16/06/22 Writtle lunch

Very hot day - temperature nudging up towards 30C, or even a little beyond if the thermometer near the fishpond is to be believed. 

Sue had a prescription  to pick up from the doctors so we went o Writtle for a walk round the Green and lunch.

I gave in to the temptations of a sausage and bacon sandwich but TBH didn't enjoy it all that much.

Had a 'phone consultation with haematologist Dr.Ch - not much to be said about the myeloma as long as it keeps away, and agreement that when the numbers start going up again it would make sense to go back to Lenalidomide b fore trying anything new. Otherwise, he wanted to know all about the operation and my recovery.That left hand ring finger is getting better by the day...

CPAP news: score of 92 last nght, and just 6 "events" per hour. I tightened the mask up a bit and that seems to have improved things.

15/06/22 Bloods and things

Latest set of bloods results came in today, just in time for 'phone consultation with Dr.Ch tomorrow. It's been a while since the last lot, what with his holidays and my neck, and I had more than half convinced myself that with my metaphorical eye taken off the myeloma ball to concentrate on recovery from the surgery, this would be the time that the numbers start going up again. But no - still in remission, paraproteins still undetectable, free light chains only a little off normal (which is not unusual) Everything else looks good to me - and that's after five months off all cancer treatment!

Had a phone call from Jack the CPAP man at Broomfield - he's happy with the data that the machine sends through every day:

(there's more detail behind this "dashboard").

So all going well so far.

Several more things to deal with today on the phone, plus a truly remarkable fifth day for England at Trentbridge. Couldn't tear myself away from the computer or the radio.

Signs of improvement in my left hand - I can now raise my third finger independently of the others - not fully, but more than I could do a few days ago. Nerves are starting to come back!

14/06/22 Steps

Took Walter the Walker out for his first trip since sometime last year - we had to go into Chelmsford to take my malfunctioning right hearing aid into Specsavers for repairs. It's been sent off and I should get it back in about a week. Also got both ears microsuctioned to remove accumulated wax. There was rather a lot of it... Anyway, a good start to my campaign to get my daily step count up to something more respectable than it's been for months.

13/06/22 Blow up

A slightly better night last night - woke up once early on then slept right through until after 9. The machine still says the seal around the mask is less than perfect. I've made some adjustments to the straps and have ordered a pack of mask liners, which are supposed to help.

Surprised myself in the afternoon by inflating the eight tyres on my two walkers to the right pressure. May not sound like much but with my clumsy fingers it was quite difficult. I've been putting this job off since before the operation, but now I'm really feeling the need to get out a bit more and build my daily step count up a bit. I suppose feeling up to that job might be evidence of increased energy after improved sleep...

12/06/22 First night...

...with the CPAP machine went pretty well, all things considered.It wasn't helped by one of the rare visits of rescue cat Blue to the bedroom just as I was making final adjustments to the mask and connecting to the hose. When a cat wants attention, there's not a lot you can do about it. They have an impeccable talent for choosing exactly the wrong moment.

Went to sleep about 01:30, woke up with my biological clock convinced that it was at least 07:30. So I took the mask off, turned over to look at the clock - 04:15. I'm not often that far out. So started again and slept through till 0800 although not without interruptions to adjust the fit of the mask and between lower lip and chin, where of course I have some beard. I've trimmed that a bit shorter and been advised on a facebook CPAP user group to try some mask liners. Straight off to Up The Jungle to investigate and order!

The web app shows some mask-sealing problems (no surprise) and also a very pleasing drop in "incidents" to y6 rather than the 29 I scored in my sleep test back last September. Overall, I think that's a pretty fair start.

A nice day, so went to Maldon for coffee and lunch (including my first vegan sausage roll which was not bad at all from the taste and texture angles - but I don't know how much salt and sugar was in there to make it that palatable...

10/06/22 CPAP day!

At last, after almost nine months of gestation and more useless phone calls than I can remember, there's a new CPAP machine in my life. It's a ResMed AirSense 10, and we collected it from Broomfield Hospital this afternoon. Here it is on my increasingly crowded bedside table:

Did a little trial run on my recliner chair downstairs - asleep for an hour or so - and that went ok. Tonight will be the first real test...

09/06/22 Exercises

Not much apart from the usual household stuff (at least I'm getting better at that if not yet much faster). Several rounds of physio exercises with lots of "head up!" and "chin back!" 

Things must be working because when I went to the stairlift this evening I thought "Do I really need this?" Not trying to go up unaided yet, but it's getting closer.

As for the myeloma, just waiting for those blood test results...