Update on oggbashan's health

[oggbashan]

Indestructible Dad

Today I went to see my oncologist, accompanied by my wife and medical daughter.

My last scan, done after completion of the latest set of chemotherapy, shows I am completely clear of any cancer - at present.

It will recur sometime. My next scan will be in three months' time.

My daughter, who is a palliative care specialist, sees people decades younger than me dying every day. But not her Dad whom she describes as indestructible.

She, and my oncologist, are surprised at how well and comparatively fit I am, now. But...

 

[TxRad]

Congrats Ogg and remember with life there is always a butt.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yay! Go, Ogg!

 

[KeithD]

Good news. Keep up keeping up.

 

[Handley_Page]

Today I went to see my oncologist, accompanied by my wife and medical daughter.

My last scan, done after completion of the latest set of chemotherapy, shows I am completely clear of any cancer - at present.
.

Ogg, as long as you manage to confuse medical science, it will be OK.
Thoughts & Prayers, mate.

 

[oggbashan]

Type II diabetes, blood sugar levels and steroids.

I am on a minimum daily dose of steroids. They play havoc with my blood sugar levels. For several years I have been taking Metformin morning and evening and late last year I started injecting myself with slow-release insulin mornings and evenings.

But the steroids wreck my calculations. I have increased the morning injections to 46 units, the evening ones to 15, and now for the last four days I have had rapid-acting insulin to inject when my blood sugars show as high. I started the rapid insulin at 4 units, as recommended by the diabetic nurse. Now I am on 8 units.

My readings should be between 5 and 7. Some mornings I am as low as 3.5 - a hypo.

In the evenings I can be between 18 and 24 - too high.

But no matter what I do, the reading varies wildly. It isn't my diet or what I drink. It just appears totally random.

But except when I have a morning hypo - gone as soon as I eat breakfast - I don't feel anything. The morning hypo? I feel slightly dizzy for a few minutes until I eat. I have none of the other diabetic symptoms such as swollen or ulcerated feet. My feet are checked (and my toenails cut) every five weeks and my feet are perfect, enormous (UK size 13, US 14) but perfect and ticklish.

I will speak to the diabetic nurse again, when I can, and seek more advice.

 

[sirhugs]

carry on carrying on, ogg.

 

[oggbashan]

Walk.

Today I am pleased with myself. For the first time in a couple of months, I managed to walk (with my 4-wheeled walker) half a mile to the local convenience store and back without stopping for a rest en route.

That shows I am recovering from my latest round of chemotherapy. all I need now is my hair to grow back.

 

[Handley_Page]

Today I am pleased with myself. For the first time in a couple of months, I managed to walk (with my 4-wheeled walker) half a mile to the local convenience store and back without stopping for a rest en route.

That shows I am recovering from my latest round of chemotherapy. all I need now is my hair to grow back.

Good for you, Ogg.

 

[Athalia]

Today I am pleased with myself. For the first time in a couple of months, I managed to walk (with my 4-wheeled walker) half a mile to the local convenience store and back without stopping for a rest en route.

When you were a youth, did you ever in your wildest dreams consider that walking half a mile without needing to rest would be something to be pleased about?

A friend of mine who had been going blind got cataract operations on both eyes. Suddenly, he's startled at what he'd been missing for all those years.

This is what age does: it makes one value things that were never valued before.

 

[Handley_Page]

When you were a youth, did you ever in your wildest dreams consider that walking half a mile without needing to rest would be something to be pleased about?

A friend of mine who had been going blind got cataract operations on both eyes. Suddenly, he's startled at what he'd been missing for all those years.

This is what age does: it makes one value things that were never valued before.

As one who's had his cataracts fixed within the last yer, I can quite understand it.
What got to me (and my Mum when she had hers done) was the colours !

 

[oggbashan]

When you were a youth, did you ever in your wildest dreams consider that walking half a mile without needing to rest would be something to be pleased about?

A friend of mine who had been going blind got cataract operations on both eyes. Suddenly, he's startled at what he'd been missing for all those years.

This is what age does: it makes one value things that were never valued before.

When I was young, I used to run 1500 metres as a warm-up for rugby practice and during a match I might run anything between ten and fifteen miles.

Now I am jealous of anyone who walks without an aid. My father, in his 90s, used to walk between ten and twenty miles a day, every day.

But I am still alive - that's what matters.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Hugs, Ogg.

 

[oggbashan]

Today I was due for a face to face consultation with my neurologist. It had to be changed to a telephone conversation because he is self-isolating - without symptoms and very annoyed.

But he is pleased with my progress, He agreed that I can reduce my steroids from four tablets a day to three, and that he considers me fit to drive.

He asked how far I could walk. I replied 20 to 30 yards with my stick, or with my four-wheeled walker, half a mile there and half a mile back with a short rest in between. That impressed him.

He also asked (on speakerphone) whether I had difficulty swallowing. My wife snorted: "He's a pig. he can swallow anything, much larger than anything I could attempt."

Next appointment will be face to face in eight weeks.

 

[SimonDoom]

Today I am pleased with myself. For the first time in a couple of months, I managed to walk (with my 4-wheeled walker) half a mile to the local convenience store and back without stopping for a rest en route.

That shows I am recovering from my latest round of chemotherapy. all I need now is my hair to grow back.

This is good news. Happy to hear it.

 

[Handley_Page]

Today I was due for a face to face consultation with my neurologist. It had to be changed to a telephone conversation because he is self-isolating - without symptoms and very annoyed.

But he is pleased with my progress, He agreed that I can reduce my steroids from four tablets a day to three, and that he considers me fit to drive.

He asked how far I could walk. I replied 20 to 30 yards with my stick, or with my four-wheeled walker, half a mile there and half a mile back with a short rest in between. That impressed him.

He also asked (on speakerphone) whether I had difficulty swallowing. My wife snorted: "He's a pig. he can swallow anything, much larger than anything I could attempt."

Next appointment will be face to face in eight weeks.

well one simply HAS to eat a hearty meal sometimes. . . .

 

[oggbashan]

Just back from our booster (Pfizer) jabs.

From arrival to jab was less than five minutes. The wait of ten minutes to see whether we had any adverse reaction was a waste of time. We haven't noticed anything...

Now to schedule flu jabs...

 

[KeithD]

Just back from our booster (Pfizer) jabs.

From arrival to jab was less than five minutes. The wait of ten minutes to see whether we had any adverse reaction was a waste of time. We haven't noticed anything...

Now to schedule flu jabs...

Lucky you. I got a booster jab of Pfizer last Monday (on top of the J&J one shot in March), and, although I had a timed appointment time, I waited for an hour and forty-five minutes to get the shot--milling around with a crowd of other people also waiting for some form of the shot, some of them without masks, which both negated the purpose of have time-scheduled appointments and the advance not to be milling around in a crowd where some weren't wearing masks and their vaccinated status was uncertain.

 

[oggbashan]

Lucky you. I got a booster jab of Pfizer last Monday (on top of the J&J one shot in March), and, although I had a timed appointment time, I waited for an hour and forty-five minutes to get the shot--milling around with a crowd of other people also waiting for some form of the shot, some of them without masks, which both negated the purpose of have time-scheduled appointments and the advance not to be milling around in a crowd where some weren't wearing masks and their vaccinated status was uncertain.

Unlike our first and second jabs, for which there were long queues, typically twenty minutes to half an hour, there was no queue this time.

On all three occasions, everyone was wearing a mask, staff, volunteers and patients. Those who had forgotten theirs were given a free one, which all accepted.

On the first two times. volunteers cleaned every chair after use. This time, there was a notice asking those jabbed to use a provided wipe to clean the chair they had been sitting in. While I was there, everyone did.

 

[oggbashan]

Blast!

Monday evening I had one of the common side-effects of the jab - Chills. I just couldn't get warm. On Tuesday I had another - muscle pain and tiredness. I couldn't stand up, and I was so tired I slept most of the day.

But those days were 1 and 2 of NaNoWriMo, so I am well behind...

Today I'm back to normal.

 

[AloneTooLong]

sorry Ogg; I had jab three last Friday and the only side-effect was an itchy spot where the poke happened but three days later no more itch.

 

[KeithD]

My booster was last Monday. Feeling lethargic the next day and a sore arm to the weekend, and that was it. In contrast, my arm was sore from the flu shot this year for a month.

 

[jehoram]

My booster was last Monday. Feeling lethargic the next day and a sore arm to the weekend, and that was it. In contrast, my arm was sore from the flu shot this year for a month.

Same with me, except that the sore arm from the flu shot only lasted a couple of days, while the booster only took a day to get over.

 

[oggbashan]

Blood Test!

I have been sent a request to have a blood test before they can arrange my next CT scan. It had to be done with 14 days of the letter (dated two days before receipt).

Normally I have the test done at our local community hospital about a mile away. I rang them. They stopped doing blood tests from 1 November. But I thought my enhanced GP practice might be able to do blood tests. They used to but don't now (they told me after I had been in a telephone queue for 20 minutes!), The problem is the general shortage of bottles throughout the NHS since so many have been used for Covid jabs.

But they can book me for a blood test at the local Community Hospital - the one that is NOT doing blood tests since 1 November! The change is to ensure that only patients with an urgent need for a blood test are given one. If you are willing to wait 20 minutes for a phone call to be answered? - You're in need!

 

[Handley_Page]

I have been sent a request to have a blood test before they can arrange my next CT scan. It had to be done with 14 days of the letter (dated two days before receipt).

Normally I have the test done at our local community hospital about a mile away. I rang them. They stopped doing blood tests from 1 November. But I thought my enhanced GP practice might be able to do blood tests. They used to but don't now (they told me after I had been in a telephone queue for 20 minutes!), The problem is the general shortage of bottles throughout the NHS since so many have been used for Covid jabs.

But they can book me for a blood test at the local Community Hospital - the one that is NOT doing blood tests since 1 November! The change is to ensure that only patients with an urgent need for a blood test are given one. If you are willing to wait 20 minutes for a phone call to be answered? - You're in need!

Ye gods; what chaos !