Day 13

Some very good news. When I got my blood count results today I was delighted to find that my total white cells are at 1.7 and my neutrophils are at 0.7. My consultant's response was 'Yessssss!!!!!' She says they will start to change my medications from intravenous to by mouth over the next several days, then if there are no setbacks I will be able to go home in a week to 10 days time.

Apparently quite a few transplant patients develop a bit of gout during their treatment, so when you have a gout problem to start off with it can be more tricky to manage and yours truly gets gout. My right foot doesn't look too pretty at the moment and is very painful. Luckily my donor's stem cells have produced loads of platelets so I can take quite a high dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen in my case. It isn't fully effective yet but should improve over time.

Another good sign of recovery is regaining a bit of appetite. I even managed a small cooked breakfast this morning. I assume my new neutrophils are starting to do a good job as I haven't had a fever now for 36 hours. Barbara still comes in and bosses me to make sure I have a shower every day (or if not Barbara, my daughter does the bossing). It is really tiring but I feel so much better after showering.

And yet another encouraging sign is getting a bit of concentration back. I was even able to read 5 or 6 pages from 'The Lord of the Rings'. Rosalind brought the grand children in to hospital and because my counts have improved they were allowed in to see me in my isolation room.

 I have had several emails and messages in the last week from other MDS patients and their carers and I would like to thank them very much for contacting me and for their encouragement. I hope this blog will be useful for them as they go forward on their own journeys. On our journey Roz and I have found several sources of help and information including the MDS Foundation, the UK MDS support group  (our first port of call), Macmillan Cancer Support, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research

Of course there will be daily trips back to the day case unit for quite a time after I get to go home, but I will be able to sleep in my own bed and my dogs, Josh especially, will be so pleased to have me home.