October 2nd - 26th. The last post?

As I'm sure you know, my treatment has been going well. I can't even remember when my last transfusion was. Prior to today I was down to blood tests once every 2 weeks and a clinic appointment roughly every 4 weeks.

I was in today for both the blood test and clinic. During my clinic appointment, my blood results came through: 124 for Haemoglobin, 81 Platelets and 2.44 for my neutrophils. That's a huge improvement since I first got taken to hospital several months ago on April 23rd with Haemoglobin at 43, platelets at 3 (I think) and neutrophils at 0.2ish. My counts still need to improve but I'm now pretty close to normal. My bone marrow results when I first had the biopsy were just under 5%, in relation to someone my age who would have around 80%. Mine are now at 30% which is great.
The doctor in my clinical appointment stated how pleased he was with my treatment. The next time I have to go to hospital is in 8 weeks!!!! 8 WEEKS! How mad is that?

I'm absolutely delighted with how well things have been going, and I'm finally used to not having my Hickman Line anymore. As I am clearly on the mend (touch wood), the need to continue with this blog has diminished. I expect and hope, that this will be my final post.

Thankyou to everyone who has been reading, sharing, visiting and wishing me luck. It's been really appreciated and I look forward to finishing this bizarre year on a high. So unless I relapse or something else grim happens, I won't be posting here again.

I will finish with some pictures to admire from this saga. Before I end, I would like to state that I will never be able to thank Kings Hospital and the Great British National Health Service enough.Without them I don't think I would be here now.

As much as I hate to say it, I couldn't be more thankful to my mum. She has refused to let me go to hospital on my own. I think I've been without her once in all these months. Cheers.

Being taken to hospital on April 23rd feels so long ago now.

Goodbye my transfusion holding friend.

Look how pale I was.

Throwback to being scared of platelets.

Thank you to those who donated blood.

Remember when my sister let me down and wasn't a bone marrow match?

That was a fun day.

Form an orderly queue ladies.

Pre Hickman Line surgery

Post Hickman Line surgery

Fairly self explanatory...

My specialist nurse, Nana. Absolute hero.

When I found out I had a heart.

ATG treatment.

I'm so funny it hurts.

Released from hospital!!

Aint no time like Blood time.

Had to put a Graduation picture in.

Hickman Line removal day!

No more line.

Thanks for reading. Goodbye :D

September 15 - October 1: Hickman Line removal.

During September, I came to hospital a couple of times for blood tests and for my Hickman line to be cleaned. I had a clinical appointment with my doctor on the 21st who said that things were looking good.

Hello ladies.

I was originally scheduled to have my line removed on September 28th. To have my line removed my platelets must be 50 or higher. This is because there can be a lot of bleeding during its removal. If my platelets are too low, I could be at risk of losing too much blood. I had blood tests to check that my levels were good, sadly there were some issues that day and due to this my Hickman Line removal was delayed until today.

I arrived at hospital around 1:30. My bloods were taken and after an hour or so the results came back with my platelets at 56. This meant that I would be having my Hickman Line removed. I had to lay on a bed with a curtain pulled around me. To have my Line removed, part of my chest had to be shaved, as usual. Hairy problems.

#Buzzing

After my shaving, local anesthetic was applied which can sting. I had my face covered so that I couldn't see what was going on. The nurse asked whether I could feel the incisions being made. There's no pain, but similar to when it was inserted, I can feel it. There's lots of pressure applied and yanking. Because it's been in me so long, my body had started accepting the line and tissue had grown around it. The nurse continually forced to cut and tear tissue which makes its removal slow. Because it's taking so long to remove the line the anesthetic begins to wear off, so I had another injection to numb the area. Once removed, I had several stitches put in.

It was me! SURPRISE!

I was then allowed to see the line that had been pulled out. It was surprisingly long and on one part was a fairly large chunk of red tissue. I assume that this was the reason for some of the yanking and pressure. The nurse seemed surprised that I wanted to take the Hickman line home, it is pretty weird to be fair. I wasn't allowed to take all of it home as the part that was under the skin has to be medically disposed of. But I can keep all the tubes and stuff, there's still some blood inside the line which is pretty funny. Not entirely sure why I decided to keep it now that I'm home, nothing I can really do with it. Might frame it for the bantz.

Its strange not having it in anymore. I've had it since June 9th, which was over 100 days ago. I keep going to touch my chest and being surprised not to feel wires hanging there. It's as though I've forgotten or lost something. But I am glad its out and am really looking forward to being able to shower properly and be able to wear t-shirts without my line being visible. 

I'll be going back to hospital next week to have my stitches out, and the following week for blood tests. Blood tests and clinical appointments will continue for a while to ensure that my ATG treatment is still working. I'm really pleased by how well everything seems to be going, none of it could have been done without my family, friends and most importantly our brilliant NHS. 

It's gone!