On Sunday morning I came round without pain but running a high temperature and feeling very sick. To cut a long story short I was admitted to the haematology unit at UCLH, put in an isolation room, pumped full of antibiotics and put under surveillance. On Monday I was scheduled to have my stem cells collected, a process, which was now under threat. You can’t have your stem cells collected if you’re carrying an infection as you store it with the stem cells (SC); when you get the SCs back, you get the infection back. I sweated (literally and metaphorically) through Sunday and into the early hours of Monday morning, was administered more antibiotics and slept intermittently. The only upside to admission was I got to check out the isolation accommodation that I will soon be inhabiting once they return the SCs. The rooms are really nice, new build, well appointed with great views as you are up in the tower of UCLH. The above picture shows the view toward the city of London.
Some levity: things doctors say no.1
I was woken at midnight for some blood tests by the on-duty haematologist a nice young chap who asked me the usual questions about how I felt and ran through the litany of disease and treatment I had endured in the recent past: “any serious medical issues then?”
I took it stoically.
Here’s the data.
For detailed description of parameters see the Data Methods part of this website
Stoicism: Grin and bare it 6
Mood: felt subdued 5
Control: No control at all = 1
Discomfort: severe = 8
blood and bones 