06/03/22 Back to live music?

I used to go to a lot of live music - jazz, classical, opera, and more. Two or three nights out most weeks. Of course all that had to stop when the COVID plague struck, and I said my criteria for returning would be (i) a vaccine that works for the immune-compromised, and (ii)  at least two effective treatments. Even four shots of Pfizer won't guarantee not catching COVID but they are enough to give very high probability of avoiding hospitalisation an reducing it to little more than a bad cold. And to make that even better we have three anti-viral treatments available to the most vulnerable. So I should be ready to go back, but I'm not doing it. Just don't feel ready to break that wall. Don't want to have spent over two years avoiding the plague only to catch it through a simple and avoidable mistake.

Only things in the diary so far are the Writtle Jazz Festival in June (open air!) and some Wagner at Saffron Hall in September. Curiously, Wagner at Saffron Hall was the first thing I went to after my diagnosis back in September 2019.

06/03/22 Neurosurgeon consultation

The lengthy session with Mr.V was good in parts, less so in others. He went through all the routine tests again, and had a long look at the MRIs from Wednesday before deciding that he wants still more imaging - just X-Ray and CT this time, no big deal to cope with. The idea is to look at bone displacement and mobility with the fracture at C1/C2 - the top two vertebrae in the neck and the ones we called the atlas and the axis when I was at school. Long time ago now... As well as the imaging he's arranging for a rigid collar to help stabilise my neck and unspecified physiotherapy - there's no two ways about it, physiotherapists are NOT my favourite people. 

Oh well, these things are sent to try us.

As I expected he's clearly thinking of surgery which would be at Brentwood for reasons not yet clear to me. He said there were two options - to go in from the front with a screw (not favoured) or from the back with a couple of metal rods, which sounds like a better idea to me - not so many other bits to get past and avoid damaging. Brentwood wouldn't be a problem, apart from another ten miles each way for visiting etc.. I think the Spire hospital there has a good reputation for advanced/difficult surgery, certainly better equipped than Springfield for that kind of thing. What might be a problem is getting my insurers to accept that this is all to do with myeloma so that it comes under the same claim. Otherwise I might be looking at expensive loss of No Claims Discount along with the 55% increase in this year's premium! The neurologist Dr.Da seems a better bet in that direction with his  comments about myelomalacia and etc. Mr.V is clearly not well-informed about myeloma as one of his first questions was whether my myeloma is "all behind you now?" Well no, as it's a terminal and incurable disease...

For reasons not entirely clear to me he was keen to establish this C1/C2 thing as a recent injury, and was delighted when I remembered the fall I had playing boules on 23 May last year - see entry for that date for details. I don't think that had anything to do with the current problems but if it makes him happy...

He's going to send me copies of the MRI report and his letter back to the neurologist. Things may make a bit more sense when I've seen those.

We have a "review" appointment with the neurologist on the 22nd, by which time all those new images should be in. It's a long slow business and the important part hasn't even started yet. Meanwhile, every day both hands get a little bit worse. After the consultation we went for breakfast and Sue had to cut my bacon and sausage and a few other bits into bite-sized pieces for me. With ,y lack of fork control I would probably sent them flying. It's necessary and I try to accept this kind of help with good grace and plenty of thanks but no getting away from the fact that it is a little humiliating not to be able to do such simple things for yourself.

On the other hand I have worked out how to restore the spellchecker to Blogger which is a big help to me as my single-handed typing is far from accurate!

Later addition: I asked Mr.V about the various issues further down my spine, some of which had been identified by the neurologist as possibly myeloma-related,. He was completely dismissive, saying just "usual age-related". Not very impressed.

04/03/22 (2) off colour morning

Woke up yesterday morning feeling distinctly off-colour. As bad as I've felt since the norning of hospital admission for some unidentified infection back in late 2019. It passed by mid-afternoon, and I'm inclined to blame the Diazapam. If so, a small price to pay for getting through thed MRI!

04/03/22 Neurosurgeons

Neurosurgeon appointment later this morning - hoping the MRI#2 scans will be ready in time as promised. Carpenters like hammers and mechanics like screwdrivers and neurosurgeons like - well, neurosurgery. So I'm expecting to be told I need surgery, probably rather complex, at at least one level of my spine and possibly more. Not a prospect I'm exactly looking forwards to, but if it has to be done...

I should have more to report later in the day. Meanwhile, we've had some awful weather recently - grey, cold wet, miserable. But not every day, a few have started like this :   ;

03/03/22 According to plan

Everything did go according to plan yesterday. The MRI (with Diazapam) was only about twenty minutes (neck only) and not a problem apart from finding a comfortable position for my head and neck before going in. I suppose that with three successful scans in a row I must consider myself an accomplished veteran of the MRI. Or a lot better than I was, anyway.

Had a phone call from the neurosurgeon's secretary just before we left in the morning. Appointment at the uneartly hour of 08:25 on Saturday morning. The time itself isn't all that bad, it's the time I now take to get up and going in the norning. I'll need to set the alarms for 06:00 to be up and fully functional in time. On that subject, the Alexa in the bedroom is wonderful. All I have do is tell it to wake me up at a particular time, or to cancel all alarms, or whatever and it does it. Best alarm clock ever, except during power cuts.

For some reason the spellchecker on this isn't working. That'll give me something to do to pass the time tomorrow, And Sue has reminded me that I probaby should phone AXA (health insurers) to keep them up to speed with developments.

02/03/22 MOT, MRI...

Did Pill Organisation yesterday morning and it took rather more than two hours, even withe pill popper. My left hand now has so little control or grip that it's really hard to get the pills properly into the jaws of the popper. But it would be harder still without it.

Miserable weather - rained all day so I lost my one chance of getting out of the house for a while.

But today I have my three-monthly B12 injection at the GP surgery in the morning. Because my car is out of action for a few days (no MOT certificate - we had to change that from the original date because of MRI#1 last week) Sue had to move my wheelchair from my car to hers - unfortunately it's beyond me to be of any help with things like that at the moment let alone do them myself, which I would have thought nothing of just a couple of months ago. And then there's the MRI at Springfield late afternoon. I have the four Diazapam all organised in their own pillbox so there should be no problems...

01/03/22 Waiting

Nothing new, just waiting for the next MRI on Wednesday. And to hear from the neurosurgeon...