Just call me ‘Arry

As in ‘Arry Potter since I’m residing in a cupboard albeit not a cupboard under the stairs (I cannot take the credit for that comment it was one of the sisters that made the comparison).  Maybe Harry Plopper would be more appropriate – a lá Homer Simpson’s pig in The Simpsons Movie.

I do have two doors but no windows.

And there’s my buzzer in there too – because I just knew you’d want to see it and well, I er, pointed my phone the wrong way to take the pic!

So what exactly have I been up to since I got admitted – let’s see…

I got to go out last Tuesday afternoon into Liverpool nearly shopping – only nearly because I got to the till in Primark with a pair of trousers, a cardy and about 350 pairs of knickers to find I was totally unable to remember the pin number for my credit card and even though Primark is a cheap shop the £2.00 and coppers I had in my pocket wouldn’t cover the cost of the items.

With B taking me out for tea as well I was shattered on Wednesday, my shoulder pain was also quite severe which didn’t help and when Auntie Ann suggested going home earlier than usual so I could get some sleep I didn’t exactly protest.  The day nurse had asked if I wanted additional painkillers on top of the paracetamol and Tramadol and I’d said that just at night would be good – the pain had stopped me nodding off on Tuesday night and then woke me up a few times.  Later in the afternoon I asked for some more but the junior doc said that with my kidney issues I could only have it the once.  It certainly helped that night and if the pain had persisted I would have asked for something else on Thursday but it eased considerably and has now gone completely.  An x-ray showed no myeloma damage but a ‘touch of arthritis’.

I got to go out for a wander on Tuesday as the DT-PACE treatment didn’t actually start until Thursday due to my peritoneal dialysis (PD).  It raised a number of questions – not least would I be able to do it at all through the treatment.  As it turned out I can and because I now have some kidney function the renal doc was confident that for the length of the treatment I could manage with 12 hours of PD per 48 hours.  It has resulted in me having to get up at two, three and five in the morning to pop the PD fluid back in.  It was supposed to be midnight but with the initial lot of drugs being a bit late arriving and the bags running slightly longer than 24 hours it got later.

The renal doc’s only concern was about doing the PD at midnight (and the blood registrar did ask if I’d need help from with it) and was a bit amazed at me doing at 3 am ish (ish because I slept through my alarm and the nurse had to wake me up) – but basically I much prefer this to going down to another ward for hemodialysis – plus it results in statements such as ‘I don’t think that was my wee this morning’.

I have to wee in a cowboy hat and note what I drink – technically referred to as a ‘fluid balance’ and this morning one of the health care assistants was concerned about the look of one of ‘my’ wees.  My hat’s are numbered, in biro, 9 – my room number.  This errant sample had what looked like a 9 on it and there is no other combination of beds within the whole ward that would result in a 9 other than my room.  Fortunately she had the wherewithal to check with me and we waited for my next one which was fine otherwise I could have had all sorts of things poked and prodded unnecessarily since it then looked like someone had incorrectly marked their deposit.   When you’ve done it at a time with a five in the hour slot and am somewhere after it I for one find it difficult to say I definitely had a wee never mind recall exactly what it looked like.

The big problem with the PD was that the fluid sitting working busily in the peritoneal cavity clearing out the toxins would have attracted quantities of the chemotherapy drugs which would have had a two-fold effect.  Firstly reducing the amount that circulated in my system going about it’s proper business and secondly potentially causing problems in that area – too much heavy partying going on and not enough working.

So the schedule before delays affected exact timings should have been –

Thursday 12 noon – drain PD fluid, start 24 hours chemotherapy

Friday 12 noon – chemotherapy disconnected

Friday 12 midnight – start night time PD

Saturday morning – change PD fluid

Saturday 12 noon – drain PD fluid, start 24 hours chemotherapy and so on.

The x-ray of the bump on my head showed no myeloma lesion so I got to have a biopsy.  I have to say I wouldn’t have been at the front of the queue to have a needle stuck in the back of my head but it was actually okay.  As there wasn’t enough material on the first go I got to do it twice.  It was just like being stuck with a needle for a blood sample but the ‘stuck’ sensation carries on and wiggles about a bit.  The lady who did it, who was a lace knitter and loves Ravelry, had a look in the microscope right outside the ward and said that nothing looked untoward but they would analysis it further.  I said I’d actually been thinking I may have always had a lumpy head but not noticed but it has gone down a lot today – Auntie Ann is leaning towards me having bumped it.

As it turns out that we have a match for a donor stem cell transplant I get to have an MRI of my head and shoulder to ensure there are no myeloma related surprises during the transplant.  The registrar mentioned this last week, not the match but the transplant – I didn’t ask about a match because I was concentrating too much on the thought of someone sticking a needle in my head but B and I saw one of the transplant docs on Monday and there are two ‘matches’ with exactly the same mis-match at CW something or other on the light bit of the relevant antibody – if I remember correctly.  It’s not a major one and another doc said that a minor mis-match isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it can help participate in the whole graft vs host and subsequent graft vs myeloma effect.  Something I did learn during the course of the conversation with the transplant doc is that it can be quite distracting to have a few grains of rice sitting on top of the end of your PD cannula which is itself tucked into your bra!  I was just tucking into the sweet and sour chicken and rice that B had brought me when he arrived and said I’d rather speak to him then than wait however I didn’t feel that rummaging down my bra to extract the offending food would have been appropriate.  The transplant could be in five to six weeks.

So back to my cupboard.  I was initially in a six bed room.  One of my fellow holidaymakers got swabbed positive for flu – a flu not already in the whole hospital so brought in by her or her visitors.  She got shipped off to a side room and the bed was blocked.  The five of us remaining got flue inhalers to take.  Another vacationer went home on Saturday and that bed was blocked too and the same on Sunday.  A frequent tripper here (who’s been partaking of the facilities every time I’ve been in since November) went home for a few hours on Saturday and had to come back to get swabbed as she’d had a bit of a cough.  The results on Monday showed a positive for another type of flu so she got a trip to an isolation room on the infectious diseases ward. Vacationer four had already left to go home on Monday so that left me on my own in a six bed room and because I was potentially contaminated that meant all the other beds were blocked so I got moved to the only cupboard, I mean room available.  It’s okay actually although I didn’t sleep too well the first night – I think it was too quiet!

Anyway it could be worse I could be on my hols in Torquay, like a friend, and be in isolation in my hotel room.  Chris phoned me earlier to ask if I was still in segregated and then informed me that they were too.  Her husband hadn’t felt too good this morning with an upset tummy and she’d mentioned this to the waiter at breakfast.  As she was getting ready to go out and leave hubby to mop his own fevered brow the hotel manager turned up, wearing a mask, and asked if she’d not go out or mingle with other guests in the hotel.  They’d had a few reports of upsets – they had checked the kitchens and any similarity in the food consumed and had found nothing that linked the cases in that respect but were being careful so she’s spent the day in the hotel room with hot and cold running room service.

The manager before he left said that room service would of course be complementary and she (hubby wasn’t up to getting out of bed let alone eating) could order anything she wanted but it would be really handy if she could order something thin they could just push under the door like pizza!

 

Hexagoning and Needles

While I have a bit of time on my hands I decided it was about time I shared my finished hexagonal baby blanket.  I have been unable to knit today!  {Sharp intake of breath} Don’t panic – I feel fine but my knitting is feeling decidely soggy following an unfortunate encounter with some tea this morning so it’s still drying off from its little cleansing shower.  Yesterday I have to admit no knitting got done as I was really tired and in quite a bit of pain from my right shoulder which knitting aggravated – I’m waiting on the results of yesterday’s x-ray on it.

Anyhoo back to some knitting I finished a few weeks ago.  This is Swirl and yet again is from Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans.

In total it measures about 74 cm (29″) across and is in double knitting yarn on size 4 mm straight needles.

When I showed pics previously Fiona enquired as to how it was constructed here we go – please excuse a the quality of a couple of the photos – I took them on my phone and can confirm that its correctly called a phone with a camera and not a camera phone.

Now it should have been knit on four double pointed needles but as I’ve said I avoid these if at all possible so adapted the pattern to suit two.

I started with one hexagon and joined the seam on that to close it up.  Then I cast on 100 stitches and picked up another 20 along one side to join the second one on.

This carried on adding 20 stitches for additional side that the new hexagon needed to join on to ie, this one had four hexagons so had 80 stitches from hexagon sides and 40 new ones…

Each hexagon had a seam that needed joining because of being knit on just two needles.

And just once there was a seam to be sewn between hexagons when I didn’t pick up enough stitches…

I wasn’t particularly orderly about adding hexagons possibly because I didn’t have any green to start with.

but after filling in the irratic gaps it looked like this…

Yes its not quite flat, and not quite as noticeable in ‘real life’ but I don’t think knitting it on four needles would have made that much of a difference.

This again isn’t a pattern I would have chosen to knit or colours I would have necessarily used (the colours are similar to the ones in the book) but I am quite pleased with it and do think it would look great in really bright colours.

Other creative spaces can be found here.

I started the DT-PACE IV chemotherapy today – my switch to peritoneal dialysis (PD) caused a bit of delay will things were thunk about.  I said to the blook pharmacist this morning that I believed I was causing them a problem, he agreed and said I was really testing them.  The renal doctor called to see me again for the fourth time, however its the first time I was actually ‘in’.  Tuesday with not having anything scheduled I’d been allowed out and after a trip into Primark would have come back with clothing if I’d been able to remember my credit card pin.  The third time the doc called yesterday morning I was having a shower.  The only concern he had about the schedule was that it resulted in me restarting the PD at midnight when he thought surely nine would have been better.  As it is I only got hooked up at quarter to one so by the time the bags have run through its probably going to be three o’clock Saturday morning that I need to start up again.  As you may have gathered I am being allowed to do the PD during the treatment, rather than having to go down for the haemodialysis (HD).  He must have thought that I looked way too enthusiastic having to get up at 12 even to pop a bag of fluid in but bascially I’m just estatic that I don’t have to go back to HD – and can only think he doesn’t know what sort irrate hours and late nights this can entail for inpatients – like the time I went down at ten past midnight so got back to my bed at 4.20 am!

After getting back from my non-shopping spree on Tuesday B took me out for tea – fish and chips which I had to stop eating part way through as I felt sick and got chastised for not asking for an anti-sickness tablet – I forgot!  It didn’t help that he knew I’d been sick at lunch time at the tiniest taste of Pot Noodle.

Oh, and tomorrow I get to have a biopsy needle stuck in the bump on the back of my head as the x-ray report says my skull is fine – which is good since when I was diagnosed the x-ray showed a lorra, lorra lytic lesions.  I’m think I may have to come up with a convicing ‘Silly me I forgot but I do know remember bumping it’ – depending on the size of the needle!

Peritoneal Dialysis Training

After Haemodialysis (HD) on Tuesday I sauntered down to the Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Unit to start my CAPD – continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis training.  When I left at three ish the sister said ‘Go home and relax, you’ll be tired after this morning and the concentration this afternoon’.  I thought ‘Well I have been awake since 5.25 am but don’t feel too tired.  However I got in the car and felt whacked.  B took Bud for his walk while I had a shower, put my jim jams on and settled down on the settee.  A friend phoned at tea time to ask if it was okay if she called round that night – it was a good job I’d had a kip.

Wednesday I went for more training leaving the house at nine and B picked me up at two to go to the dentist.  I’ve still got the numbness in my lip/chin and it’s been a bit achy.  The dentist couldn’t find anything wrong visually or by tapping or poking.  She did say that any ‘proper’ toothache could be being masked by the numbness.  We agreed I’d mention it at the Royal and if they recommended any tests she could carry out she was more than happy to do them.

I so nearly didn’t get the appointment.  I got there and the receptionist said I was next on her list to contact as they had a problem with equipment and my appointment would need to be rebooked.  I explained about the forthcoming treatment (still no bed available as at last Friday) and the need to get any infection identified.  The dentist agreed to see me on the understanding that if treatment was required it couldn’t be done there and then.  She was however able to identify that I have good dental hygiene.

A friend called round on Wednesday night and brought her laptop as she couldn’t get her printer to print from it and her son was working away.  As Pat has the same level of patience with anything computer related as the average three year old has with logarithms she asked if I could do it.  The laptop wouldn’t talk to our printer either and when I attempted to connect it to our broadband I discovered the reason I hadn’t been able to connect B’s xbox – apparently you can enter the code 57 times and still not get connected if you’re entering the wrong code – 8s can look a lot like Bs.

Thursday I had potentially my last HD.  Potentially because Prof didn’t want me doing it during chemo as he felt it increased the risk of infection.  However the sisters in PD said it was unusual once PD was started for people to go back to HD, unless they had peritonitis.  The training on Thursday including spotting the signs of peritonitis basically an infection in the peritoneum where the fluid resides.  From quarter past three on Thursday when we left the Royal I was on my own!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far so good apart from some minor boo boos and B asking me if I felt dialysis is taking over and if I thought I had a sh*tty life.  Unlike last year when he asked me this and I countered that by association that meant he did too I just went with ‘No’ – I was lying on the settee at the time half asleep.  The PD is getting quicker as it becomes more familiar.

Last Monday we (I say we but it was mostly B with me getting in the way I think) made room in the garage to accommodate the delivery of my PD supplies.  I think this may have resulted in a pain in my right shoulder blade which I aggravated on Friday when I carried a box upstairs.

I’ll share details of all my free goodies (as pictured below) and what I do with them shortly – basically when I can take photos of the relevant things without contaminating anything that needs to be sterile.

I may smell shortly

Here’s what I’ve been done this week.  I finished the Fish Ripple Pattern pram/cot/crib blanket from Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans.

Yes, it is slightly ripple-erey down the edge and also when you look at in top down or bottom up for that matter – well it is called Fish RIPPLE

and it looks okay from this angle.  It ended up 75 cm x 95 cm (29.5″ x 37.4 “).

I also got these finished.

 

I just couldn’t find the mitten pattern – I looked through the magazine holder where I keep my individual patterns divided by category and knew that as I’d used it recently it should be at the end of the baby section – no it wasn’t.  I checked somewhere I keep odds and ends of patterns for all sorts that don’t fit anywhere else just in case – no it wasn’t there either.  Oh, I wasn’t sort of choices of mitten patterns but the one big difference was none had a thumb so it would be an obvious difference.   I looked through the magazine folder again and it still wasn’t there – no wonder really it turned out that it was in the Sirdar baby booklet I’d knit the jacket and hat out of – Doh!

 

A bigger pom pom than on the last one had been requested and it did indeed start off very big but it had a little accident coming off the pom pom maker and ended up quite lob sided so by the time it had been evened out it was a tad smaller than I’d intended.

Sorry about the photo quality – must have been an off day.

I’ve also done more on Swirl, also from Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans (I’m really getting my money out of this book).

This hasn’t been without its share of boo boos, like this one…

I don’t know about you but I think I did really know that a hexagon should have six sides so I’m not sure how I only noticed this one had five once I’d sewn it up.

Plus there’s been the insertion of some hexagons in the wrong positions – that’s happened at least three or even four times but I think everything’s in its right place now.

I had my peritoneal catheter/cannula put in yesterday and I don’t know what I was getting my knickers in a twist about – I did opt for the sedation and only really ‘came to’ when the cannula was actually being inserted which was okay.  There was some pushing and then I’m sure I felt one of the stitches but only a bit and the ‘new’ doctor from last week was actually really nice and very good.

Turns out that what I should have been fretting over was how it feels today!  Yesterday going home with Auntie Ann I had to sit carefully with the seat belt away from my tummy but I thought, well actually I didn’t think what it would be like after AT ALL.  I know that might sound odd but having had a Hickman, PICC, femoral and dialysis neck line I just thought it would be similar (okay the femoral did hurt a bit after but I’ve just let that slip my memory).

Let’s just say its a soupcon tender.  I got out of bed in the early hours of the morning for a visit to the bathroom and forgot initially then WHAM ‘That hurts’.  This morning I could barely sit on the settee initially but after the two paracetamol and two tramadol kicked in it was waaaaaaaaaaaaay more tolerable.  Its tender like a BIG bruise and at the moment it’s not lying as flat as it will once settled due to the various dressings so things are pressing on it more than they will do.

BUT worst thing ever is that I can’t shower for four, or rather FOUR weeks – FOUR WEEKS!  Nobody told me this BEFOREHAND.  I thought when the nurse said don’t shower yesterday he meant just yesterday but NO – FOUR WEEKS – did I mention that already?

Oh, and I can’t drive for approximately SIX WEEKS – B’s done a happy dance and put the flag out.

 Other creative spaces can be found here.

Short Break

If I said I was having an impromptu mid week short break where’s the first place that springs to mind?  As much as I’d like to say ‘No, you’re wrong, I’m in Prague’ if you did say the Royal in Liverpool you would indeed be correct.

I’m having my peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter/cannula fitted today and was expecting to come in this morning at 7 am.   However about ten minutes before dialysis finished yesterday a nurse off the ward I’m currently on came and introduced himself and mentioned coming in yesterday, had I brought my stuff – well of course I hadn’t!  After consulting with the doctor who is putting the catheter in and I needed to ring last night about 5pm as there was someone due to be discharged between 5 and 6 pm.  Poo!

On one hand at least I didn’t have to go to bed at home thinking ‘Aahhhhh I have to get up and go in the morning’ but on the other it’s another night in hospital that I wasn’t expecting.  In fact it might be two as some people stay in the night it’s put in particularly if they have dialysis here the day after.  B thinks this is quite a good idea – I do in theory but in reality it sucks – I’d much rather be in my own bed with Buddy.

I’d had my day planned around going in on Wednesday morning, I was going to Armchair Yoga in the afternoon, then maybe a walk with B and Bud, my last bath and then Chris was probably coming round – so that would take my mind off things – because the insertion of any line gets me a little windy but this one in particular has.  So I went to yoga anyway, missed a friend who called with some homemade jam and a bag of treats for Bud by 10 minutes (‘Why didn’t you ring me on my mobile’ I asked B ‘I thought you’d be driving’ as it was it was just as well because i’d left it at home), took a call from Chris saying she should be able to call if she had a car and then said she’d take me in if I was going, took a call from the renal nurse at practically bob on five saying that there was a bed free (B handed me the phone!), half packed, went rushing off into the wood opposite wearing a dress with no tights and pink wellies after I saw a little Scottie dog out there apparently on its own – said dog rushed off like the clappers when I shouted it and it turned out there was someone with it but miles away, showered, forced down half my tea, got in the car with Chris and claimed my bed.  I think we got here at eight ish.

When the nurse booked me in last night it turned out that I’m only having the catheter/cannula installed this afternoon!  Usually they are done in a morning but they’d checked with the doctor and it’s only this afternoon so really I could have stayed at home – I’ve only had the laxative this morning as well.

I’d taken my Thalidomide extra early to get it in before I left home and so I didn’t have to start saying to the renal staff ‘You need to put gloves on to dispense that one’ so when Chris went at half nine I started typing this but was nodding off so I ended up watching ‘Big Fat Gypsy Weddings’ on the netbook was well away by eleven. The doctor woke me up apologetically at quarter to one to clerk me in  – she was still on at eight this morning.

I’m on a ward of six as opposed to the usual four in haematology but surprisingly (and against Chris’s opinion too) there was no disturbances during the night (other than the doctor), there was blood taken at about seven thirty ish but I was awake then anyway and I got to have the laxative drink – which has worked you’ll be glad to know!  I needed to let them know if it didn’t and I could have had another one because, and here’s something I hadn’t thought of, the nurse said she didn’t want me getting the urge to go while I was having anything installed.

Oh, and you know you see and hear all those jokes about hospital gowns opening at the back and exposing people’s rear ends well I’d never seen this in real life – until last night.  A lady with a gown on and a cardy got up to go to the loo and there she was with a HUGE gap in the gap – fortunately she had some sort of undergarment on – but it was like those people who rubber neck at road accidents I didn’t want to look but had to fight to keep my eyes away – Chris clocked the sight and we both started tittering.  We then had a discussion on how it’s neigh on impossible to do with the way gowns close now but then it happened again this morning but with someone else!  And then the first lady had apparently taken her’s off completely – fortunately I didn’t see and this I only glanced over (I didn’t want to it just happened) when I heard one of the staff suggest that she might like to put it back on – I only saw a bit of shoulder.

Peritoneal Dialysis

After flitting round making sure the house was reasonably presentable for the PD* nurse she came in through the front door, stopped briefly in the hall/dining room and then we went through to the lounge. This was without venturing anywhere near the kitchen or upstairs at all. Mind you, you could guarantee that if I’d not put things away (like B’s socks which got me whinged at – as well as his car he’s precious about his socks, although pointing out that the ones I’d put away had gone onto piles of the same logo appeased him somewhat) she would have been checking under the bed and coming face to face with the extremely dusty barely used Pilates machine.

From what this nurse and the one from Thursday said this is what happens with PD –

a cannula is inserted into the peritoneal cavity – gulp! Cannula – sometimes irritating pointy thing that can make can make your toes curl that goes into the back of a hand or by the time those veins have been tired out somewhere in the forearm or crook of the elbow. But no, the similarity ends at the name it’s a very soft plastic tube with a coiled bit at the end (which is more effective at keeping it in place than a straight piece) with lots of irrigation holes in it and two fuzzy wooly bits that encourage tissue to heal round it – one sits in the abdominal muscle and the other just under the skin. At the end of the outside bit there’s a plastic end with a tap (vision of something like the tap on a beer barrel or box of wine) which twists to open the line and has a screw cap on the end which covers a bit you DON’T TOUCH. The end can be secured when not in use round the back or tucked into a bra – well if you’re female or would it be more politically correct to say ‘well if you wear one’

the peritoneal cavity is then filled with fluid. This fluid then through a process of osmosis (a word I learned from the list of 100 questions our school chemistry teacher, I think he may have been a professor, had the class learn and randomly tested us on) is able to filter toxins

the fluid can be removed manually four times a day or the process can be done overnight by machine. If it’s done manually about two litres of fluid sit in the abdomen all the time and are swapped for fresh after getting up, before going to bed and twice in between at four to six hour intervals. Needless to say I said I’d prefer the overnight method as this would leave my days free but both methods are not exclusive and can be interchanged to suit. The machine is quite quiet but does bother some people – so I think that means that Bud and I should be okay but you can bet it’s gonna bother B

PD is gentler than HD in that because it removes toxins every day there is no build up between dialysing. Whereas HD produces a saw tooth effect ie, clear out, build up, clear out, build up, clear out, build up, build up

one of the big factors is that PD can preserve any existing kidney function whereas because HD is so efficient at what it does the kidneys kinda go ‘well we don’t need to do anything’ and stop trying. So now would be a good time for me to move over while mine are still doing something toxin wise and of course I’m back to weeing again – goodness knows although I think I’d deal better with a fluid restriction this time I wouldn’t necessarily like it

another big factor would be a renal diet doesn’t have to be adhered to however I don’t follow one at the moment anyway – not because I’m being naughty but because I don’t need to as the relevant levels such as phosphate and potassium aren’t high

I’ll have to share the rest tomorrow as Bud’s had an upset tummy today and has been indicating that it needs rubbing and it’s a bit difficult to rub with one hand and type with the other. Bud’s tummy has been a bit temperamental since he joined the family, indeed I recall him eating grass the day after he came home, and we have mentioned it to the vet. Usually once he’s ‘been’ it settles down but not today. Indeed when B went to work we did our usual routine of giving him a kiss and a hug on the kitchen door step – well I kiss and hug him and Bud stands at the side of me waiting for his cu-tch (little tickle) and then we stand at the porch window and wave as he drives off to earn us some some pennies but not tonight. We both left the kitchen but I arrived at the window and Bud went and got back on the settee where he’s stayed since. But where he would usually settle and only shift occasionally he keeps moving round like he’s not completely satisfied – I may think this is happening more than it is but he definitely keeps raising his head and looking not too happy and looking round if I stop rubbing.  He even turned down some rump steak at tea time although did wag his tail when initially offered it and the second and third time too kinda ‘I appreciate it but no thanks not right now’.

* PD – that would be how us in the know refer to peritoneal dialsysis, HD being haemodialysis. I personally have been in the know since Friday afternoon when I found myself using the terms during a conversation with B, prior to that everything was just dialysis.

Ripply Fish?!?!

My Creative Space this week was supposed to comprise a cardigan I’d knit for myself however it didn’t make it for two reasons

1)  I intended to model it myself but B was going to work by the time I finished it

2)  When I popped it onto my dress form to photograph it became blatantly apparent that it desperately needed blocking.  I have to admit it had been a little apparent before that but I thought that with the aid of a few strategically placed pins I could get away with it but that would be – NO

So the cardy is currently enjoying (hopefully) a wool cycle in the washing machine and instead we have the latest pram/cot (crib) blanket I’ve been asked to do…

It is again from Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans, is called Fish Ripple Pattern and is in a double knitting yarn.  The grandmother to be choose the colours which will  show up better when I take a pic in daylight.

I meanwhile had about three hours sleep again last night before today’s dialysis so I am expecting to sleep well tonight especially since B has accused me of overdoing it today – but we’ve a nurse coming out tomorrow to check out the house’s suitability for carrying out peritoneal dialysis (it was only arranged today) and B’s ‘It looks alright’ wasn’t satisfying me.  I mean okay I could just have stuffed the card making stuff back in the cupboard without finishing off my sis-in-law’s card and the paper bin under the desk possibly didn’t need emptying but the soil in the porch from a wayward plant really did need brushing up and whilst I was at it I might as well sort out the covers on the settee’s again, wipe down the kitchen worktops and get the bubble wrap out of the glory-hole while I was at it.  B took the cloth and vinegar spray off me before I had chance to clean the porch window (or rather Bud’s nose marks off the window) and did it instead.

However dialysis this way at home could cut out the problem of lack of sleep on the evening before dialysis mind you since it can be done during the night it could also keep me awake all night!  I’m now off to check on my washed cardigan there could be tears if it ends up like the tea cosy and then I’m off to bed where Bud’s already had an early night!

Other Creative Spaces can be found here.

Lots of Buddies

We’ve had a spate of Myeloma Buddy production going on over the past few months.  If I’m a bit stuck for something to take out with me or just need something small I knit a Buddy.  When I was thinking of posting the pics I realised that I’d never said where the orange Myeloma Buddy army went last year.

The 100 Buddies were ordered by Myeloma UK – orange or rather ORANGE being their corporate colour.  They are available direct from them and are listed in their site shop right here.  They’re also for sale at their Info Days.

While I’m at it there’s also a link to my Buddies in the FUNdraisers section of the IMF site (International Myeloma Foundation that is not the better known but less fantastic International Monetary Fund).

Mmm, wonder what one would look like in fabric?

Other creative spaces are here.

When I went for dialysis today I asked about the results of the 24 hour wee collection from Monday.  Apparently the level of toxins in it that my kidneys had filtered is not yet normal but is going up.  The blood test showed my calcium level is on the low side even though my Calci-chew dose was increased three weeks ago from 2g a day to 4g so the nurse said she’d get a doctor to review it when I went in on Saturday.  

Steak and Kidneys

‘How am I?’ Well, thank you for asking. I am just assuming some of you, or perhaps one or two, have been wondering how I’ve been getting on healthwise generally.

In myself I have been so tired and a bit out of sorts. I think It has to do with getting up before six am three days a week and then sleeping later on the other days, along with having a nap in the afternoon following dialysis. From being young one of the things that was guaranteed to make me feel under the weather was irregular sleeping hours – so I think I’m going to have to start getting up early on the days I don’t go and get into a routine time of going to bed. Plus it doesn’t help when B’s brother rings at 20 past 11 on a Friday night to ask if B can pick their mum’s prescription up from the doctors before 11 on Saturday morning because he’s busy. Busy turning out to mean he’s had, or about to have, so much to drink he won’t be able to legally drive on the Saturday morning. Monday I got home and slept most of the afternoon – well afternoon and early evening – it was about seven when I prised myself off the settee to go for a shower and get my jim jams on. This morning I managed to get a sleep while on dialysis and I have to say I feel a lot better for it. Yesterday armchair yoga started again and I decided not to go – well I um’ed and ah’ed and then with B leaning towards me not going I was swayed in that direction. However it was the right decision as by early evening I said ‘If I’d felt like this earlier I would have gone’ just proving I guess that I wasn’t really up to it.

Mind you I didn’t just sleep on Monday I was sick as well. I was so disappointed Friday night when we had an Indian takeaway. We’d had one last Monday when I found out my neutrophils had gone up to 2.00 – yes 2.00! I intially thought the nurse must have said 0.2 but no it was 2.00 – the bottom end of normal. On Monday I’d been fine with the takeaway – I hadn’t eaten it all, but some was eaten and it stayed eaten – however on Friday I was part way through when what had been eaten decided to put in a reappearance. Fortunately since the ambulance incident a poop scoop bag lined sick bowl is never far out of reach – it could be the newest ‘must have’ fashion accessory – maybe I could make it a little cover.

B’s still been doing most of the cooking and after slaving over a hot stove on Monday night I ate a little bit of lamb, potatoes, petit pois (not just ordinary garden peas for us I’ll have you know) and mint gravy and then this too decided to do an encore performance. My Auntie Ann pointed out last night that it might be dialysis linked as I wasn’t sick on Thursday, Saturday or Sunday – see if I wasn’t so tired I could have worked that out for myself. I wasn’t sick yesterday either – although it was a close thing after a few gulps of Fortisip in the morning but it settled down and the Fortisip was actually okay.

I asked this morning whether the sickness had anything to do with the dialysis and the short answer is no. It can make people sick but this tends to be straight after – so last Wednesday’s incident would tie in but nothing later in the day so that rules out Friday and Monday’s later incidents. However the sister who has been dealing with me had mentioned to one of the renal doctors that my blood pressure was high and this can cause vomiting. The doctor had suggested that more fluid was taken off but the sister pointed out that this wasn’t an issue so one of the blood doctors was going to come and see me this morning but I finished dialysis really early today as there was a clotting issue which despite the best efforts of the sister completely stuffed the machine. The most common anti-clotting drug Heprin isn’t being used as my platelets have been low, and still are somewhat, but apparently there are other drugs or a different ‘kidney’ that can be used and it will be sorted for Friday. And today my blood pressure was fine.

Since I hadn’t/haven’t been eating as much as usual the renal dietician sent a note to our GP so I could get this fortified supplement drink on prescription. I had tried Nepro whilst in the Royal but it was a warm vanilla and let’s just say it put me off that one. I also had a different one in strawberry and that was okay – as long as it was cold that it is – but since I was on a fluid restriction at the time I didn’t want to use a third of it with one of those. I had it on good authority from one of the other dieticians that Fortisip is probably the most paletable and is only 125ml instead of 250ml. Although at the moment I can drink up to two litres a day as long as I don’t gain more than 2 kg (4.4 lbs) between dialysis sessions. This isn’t proving to be a problem since I’ve lost nearly 10 kg (22 lbs) since November but have been hovering about the same weight for the last couple of weeks.

One of the renal dieticians called in to see me this morning and said if my appetite doesn’t improve in the next few weeks we can increase the Fortisip to two a day and in the meantime I should ‘enrich’ my food ie, add butter, cheese, cream to everything. I had started doing this after B got me some crackers on Monday and I had a few with butter yesterday which really got Buddy’s attention. I had anticipated doing this on Monday night but ‘someone’ put the butter back in the fridge after I’d got it out to soften so the butter didn’t spread very far but the crackers ended up in a lot of pieces.

The ‘rash’ I had that came in two stages stopped being painful when pressed but still hasn’t faded completely. These were the spots that came up looking like small ‘bites’ and then settled into a red looking bruise with a hard bit in the middle. The most dramatic one seeming to conincide with my platelets being really low and ending up being about three inches in diameter.

My knees are still a bit iffy in the stair department. They’re not painful and I can actually get up from a squat position without scrabbling towards something I can pull myself up on, not that I’ve been making a habit of squating, but I’m still really, really slow in going up the stairs. Oh, and I traumatised one of the ambulance drivers yesterday as I fell onto the mini bus. B had phoned just as we were walking out of the main doors and I attempted to take the two small steps onto the bus with my crocheting in one hand and the phone clamped to my ear in the other. My knee just didn’t produce any umpff – at all. I lunged forward and fortunately landed on a nearby seat which doubly fortunately was down on this occassion. He advised me to be careful getting off. The other ambulance man asked ‘Why? Did you fall getting off before?’ ‘No’ the first one replied ‘she fell getting ON!’

I must have lost a little bit of weight with my hair – since it’s been a bit of a competition as to who was shedding more – me or Bud. And it’s really cold. I keep feeling draughts on my head. I’ll be lying on the settee minding my own beeswax and B will go out opening the door, cold blast one, and closing the door, cold blast two. I was thinking ‘I don’t remember it being this chilly before’ and of course it wasn’t because last time I had a similar hair style it was summer. After having the hood up on my shorty dressing gown on Monday night I decided that I needed something to keep my noggin toasty while I’m dressed. B offered to find me a new bob hat that he has for work but I dug out a protype hat I knit a while ago so I spent yesterday afternoon with black and lilac stripped Peruvian style head wear with little plaits from the ear flaps and a tassel on the top.

B cooked us peppered rump steak for tea – a bit adventurous possibly as I’d thrown up twice within the past two hours as a result I think of an uncustomary can of coca cola – and it was gorgeous more so going down than coming back up I must admit. Although so far the second instalment has stayed where it was put.

Me Balls are too Big

I thought it was about time we had a craft related post.  I’ll start with what I did while on my five week Royal-cation.

I did 20 fancy crocheted squares – I had 63 to choose from in the booklet which was just as well as there were a number I undid, either because I had too many or too few chains left at the end of the base row or it didn’t turn out the right size.  I must apologise for the picture quality but I took some of them on my phone.

I had plenty of yarn left over from making the fancy squares so I made another 45 (I already had five made at home) for Share a Square.  Shelly was a little short of contributors, as every square in an afghan should come from someone different, so it was suggested that if you crocheted them you could put a friend/family member on the tag that accompanies them.  So I did this batch from my Auntie Ann  – needless to say I had to handwrite the tags.

This was one of the squares I’d already done.  This and the other 45 squares are in Red Heart aran/worsted and this one is called Bikini.  I have  to say I was very impressed with Red Heart’s service.  I ordered on a Saturday night, the order was processed on the Monday and I received it Friday – all the way from the US.

Now we’ll get onto the subject of big balls and me being a tad (read that as very) slow.  I selected some yarn for a blanket from my local yarn store over the phone and a friend picked it up.  B brought the book in I needed – Comfort Knitting and Crochet Afghans and off I went.  I have to admit that the last week in the hospital I didn’t do any knitting at all.  Yes, I felt somewhat crappy but if I’d had something to do that didn’t involve four colours in a row I might have been more inclined to do some but I had already managed a fair bit…

Plus the balls were all 400g and actually seemed to be getting bigger rather than smaller, as they loosened up, so it was really a mither to untangle the yarn part way through.  I started knitting again on Wednesday and saw the light – why didn’t I just wrap smaller balls to make it easier – Doh!

The pattern itself is really clever, well I think so, in that you start with a straight row of stitches…

and because of the decreases in the middle it forms a square when finished.

On Tuesday this week I decided I’d like to do some crochet and thought I’d start a blanket for the creche/hospital in South Africa that our GPs’ receptionist, and husband, are involved with using the bag of tiny balls that one of the other receptionists gave me.  I also had quite a few bits hanging about myself.

I crocheted them together as I went along otherwise I would have crocheted round each square in the same colour, say cream, to unite it more.  Now my sister in law, Gill, rang on Tuesday to ask if I had a crochet hook that she could borrow for some double knit yarn she’d bought.  She’s never crocheted before but is having trouble sleeping so she thought it might be an idea to learn so that she could crochet when she’s awake in the middle of the night.  She’s left handed but had found an instructional video for left handed people on the internet. I said no problem, I have lots of crochet hooks.  Turns out I only have one 4.5mm which was the size I was using for the blanket so after I’d lent it to Gill I needed something else to do in dialysis on Wednesday, so I did these…

They are in a chunky yarn, which I wouldn’t usually use, but was given two bags full by a friend from Armchair Yoga so I thought I’d use that as it would crochet up quickly.

And finally, I actually finished my second Stephen West Knitalong shawl, for a friend for Christmas, just before I went into hospital.  I hadn’t blocked it though I had left it to dry flat and I was so annoyed with myself on Christmas Eve.  Chris called round with my present (and we had a chat with me in the vestibule and her in the porch – as she had a cold) and I hadn’t had chance to block the shawl.  After she’d gone I went upstairs and when I looked at the shawl it would have been fine – I could have just wrapped it up.  Double doh!

I have to say I really like the colours particularly as I wasn’t too sure how they would look together.

And one little departure from crafting – when I went to dialysis yesterday both the doctor and dietitian called in to see me.  The dietitian was asking me how my mouth was and I said it was loads better, the only thing that really made it sting was the potassium tablets I’d been given to take when I left the hospital.  It turned out that my potassium was too high on Wednesday but this would be the reason and since I took the last ones on Wednesday it should settle back down.

My phosphate had also been low prompting a phone call from one of the doctors on Monday afternoon but since I didn’t feel nauseous and was eating it wasn’t too much cause for concern and it had gone up a little by Wednesday.

The other thing was the 24 hour wee collection I’d taken in on Monday – 1.8 litres!  Just a tad different from the 200 to 300ml I was producing at first.  When analysed it didn’t have that many toxins in it which would have showed that my kidneys were recovering and dialysis could be stopped at some point,  but it did have some.  The doctor said though that there is still a little hope that they will pick up and I need to do a monthly collection.  It was just as well that I hadn’t got my hopes up but then again you never know, stranger things have happened at sea.