Day five of the Big A

I am writing this from the comfort of my home after leaving hospital earlier. It has been a long week and one I thought would carry on forever.

Last night, I had a reasonable sleep apart from a slight temperature and headache.

On waking, I had bloods and urine tests as has been the norm over the course of the week before the treatment began.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of an added complication this morning after my blood pressure dropped leaving me light headed and weak. So after getting my anti inflammatory and anti histamine, I was hooked up to the alemtuzumab which was due to take three hours. But this time, in my other arm, I was hooked up to a saline drip to try and encourage my blood pressure to rise.

As you can imagine, being hooked up to a trolley from both arms was not the easiest and so I spent the majority of the infusion resting and dropping in and out of sleep.

My blood pressure, temperature and pulse rate was checked every half an hour and soon enough the whole thing was done.

I didn’t have any ill effects from today’s dose and apart from a feeling of overwhelming fatigue, I am feeling ok.

I was given a three week supply of anti-viral tablets and anti-histamines to try and stave off any reactions or bugs which may come my way and told to be a bit sensible – avoid situations where colds etc can be caught like busy lifts, and be sensible about food in the same way someone who is pregnant should – avoid soft cheese etc to prevent catching listeria and then off I went.

Every month, I’ll have to get a blood test to check everything is ok but with any luck, that should be it until next November.

And now, I am going to put my pjs on and put my feet up on the sofa with a cup of tea and a biscuit, safe in the knowledge that at least tonight, I am not going to be woken up by someone wanting to take my blood pressure at 2am and 6am!