One thing leads to another...

I remain in hospital and probably will be here over the weekend, but amazingly what I came in for is not what I am now staying in for. Let me explain.

Having come in and been diagnosed with CMV I was put onto an antibiotic called ganciclovir (gan-SIGH-clo-veer). This is doing the job and has brought the number of CMV cells in my blood down from 200,000 to 180,000, which is apparently good and would be enough to send me home with oral antibiotics. But while in I have been found to have low sodium levels in my blood. Following saline drips and a cap on my water intake of 2.5 litres a day, this didn't change so levels of hormones in my blood were investigated by the endocrine department and low and behold I was found to have low cortisol levels, which can result in low sodium levels. And this is also part of the reason I have been so tired: cortisol is released by the adrenaline glands, situated on top of the kidneys, mostly in the morning to get you up then the levels slowly decrease  through the day and are lowest at night.

The theory is that I have had quite a lot of steroids over the last 18 months and therefore my body has almost lost the ability to know when to release it's own. So I am now on hydrocortisone tablets (a low dose) to compensate. But they want to see if my sodium levels come back up to normal.

Also the ganciclovir has caused all of my blood counts to plummet, which is quite common, but it has made me neutropenic! So I have had to have injections to try and boost my white blood count, and obviously I won't be allowed home until I am no longer neutropenic, so we are waiting for those to recover. If they don't then I will have to go onto a different antibiotic, including one that has to be breathed in as a vapour on a special machine.

AND, because I have continued to get headaches they want to do an MRI scan of my head, but they seem a little concerned about the metal work in my neck. It does make you think what might happen if I was put into a really strong magnetic field with two massive titanium rods in my neck! Could be a little uncomfortable.

So it's all waiting at the moment.

I am happy that my rash has now gone, the skin is quite dry and itchy in it's place so I am back on the paraffin lotion which has helped no end but means I spend most of the morning and post shower in the evening looking like a greased up nutter waiting for a bare fist fight. Although this is getting better as my hair is coming back! A small smattering on my head and the magicians moustache and triangular beard. I feel like it has taken longer to start to recover this time, but I hope it is as quick as it was last time now it's started where it seemed to go from nothing to everything in a very short amount of time. It's so good to see it though, like an old friend.