Sean Tiernan

I found out yesterday that one of my friends that I kept in touch with via email has died.

I’d not heard from her for a number of weeks and she normally sends funny emails to keep us all amused and generally informs everyone how she is doing.

I’d not got a response from the email so Charito suggested having

The dex has kept me awake (again), I didn’t take any sleeping tablets last night as I was taking Charito to work in the morning and couldn’t risk still being sleepy at 7am and driving!

Decided to go to town after picking up Charito from work at 11am to look for a new pair of slippers. I tend to wear slippers more than shoes at the moment as I spend most of my time at home.

I found

After last Fridays appointment at Liverpool I was expecting to get a phone call on Monday letting me know about the anomaly with my CMV showing positive, even though both myself and Nigel are negative.

I didn’t get the phone call so I was to assume that there was nothing to worry about. The Doctor told me that if he didn’t call then to go to Chester as normal on Thursday for my blood test.

So I was a bit surprised when I got the phone call yesterday evening from the Doctor. It wasn’t what I thought though! He told me that they hadn’t got the results from the CMV test as they didn’t take one on Friday … it takes a few days for the results to come back an he was checking the computer. The only time that I have had an issue with the CMV and it’s the only time they didn’t do a CMV test.

He said he wasn’t worried about it and to just ask them to do a CMV test the next time in Liverpool in a fortnights times. I’m not going to worry about the results at the moment as the Dr didn’t seem that bothered about it at the moment, I think it’s just something they want to keep an eye on. I will find out more about it the next time I’m there.

I took a chance at going to Starbucks again today, the last time I went I was sick, but I think that was just a coincidence.

I’m feeling a bit better day by day at the moment. I haven’t felt right, apart from the cancer, since I had the flu, it really took it out of me and I’m just getting back into blogging and catching up on emails and paperwork.

Hopefully I will feel a bit better day by day and get some kind of normality back before it gets worse again, which I know it eventually will. I must say though at the moment the Lenalidomide regime seems to be working really well for me …. maybe I shouldn’t have said that!

My Life with Myeloma http://mylifewithmyeloma.blogspot.com Sean Tiernan

After my hospital appointment in Liverpool we drove straight back to Chester and met up with my brother Nigel and spent the rest of the day and evening with him. I did the dirty thing and ate out at McDonalds, something I haven’t done for a very long time. Somehow it tasted really really nice, but only if I didn’t think about the people who where making it in the background and where their hands have been (eewwww).

We talk a walk around TK max and Charito came out with something for the kitchen as she usually does. She was concerned about the amount of walking I was doing, as I don’t normally do that much walking all in one day, both at the hospital and then around a few shops etc. I felt OK with not being on any of my tablets as I was due to start them the next day.

We left Nigel and his friend still shopping whilst we set off home and Nigel joined us later at our home. It was great to have him around and we had a good chat as usual. Again we did an unusual thing and order a pizza for tea, something that I haven’t had for a good few years, so the last few days I haven’t been eating healthy at all. This week it will be back on my veg and fruit and to be honest I much prefer the healthy diet than the junk food, even though it was convenient at the time. I didn’t want Charito in the the kitchen cooking all day. Charito has been busy all week decorating the bedroom, it’s still not finished as she has been taking her time over it as it’s the first time she has done any decorating – I’m doing my usual job of just supervising at the start and then leaving her too. She is doing a great job for

Charito and I went to Liverpool hospital together this week as she is off work during the school holidays, so we have been spending time together.

We were in an out of 10z outpatients very quickly as Gill was back off her holidays and there wasn’t a queue so everything was done and dusted and we were on a way downstairs with my bloods ready to hand them in and wait the hour for the results to come back before seeing the doctor. The usual receptionist must have been on holiday and the the relief one also as there was a new gentlemen trying to cope with all of the patients arriving and the que was all the way to the double dours about 4 meters away (13ft) but we finally got there in the end. Had my weight taken as usual and gave in my bloods to the nurse.

Heather was in the waiting area but we didn’t get to have a real chat as Charito and I went for a cup of tea and coffee in the restaurant whilst waiting. No soon as we got back that the doctor called us straight in which was unusual, normally I have to wait at least another half hour to an an hour.

Blood results still holding:

HB: 8.7

PL 94

WH 4.5

Neuts 2.3

So they aren’t too bad, but this has been my week off from my Lenalidomide cycle, started again on Saturday.

Something new had come up this week with my CMV check.

I was told that the results from last week were showing a CMV results of CMV+ with a reading of 500 (not sure what the of what the 500 means yet)

Both myself and my sibling donor (Nigel) are CMV- so I was told it was unusual in itself. The doctor is calling me on Monday, depending on the results from this Fridays tests to see if I need to be back in to Liverpool for an appointment this coming week. If it as has got worse he wants to see me!

From the initial search that I have done there seems to conflicting or at least too much information to search through that will give me a difinitive answer.

CMV (Cytomegalovirus) is a common virus that most people have when they are younger and don’t even realise they have had it. It’s part of the herpes virus and spread through bodily fluid such as urine or saliva and spread when someone coughs or sneezes.

I’m not one for celebrating Easter, either religiously or commercially. I think personally both a waste of time. Charito on the other hand is very religious and I wouldn’t take that away from her. So on the Friday I took her to town, where there was supposed be a silent walk from the Town Hall to the a local church, starting at 11am. After waiting for quite a while nobody seemed to have turned up so Charito went into the Chester Cathedral instead. I stayed in the car for a while and then noticed that people had started to turn up for the walk later than was advertised on their web site. I didn’t think it would be appropriate to try and ring Charito in the Cathedral so left her there whilst I would go for a coffee in Baristas, just at the moment an old work colleague text me as I had just used Instagram to take a photo of the cathedral and posted it on Twitter and he had seen it and was in Chester at the same time and asked if I wanted to go for a coffee. So we both met up and had a good chat. It’s been a while

No I’m not suggesting that you mix the two things! eewww. I had my fortnightly appointment at Liverpool hospital and had my blood taken as usual on 10z Outpatients. The wait to have my bloods taken, isn’t very long at all and I’m usually out within about 20mins and yesterday was no exception. It was good to catch up with a few of the patients I hadn’t seen for a while. One of them being my fellow patient from Chester, Heather who had just come out of hospital after having her Stem Cell Transplant. She was her usual jolly self and looked well, but I’d be the first to admit that looking OK doesn’t necessarily been you are doing well, but she did assure me that she was OK and it’s good to know that her son was helping her at home during her recovery process. Hopefully I will see her again next time I’m there if our appointments cross again.

After having my bloods taken I went downstairs for my appointment with the Dr and unfortunately as usual I had to wait over an hour and half before being called in. I have to wait for the blood results to come back and like yesterday, sometimes they take ages. I was getting really bored and fed up of waiting, when another fellow patient and I’d like think a friend now Adam turned up, although he did look pretty tired as he’s having to visit the hospital three times a week for treatment for his liver. He told me he was going to get something to eat and would be back later and sure enough about 10 minutes later he came back, but not empty handed, as a very welcomed surprise to me, he bought some cakes, one of them being a coconut macaroon. As mentioned I’d been waiting ages to be seen, the cake was very much appreciated as I was getting pretty hungry.

My Life with Myeloma http://mylifewithmyeloma.blogspot.com Sean Tiernan