Beth's Stuff, of a Random Nature

You only realise what you've got when it's gone

It's what my GP said to me just yesterday. I mentioned I could happily lay awake all night just moving my left leg around the bed feeling the cool cotton sheets. It's almost sensuous. Not a word I'd use to describe your ordinary bog standard bed sheets usually. However stick a cast on your lower leg and foot for 3 months and you'll see what I mean. In fact the first night without the cast I did just that.  read more ...   (28/07/11)

A year of Humira

A year to the day. 22nd December last year I started on Humira, the other Crohn's treatments were just horrible, horrible and nasty, or plain zombifying! So it wasn't easy to start yet another drug and honestly I was scared witless. I wasn't too keen on injecting it myself either but it promised great things and there weren't many other options on the table. I actually chose it; I was asked Remicade or Humira? The former means going into hospital every 8weeks for half-a-day to have a mouse/human chimeric antibody infused into you. The latter inject yourself at home with the fully humanised antibody every two weeks with a point and click pen style injector.  read more ...   (22/12/10)

Good Days

We were in the park the other afternoon and bumped into some friends we haven't chatted to for a while, and one of them asked how I am... Which, thinking about it, made me realise how many good days I'm having now compared to just a few months ago. Back then I'd have said I thought I was 'alright, doing okay'. You know how it is, some people ask but they don't really want to know, it's just exchanging pleasantries. It's pretty rare now that I head for an afternoon siesta. I can do stuff around the house and not feel totally exhausted afterwards. Brain seems alive too. It's a nice feeling.   (24/09/10)

Little Steps

I haven't said anything about how I'm doing for a couple of months, so it must be time for an update.... Generally I'm doing okay. The weekly Humira shots are keeping me in remission. Well, as much as I'm probably going to be in remission anyway. Certainly asymptomatic. Can't be too sure what's going in on 'in there', if you know what I mean..., without looking. And I do not wish for another date with the camera for a while yet.  read more ...   (29/07/10)

How to turn a prescription request, into an epic...

...take it to the Milton Tesco Pharmacy where they will not have enough stock to fulfill the 'script and instead give you a lame reason with a shrug of the shoulders that their supplier is "out of stock". Yeah and....? So during another visit a day or so later the pharmacist phones someone up and they 'find' some more boxes at another branch. Like I care where it comes from. The phone call seems to be considered a real favour to me... Uh? what? As in 'look what I've done for you, this amazing thing, I've phoned someone up to get hold of drugs for you!'.  read more ...   (03/05/10)

Guessing

Whenever I go off to see a doctor, consultant, or surgeon, I like to have a good idea of what will happen, or what they'll have in the Goodie Box. You know, have the answers to the questions, well the initial questions, before you ask them. Power and all that.  read more ...   (25/04/10)

Tired

Since coming back from Scotland I've been pretty tired. Not the completely exhausted, brain dead, shattered of old. Don't know why. My Crohn's has been surprisingly quiet so I don't think it's that. Possible that I did bring back a virus. Hope not.  read more ...   (10/02/10)

Humira day

I've delayed this one for a day as my I've had the sniffles: what comes of interacting with non-local humanity in youth hostels. Yesterday my temperature was a bit higher than normal but last night and this morning it was back down to what I expect. So...   (03/02/10)