Skip to main content

Blood test results


Whilst out in the car this afternoon I got a phone call from the hospital. I recognised the voice straight away as one of the deputy sisters from the ward- the same one that took my bloods the day before I went on holiday. Apparently Dr B had reviewed the results and most of my levels are holding reasonably steady but they’re worried about the results of my liver function tests. So much so that they want to see me again for more tests as soon as I’m back from holiday. Oh joy!

Unfortunately being on TPN can cause damage to the liver as the liver has to work harder to process the feeds. This can lead to long term damage to the liver which can ultimately lead to liver failure and the need for a liver transplant. Obviously I’m nowhere near that stage yet but that’s why it’s so important that my team continue to monitor my levels closely. 

Today the stitches securing my Hickman line had to be removed. They stay in place for 3 weeks to stop the line from coming out while it embeds itself in the chest ok wall. Usually the stitches would be taken out by one of the nurses at the GP practice but a couple of years ago I went to have them removed and instead of using sterile gloves and following the correct aseptic technique she just grabbed a pair of gloves out of the box on the wall. Needless to say that nurse came nowhere near my line and I’ve never gone back to have Hickman line stitches removed at the GP surgery again; instead I go up to the ward at the hospital and let the nurses there do it where I know it will be done properly. 

But being in Cornwall when the stitches needed to come out meant that getting the ward nurses to remove them wasn’t an option and there was no way I was going to let a district nurse in rural Cornwall anywhere near my line. Chances are they might not have ever seen a Hickman line before and I’m not going to be their guinea pig! So before I was discharged from the hospital I got the nurses to give me a stitch cutter and sterile tweezers as I would rather take them out myself. 

So that’s exactly what I did.



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New car smell

After everything that’s happened over the last 5 weeks not many days have been good days but today was. I will write a blog post about everything that happened but that’s for another day!  Today I went to pick up my new motability car and got to breathe in that new car smell. I am now the proud lease holder of this lovely Volvo XC40.  To be honest, part of me wasn’t sure whether to write a blog post about getting the new car with everything that’s been going on with the disability benefit reforms. There’s been so much written about motability cars on social media but a lot of it is misinformation and hate and that made me nervous to write this post. But I figured that most people reading it are friends and family and understand my need for the car. But for those that don’t let me explain a bit about how the motability scheme works.  I am lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on how you look at it) to claim PIP- personal independence payment. This benefit is designed t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The germs have got me 🦠

Being on azathioprine, influximab and prednisone is helping to control this recent Crohns flare up. But unfortunately they work by wiping out my immune system making me more susceptible to all the bugs doing the rounds. I refuse to stay at home and be held hostage by these meds though- for me they are there to give me my life back, not to make me a prisoner in my own house, so the inevitable has happened and I’ve got a cold.  ‘It’s only a cold’ you might think, but with no immune system to fight it off this cold has made me pretty poorly. Yesterday I couldn’t get out of bed and felt so, so ill. I was coughing and struggling to breathe so I’m pretty sure I’ve got a chest infection too. But I can’t confirm that because apparently even being immunocompromised with a suspected chest infection is not enough to see a GP these days!  I spoke to the receptionist at the GP surgery this morning who told me that all the urgent appointments for today were gone (and this was at 8.25am, aft...
Post a Comment
Read more

Disability benefits cuts

So in Rachel Reeves spring statement earlier this week it was confirmed that there will be massive changes to the benefits system including the way that PIP is assessed and changes to the health element of Universal credit.  As someone who is receipt of both PIP and ESA disability benefits I find this whole situation…  🔲 terrifying  🔲 baffling  🔲 rage inducing  🔲 disgusting  🔲 [all of the above] I honestly cannot believe that a LABOUR government is looking to balance the books of the country by taking money from some of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. This is the sort of thing I would have expected the Tories to do but when I voted Labour I honestly thought that not only would they look after and protect the neediest but they would actually make things in our society better and fairer. How wrong I was. Looks like I’m going to have to get some ‘Fuck Labour’ merch to go along with my ‘Fuck the Tories’ stuff I already own!  Now I do b...
Post a Comment
Read more