health update

i saw my rheumatologist last week. it was a late appointment 5.30pm, which meant that it was gone 6 before i actually had my consulation. the blood test result has come back from bristol and tells us that i shouldn't reacte to the immunosuppressant that he wants to put me on now, though there is concern that in the past my white cell count has been very low. so i am to start it on a low dose and work my way up to a full dose over a couple of months.

in the meantime he agreed with me on my choice to stick at 15mg of steroid as i was still getting 'pleural pains', this was echoed in my recent blood test results which showed slightly raised inflammation levels.

i am to go back in two months, i was suspecting that this might be 6 months if my two week follow up from being discharged was anything to go by, however the appointment has already come through for July.

on other health related issues, i am still visiting the gp surgery for warfarin tests, which have been a bit all over the place - not sure why. however the aquarium now has fish in it!! and there are some tasteful landscape pictures on the walls. still not entirely sure about having to listen to the radio while you wait, but so far i'm not having to wait too long. the other big bonus about the new surgery is that there is generally just one person on reception and the other staff are in the office behind. in the old surgery the receptionist was in the office behind a glass screen in the corridor and it used to really wind me up when you were trying to tell the staff you had arrived or to make an appointment and they would continue talking to the other staff in the office rather than deal with you. now they can't!