MCL and Me

Well the last week I've been doing pretty well, getting back to normal. I went in to the office Tuesday and Thursday this week and hopefully I'll be able to get back to making that the regular timetable. That said, since I started reducing my prednisolone to 5mg and 2.5mg on alternate days I have felt a bit rougher in the mornings and quite tired come the evening with a couple of early nights already. Today (Friday) was probably the worst it has been but I've still been able to log on to work ok though I did have a little nap at lunch time , which helped a lot. We shall have to see how this goes. Not ideal conditions for NaNoWriMo perhaps but what you gonna do? It's like the driver lost in a strange village asks the straw chewing yokel "How do I get to town?" "Oh I wouldn't start from here if I were you" comes the reply. Speaking of NaNowriMo... NaNoWriMo My preparations for this year's competition have been going well and I've worked o...

Say what now? Have I finally gone crazy and started spouting nonsense ( more than usual ). No, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and once I explain maybe you will think I have gone mad, but first a quick medical update. Things have gone well this week and I have been able to log on to work as normal and even visited the office yesterday. I've started a slow taper of my prednisolone steroids and currently on 5mg one day and 2.5mg the next. So far so good. Also my nausea caused by taking itraconazole seems to have eased so maybe it was because my ciclosporin levels were a bit high before. NaNoWriMo So NaNoWriMo or NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth. Well you can read the details on their site but here's the gist of it... National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painsta...

I went to the transplant clinic yesterday and took my Dad with me in Arthur. Mostly for the company but also just in case I didn't fancy driving home. I saw my consultant and explained how I have been getting steadily more energy since starting the additional steroids. The plan now is to try and get completely off the predisnolone over the next month. I am currently on 5mg each day, from next Wednesday that will go down to 5mg one day and 2.5 the next. The idea is to get free of the prednisolone over the next four to six weeks. Then it comes to the issue of getting off the new Hydrocortisone but I may be referred to the endocrinologist for that for a formal assessment of my adrenal function if I get withdrawal problems when the time comes. Yesterday I had an extra phial of blood taken to measure my thyroid and cortisol levels so will be interested to see if that shows anything. The doc said I was basically back on track which is re-assuring. Back in three weeks' time. Today I l...

First a brief medical update. You'll pleased to know that the extra dose of different steroids, hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone, have helped get my energy back. It's gradually got better over the last week and today I got up at 07:40 to test if I can manage a whole day vertical. I'm pleased to say I have managed just fine including a walk up the hill to the shop and a brief ride out in Arthur to do a couple of errands. I'm at the transplant clinic tomorrow and then hopefully logging back on to work on Thursday. Of course the question remains how I get weaned off these new steroids that I am that help wean me off the original prednisolone steroids. But one step at a time. Now for the real meat of this post. Soap Box It's not that often, I hope, that I get on my soap box in this blog. The last time I can recall was for the Atheist Bus Campaign almost exactly a year ago. So perhaps you can indulge me once again. I should declare at this point that I am a typical le...

I went to the transplant clinic yesterday and saw my consultant. She could tell that I wasn't my usual chirpy self and as I explained how I had been the previous week she put it down to one of two possible causes. But first just to recap on the preceding week. I have been very up and down with my energy levels and nausea, though more down than up. Unfortunately I couldn't find a useful pattern to it to relate to my steroid dose as I alternated between 2.5 and 5mg a day. For example Sunday was a 2.5 day but apart from a bit of nausea before lunch I had a reasonable day, was able to visit my friend Andy in the afternoon and even iron a few shirts in the evening. Monday, a 5mg day, was ok but I was a bit nauseous. Then Tuesday another 2.5mg was a total washout. It was the worst day for fatigue I have known. I had four attempts to get up and each time after about half an hour or so I ended up back in bed. I finally managed to get up and have a shower by 16:00 and I was in bed by a...