Category Weekly round up February 2013

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Weekly round up February 2013

Weekly update February 24th 2013

Feb 25, 13 7:46 AM
week ending Feb 24th 2013

week ending Feb 24th 2013

A busy week work-wise, and I mean work-wise not in terms of the blog where I was hoping to put more time into exploring how the data translates into watercolour structures and material. My working week has managed to continue reasonably uninterrupted to date despite a heavy demand on my time From the hospital. I’ve got used to being largely hairless but feel physically able. Mostly.

My treatment involves bursts of a full week of chemo followed by weekly squirts. I’ve just had a full week of a heavy dose of daily steroids (dex) which I’ve just come off. The emotional and physical side effects from this are quite tough to take and will reflect in the data I’m sure.

Data Summary

Hats: (Beenie grey x 2, Sindhi x1, Blue beat Mod x 2, Patterned beenie x 1)

Stoicism: a low of 3 wobbly lip and a high of 9 illness what illness. Mostly 5 stiff upper lip. I think the lower stats here are dex induced but I do find I can cope better when I’m doing creative activities as represented by illness what illness.

Mood: a low of 4 (subdued) and a high of 7 (cheerful and in good spirits), mostly 6 (calm). Interestingly the high and low scores don’t map to the stoicism scores. Some further analysis on this to come.

Control: a low of 4 (little control) and a high of 5 mostly 5 (some control ), looks fairly steady, I was juggling multiple work demands so reflected in this data.

Discomfort: a low of 2 (mild) and a high of 5 (moderate). Mostly 2(mild), I think the low discomfort scores are looking good here. My back has really settled down and not feeling much of anything anymore.

Medical

Bloods (Haemoglobin, White cell count, Platelets, Neutrophiils) all stayed stable and in the normal range. My specialists calls this boring, I’m delighted.

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Weekly round-up February 17th 2013

Feb 17, 13 8:22 AM
Weekly hats week ending Feb 17th 2013

Weekly hats week ending Feb 17th 2013

This was an interesting week and the data gives a good representation of it’s peaks and troughs.

I have been in discussion to exhibit work arising from the project’s data. This made me feel full of energy and generally very creative and happy as can be seen in the highs of mood and stoicism mid-week (8 and 7 respectively). I’m not tracking creativity but if i was it would be an 8 out of 10. Ironically since my illness came back I’ve had more time to make work than before. Shame I had to develop incurable cancer to get into this position.

I have been working a lot on the project which has been great but by the end of the week I was beginning to feel tired and my back is sore, again reflected in the discomfort index which reached 4. This could be because I’ve been sitting down a lot and not getting as much exercise as I should, or it could be a symptom of the illness. I shall have to keep my eye on it.

The beginning of the week was challenging, my hair started coming out in clumps which initially was a bit of a shock (plunges in control and mood indexes). I’ve had what’s left shaved off and developed a hat index to account for the headgear I’ve adopted. I also developed a stoicism index to accompany the other mood and affect indexes.

I finished my first cycle of chemo which was a milestone and to which I have had only mild side effects, and I had an important meeting with my specialist where I got my paraprotein results which were good. No detectable levels (again reflected in higher mood, control and stoicism scores).

The scores on the doors

For the key to these please look at the Data Methods part of this site

Hats: (Beenie grey x 3, Bucket hat x 2, Blue note Mod x 1, Patterned beenie x 1)

Stoicism: a low of 4 (Stiff upper lip) and a high of 7 (I feel fine), mostly 4-5 (stiff upper lip)

Mood: a low of 5 (subdued) and a high of 8 (cheerful and in good spirits), mostly 6 (calm) and 7-8 (cheerful and in good spirits)

Control: a low of 3-4 (little control) and a high of 7 (a good deal of control), mostly 5 (some control ),

Discomfort: a low of 2 (mild) and a high of 4 (moderate). Mostly 4 (moderate)

bone_marrow_6My bloods (Haemoglobin, White cell count, Platelets, Neutrophiils) all stayed stable and in the normal range.

I had the results back from my bone marrow biopsy (image left) and Bence Jones Urine tests, no detectable levels of Paraprotein.

I consumed a total of £771.45 worth of drugs which included chemo and antibiotics.

Thank God for the NHS

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