Packed and ready to go
Not much else to say except that I will enjoy my little bit of time out.
Author: Phillip Branch
Out Friday
I will be out tomorrow regardless of temperature spikes. Of course, if I should fall ill it is a different story but I have not actually felt ill since the first 7 days. Since then it has been really annoying and frustrating temperature spikes.
The white cells are go
Plenty of them now. Walking around outside enjoying shade…no sun as with my skin and drugs it is a bad idea. Still, it is great out here enjoying the signs of life and freedom.
White cells up to 1.2
Which is good. Might be out at the end of the week or monday afternoon after the bone marrow biopsy.
Dropping one antibiotic too. It may be causing the fever or some such medical thingy.
The dermatologists gave me a steroid to rub on my skin to help my antibiotic reaction itchiness. I rubbed it on my forearms and legs but it caused a bit of a reaction. Now my forearms are slightly swollen 
So much for that. A good thing I only used it once. What a cluster fuck of reactions (the swear word was for Franca).
Sleep
The band are touring and I am going to miss them as I am in hospital.
The guardian newspaper sums it up nicely.
Fucking fever
This fucking fever is fucking well fucking me off right fucking royally.
Chrome dome
Hair is all off. Feels good. Might keep it off when it grows back as it is so easy to keep clean.
Shit day
Yesterday was a crap day. I had an antihistamine for my drug reaction on my skin and it left me zonked for the entire day. I kept falling asleep on my bed which ruined my whole pattern I set up. Normally I would get up and move around during the day to keep active and watch a few old episodes of the Daily Show, read, etc. Yesterday this was all disrupted. I lay under the covers and my temperature was off more than usual all day and I was just feeling off, mentally and physically. I then suffered when I tried to go to bed later that night. I ended up feeling overwhelmed by everything and got very emotional. Eventually I relaxed a bit by walking up and down the corridor at 2am for 5 – 10 minutes to unwind. Fortunately the walk helped and I felt more relaxed and was able to have a sleeping tablet and promptly fell asleep. What a relief!
Today I have resumed my normal behaviour and am out of bed doing stuff. No antihistamine either, never touching that shit again.
More platelets today and a tiny bit more activity from my white cells.
Skin
The antibiotic rash on my leg, the blind is casting a shadow on legs in this photo:
Food
The flavour removal machine is working overtime at the RAH. They must have a tiny budget per meal?
My morning excursion
This morning I left my room for the first time since 10/Nov to have some scans to see if the source of my fever (37.5 to 38.5 degrees) could be found. At around 9am I was transported on my barouche to the radiology department.
The first scan was a CT scan which took about 5 minutes. I just have to lie down inside a big donut shaped machine and that is it. This scan is looking for a lung infection.
The second scan was an ultrasound of my liver. Again I just lie there chatting to the ultrasound person who I found out is the same age as me amongst other interesting things. This scan is obviously looking for some infection related abnormalities of my liver.
It was a lovely day out after being stuck in this room for so long. It was also nice to have a chat with the various people involved with the scans.
The preliminary results indicate that there is nothing wrong with my lungs or liver which is a relief.
My white cell count has started to rise. It is only a flicker of change but it has started. It is such a relief to see the light at the end of the tunnel for this phase. Unless something goes wrong I should be out sometime next week.
I have had a bit of a reaction to one of the antibiotics which has now flared up into a rash over my entire body. It feels a little ‘prickly’ on my back but that is about the extent of the discomfort. The doctors are giving me some steroid to alleviate the rash.
Antibiotic rash
Pulgasari
Pulgasari being a North Korean movie in the Godzilla style. I just have to watch it. The story behind it is very interesting, worth a read of the Wikipedia entry to see how crazy the North Korean dictator is. Here is a taste from the Wikipedia entry:
Pulgasari is a 1985 North Korean Kaiju film directed by Shin Sang-ok and Chong Gon Jo. Director Shin had been kidnapped in 1978 by North Korean intelligence on the orders of Kim Jong-il, son of the then-ruling Kim Il-sung.
Off for a lung scan
So my temperature is hovering around 37.5 to 38.5. Suprisingly I feel OK except for a feeling a little bit warm. This has gone on for a few days so they are going to add another antibiotic to my existing one. I will also be getting a lung scan to see if there is any pneumonia in my lungs. They will also be doing an ultrasound of my liver to see if anything is going on there. A couple of excursions from my room, how exciting after being stuck in here for over two weeks.
Hopefully only another 5 days of this to go and my blood levels should be up to a safer level, especially the white cells.
My kidneys and liver are holding on too which is a bit of a relief. Although the liver is off a little bit.
Language
If you can get hold of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 5 Feb 2013 you can see an interesting take on how politicians use language to dress up their intentions in a palatable phrase. In the Daily Show it was about the American election where the GOP lost to the Democrats. Apparently it was a messaging problem, not bad policies.
I am thinking here of the Labour/Liberal parties and their ‘efficiency dividends’ which are in actual fact cuts disguised under another name. To badly paraphrase Shakespeare, an efficiency dividend by any other name would not smell as sweet.
Anyway here is a link, it won’t work here unfortunately so you are on your own in find another source, eg iTunes:
One example from the show was the Republicans calling relaxed pollution standards the Clear Skies Act.
Rather than ‘smaller government’ call it ‘more effective and efficient government’. The Republicans are fans of minimal government, hence the attempt at disguising their actual aim of getting rid of as much government as possible.
Sigh
Still have a temperature. At least no rigors so far.
My kidneys have performed a miracle, a normal reading for the creatinine level. For those unfamiliar with my delicate condition I lost 25% of my kidney function from the last 6 years of treatment. How do I know this I hear you ask? I had a kidney biopsy. This consisted of me lying on my front while they stuck a needle of some sort through my skin into the kidney and extracting samples. This procedure was performed under local anaesthetic. Immediately afterwards I had to lay in bed not moving at all for something like 4 or so hours to prevent the kidney from bleeding.
To counter balance that news it appears my liver has gone off a little. Probably due to one of the drugs I am taking. Most likely Posaconazole.
My blog title
If anyone is wondering where the quote in my blog title is from it is from Safe As Milk by Captain Beefheart.
If you know your guitarists you will recognise the name Ry Cooder, a member of the band on this album.
For what is worth Trout Mask Replica is in the Rolling Stone top 500 albums or some such list. The recording conditions were described by one band member as cult like. The music on it is unique in an interesting way.
Apparently Matt Groening, the creator of the Simpsons, is a fan. The Simpsons is one of my favourite TV shows. A nice bit of personal trivia to end with.