Strength for today
My Allograft 2018/19 – 34. 7 December 2019 By Andy Burrows, 7 December 2019 Just after I last came home from a stay in hospital, almost two months ago, I was feeling emotionally fragile. I was wobbly, shaky, fuzzy-headed, and the fact that there seemed to be no end to it was getting to me.…
Getting physical
My Allograft 2018/19 – 33. 23 November 2019 By Andy Burrows, 23 November 2019 When is the crowd the loudest? In endurance races, have you ever noticed when the crowd cheers the athletes on the most? And personal trainers and sports coaches – when do they give the most encouragement? When do they shout, “you…
And, at last, onwards again
My Allograft 2018/19 – 32. 10th November 2019 By Andy Burrows, 10 November 2019 Living with limbo I’ve been holding off posting an update until certain things played themselves out. And the fact that it’s now a month since my last update gives a measure of the limbo I’ve lived with during that time, day…
Trying to break the cycle
My Allograft 2018/19 – 31. 12th October 2019 By Andy Burrows, 12 October 2019 Something’s just not quite right I must apologise up front for such a long update. It felt like recent events unfolded quite subtly and slowly, and I wanted to see how things played out (and whether they turned out to be…
Humbled
My Allograft 2018/19 – 30. 14th September 2019 By Andy Burrows, 14 September 2019 Finally home I finally made it home on Wednesday (11th Sept). I didn’t make a big deal over it on the day, given what happened the last couple of times I was due to be discharged! That’s one full month in…
Stuck in a moment you can’t get out of
My Allograft 2018/19 – 29. 7th September 2019 By Andy Burrows, 7 September 2019 Everest descent vs Snowdon I have now been in hospital 25 days. To put that in perspective, the hospital stay for my autologous stem cell transplant at the end of 2015 was 23 days. And that had been built up into…
Carried
My Allograft 2018/19 – 28. 31st August 2019 By Andy Burrows, 31 August 2019 Tuesday I must admit that I never thought I’d be writing updates so regularly at this stage (Day +204)! But this past week does warrant it. I’m still in Basingstoke Hospital in that side room on the Wessex Ward. But there…
Time to take a chill pill
My Allograft 2018/19 – 27. 24th August 2019 By Andy Burrows, 24 August 2019 Two in the mouth It’s only another six days on since the last update, and I’m still in Basingstoke Hospital on this hot Bank Holiday weekend. But this is still going to challenge my memory! It’s been a week of both…
Round in circles
My Allograft 2018/19 – 26. 18th August 2019 By Andy Burrows, 18 August 2019 Spoke too soon It feels like an update is appropriate, even though it’s only a week since the last one. I said last time that it seemed like I’d had a couple of days where things seemed to be getting back…
Off track? Against whose plan?
My Allograft 2018/19 – 25. 11th August 2019 By Andy Burrows, 11 August 2019 You have to feel it to know it I’ve noticed that this allogeneic stem cell transplant, especially for lymphoma, is so specialised that it’s very difficult to find anything on the internet to help when you need to crosscheck what you…