Good day all.

It seems a while since i last posted information on 23rd July. There hasn't been that much going on inbetween then and now but i have enough info now to make up something.

First thing that happened in August was on the 18th when i had a lung function test in the hospital. This i have had several times previously so there was no problem with it. Only had to do each exercise given once each.

On the 19th i had the second month of immunisation injections at my local GP clinic. 4 injections, 2 in each arm. 3 single doses and one dose that contained 4 different vaccines. Ok getting it done but my arms were pretty sore the following morning.

Next visit to hospital to see the Oncology crowd was on 12th September. Bloods were all good but as usual platelets were lagging behind everything else at 96. Liver bloods were all normal. Last time i was in they took bloods for the Chimera test - to see how my new immune system is behaving in regard to anything left over from my previous immune system. There appears to be a fight still going on. For the best part of a year the new immune system was showing at 97%. Then it dropped for a month before coming back up to 88%. This time it was down to 77% which is the lowest it has been. They do not seem to know why my old system is making such a concerted effort to reinvent itself. Still i'm not bothered by it at the moment so we will just have to see what happens at the next Chimera test. For some reason the blood crowd have now decided to latch on to cholesterol. Mine is now 6.48 but the doctor wants it lower. I did not ask for a breakdown of LDL and HDL but i guess i'll have to change things like full fat milk and cheese. I don't eat very much red meat. I will look at a few things anyway. I have been taking Apple Cider Vinegar for several years so i assumed that would be keeping things lower than they show. There was confirmation of the previous visits tests, Dexa scan, ECG, and lung test. One thing i can say as far as the running i have been doing is concerned is that for the whole of August i got to 157 miles in total exactly. (252 km). I did'nt think that was too bad. Unfortunately it does not seem to do anything for cholesterol levels. I shall be happy with any figure over 100 miles for September.  One other thing that happens this visit is that the doctor is trying to reduce the number of pills i am on, particularly the high tech drug that i am still on to help my skin survive rashes and the Graft Versus Host Disease. I have not had any rash again but i do get bad itching occasionly for some reason on my lower legs and forearms. There is no rash present though. The doctor reduces the high tech drug from one 5mg pill a day to one 5 mg pill on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but i am not too hopeful it is going to work very well. After nearly 2 weeks on this new regime i am starting to itch badly at night on lower legs, forearms, face, neck, shoulders and chest so the hospital will be notified that this is happening and that i am getting hardly any sleep when this happens, and the itching is happening more frequently. Still no sign of a rash anywhere though although there is starting to be a lot of trails of blood and scabs where i'm scrathing on my lower legs and forearms.  

Nothing else to report at the moment but no doubt the pill intake will have to go up again. I am currently on 18 pills a day. Still a lot, but quite a bit better than the 40 a day i used to be on.

Hope all is well with anyone reading this. I am supposed to be back in Oncology sometime in November. I have a visit to the Dermatology crowd on the 17th October so there may be something to write about at that stage. Until then look after yourselves. All the best. Tim Ferg