsy which I was fine with. I then had to sign the usual spiel about volunteering extra bone marrow samples for research.

I had to lay on my side with my trousers slightly lowered so that my hip is visible and accessible. This time I was prepared and wore Calvin Klein boxers instead of embarrassing robot ones. Again I didn't have any gas and air like I did at Lincoln. The most painful part of the ordeal is the application of local anesthetic which can sting as it spreads and numbs the area that is about to be used. There's a lot of yanking and digging around with a needle in my hip as it sucks out some of the liquid marrow. Once that was done, some kind of needle clamp thing was then stuck in which, after lots of twisting, a piece of marrow core was pulled out. Such fun we had.

After the biopsy I had a clinical appointment with my doctor. He believes that my treatment is working. I will be getting the full results in a fortnight's time from the bone marrow biopsy. He expects the results to be very positive and that I will also be having my hickman line removed! My blood test results showed that my counts had basically remained the same since my last blood test on September 7th which is fine, as I'm not expecting huge and fast increases. Just slow and steady.

I look forward to getting my biopsy results in a couple of weeks time and getting my Hickman Line out. The end, I think, is on the horizon.

Tuesday August 11-Sunday September 13: Update and Graduation

I realise I haven't done a post for a long time, as I had been having the usual blood tests and check ups. So this will be a fairly long post to get up to date.

The last time I did a post was when I was disappointingly told that it appeared that my treatment was not working. Since then I have been to hospital several times. The first time being August 13th when my blood results meant that I didn't need any transfusions. This meant that I hadn't had a transfusion for 7 days, the longest since this all began in April.
I was back again at the hospital on August 17th where I again needed no transfusions. It had been 4 visits since my last transfusion, and 5 visits since my last blood transfusion.
The good news continued further with a visit on the 20th where I again needed no transfusions and saw a rise in my blood, platelets and neutrophils since the last visit.

To celebrate that things were starting to look better, I went to the Charlton game that Saturday. Where in dramatic circumstances we crushed Hull 2-1, scoring in the 98th minute. Easy.

On August 21st, my nan (Big Nanny, Margaret Riley) died. She died from the awful disease dementia. We all miss her.

I was back again at the hospital on August 24th, where, you guessed it, I again didn't need any transfusions. I was beginning to think that last month's depressing clinical meeting had perhaps been too soon.

First blood transfusion since July 30.

August 27th was the usual blood tests. This time I needed a blood transfusion. However it was my first blood transfusion since July 30th. And I knew that it was likely that my run of needing no transfusions wouldn't last forever. But I was delighted at how long I had gone without needing anything.
I saw my doctor on the haemotology ward, he now believed that my treatment has begun to work. This is because the number of transfusions I had been receiving had dramatically decreased. I was even told that I no longer needed to come in to hospital twice a week, but instead once a fortnight roughly. I was also told that I should know for certain mid-September where I will have another bone marrow biopsy to see if my stem cells have increased or not.


That weekend I started my TEFL course (Teach English as a Foreign Language) and completed the 20 hour practical course. I have since started the 100 hour online course. All going well I would like to maybe teach abroad in late 2016/2017, once I'm better.

The TEFL gang

As well as being told during my last hospital visit that it looks like my treatment may now be working, I was also told that I could now have a drink (2max). So on Sunday 30th after finishing the TEFL, we went to the pub and I had my first drink in over 80 days! Since just before I went in to hospital as an inpatient on June10th.

Oh how I had waited for this moment.

I didn't have to go back to hospital until September 7th, where I had blood tests. I didn't need any transfusions, and my neutrophils had rose to a personal best of 1.73! They need to be over 2.2, so I seem to be slowly getting there.


On Thursday September 10th, I can happily say that I went up to Lincoln to graduate with my friends and course mates which was fantastic. It was great to see so many of my university mates whom I hadn't seen for what felt like ages. The graduation ceremony at Lincoln cathedral was incredible. I'm also pleased to say that I didn't trip over or embarrass myself.

I am back at hospital tomorrow (September 14th) for the big one. I will have blood tests, followed by my third bone marrow biopsy. That's the really fun thing where I get a huge needle shoved into my hip to extract some marrow and see how those counts are doing. I can't wait, it's going to be a barrel of laughs. Depending on the results of this hugely enjoyable experience, it will (should) be decided whether or not the treatment really is, or isnt, working.

I will do a post either tomorrow or Tuesday outlining how it all went. I am quietly confident that it will be good news.

#UniBanter