Planning ahead
I went for bloods at the Day Unit this morning, getting back in to the daily routine. As I am approaching my last round of chemo I've been thinking about what might lie ahead in terms of hospital work etc:-
At the moment my counts are dropping from the last round of chemo. These should be recovered by the end of next week so I should be ready to go back in the hospital for the final round of chemo. Until then I will be working from home and going to usual blood tests.
So w/c 23rd June some point I'll be in hospital ( in time for my birthday ). That will be in for a week and then a few days recovery when I am out, then back to working from home whilst my counts drop and rise again.
I then need to have a CT scan and possibly other tests to review the results of the chemo. In the meantime I work from home.
If it all goes according to plan I should have a complete response and be ready for my stem cell transplant which is scheduled for the 8th of September.
So from about the 8th July I will have finished all chemo and have counts recovered so subject to an ok from my consultant I can look at returning to work in the office at Ashby de la Zouch until a couple of weeks before the 8th September when I will go back to working from home ( this is just to make sure I don't pick up any bugs from people at work that would delay my stem cell transplant).
From the 8th of September I'll be in hospital for 4 to 6 weeks while I have my stem cell transplant from the donor.
When I come out I am on quite a long recovery period while various things happen with my immune systems (plural and I'll have two for a while mine and the donor's).
It's hard to say how this long this will take but it is going to be 6 to 9 months before I could come back into the office but I should be able to work from home after maybe 3 months i.e. after Christmas but I might manage a few days here and there working from home before then.
It is quite common for there to be set backs along the way due to acquired infections and most people end up going back into hospital a couple of times after the transplant.
That's all the theory but there are various complications and things that could change the way it pans out, however in summary the progress from here is:-
June - Mid July - Work from home then chemo then work from home
Mid July - Mid August - Back in Ashby
Mid August - 8th Sep - Work from Home
8th Sep - Mid October - Hospital - Stem Cell Transplant
October - December - At home recovering may be able to work some days
January 2009 - March 2009 Working from home
March 2009 - Possible return to Ashby.
At the moment my counts are dropping from the last round of chemo. These should be recovered by the end of next week so I should be ready to go back in the hospital for the final round of chemo. Until then I will be working from home and going to usual blood tests.
So w/c 23rd June some point I'll be in hospital ( in time for my birthday ). That will be in for a week and then a few days recovery when I am out, then back to working from home whilst my counts drop and rise again.
I then need to have a CT scan and possibly other tests to review the results of the chemo. In the meantime I work from home.
If it all goes according to plan I should have a complete response and be ready for my stem cell transplant which is scheduled for the 8th of September.
So from about the 8th July I will have finished all chemo and have counts recovered so subject to an ok from my consultant I can look at returning to work in the office at Ashby de la Zouch until a couple of weeks before the 8th September when I will go back to working from home ( this is just to make sure I don't pick up any bugs from people at work that would delay my stem cell transplant).
From the 8th of September I'll be in hospital for 4 to 6 weeks while I have my stem cell transplant from the donor.
When I come out I am on quite a long recovery period while various things happen with my immune systems (plural and I'll have two for a while mine and the donor's).
It's hard to say how this long this will take but it is going to be 6 to 9 months before I could come back into the office but I should be able to work from home after maybe 3 months i.e. after Christmas but I might manage a few days here and there working from home before then.
It is quite common for there to be set backs along the way due to acquired infections and most people end up going back into hospital a couple of times after the transplant.
That's all the theory but there are various complications and things that could change the way it pans out, however in summary the progress from here is:-
June - Mid July - Work from home then chemo then work from home
Mid July - Mid August - Back in Ashby
Mid August - 8th Sep - Work from Home
8th Sep - Mid October - Hospital - Stem Cell Transplant
October - December - At home recovering may be able to work some days
January 2009 - March 2009 Working from home
March 2009 - Possible return to Ashby.
Comments
The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
But here's hoping that all goes to the plan.