Getting up to date with April - part 1 (health)

I'm sorry I've left it so long to update, I just seem to have had a really busy couple of weeks. Getting up to date will take a few updates so I've decided that starting from tonight, each evening I'm going to type up some of my notes for a set amount of time and then post up what I've written. This way hopefully it won't be too daunting for me and won't be too long for you to read either. Fingers crossed! So part 2 will hopefully be up tomorrow evening.

I'm not sure where to start, hehe. Think I'll do a bit about my health first :)

After I last emailed my dieticians my weight, as I said in a past blog update they said that I could now start weighing myself monthly. I was a bit concerned about how much weight I could potentially lose in a month, so agreed to that but decided to weigh myself fortnightly at home. On Tue 20th April I weighed myself and my weight had risen 0.4kg in a fortnight up to 53.7kg :) Next Tue (4th May) I'll weigh myself again and email my weight to my dieticians.

I had to chase up Hosp B about my Tac level, but when I did I was told that it was 6.9, which is perfect as my target Tac level is 5 to 8. That'll be rechecked with the rest of my bloods at the start of June. I also received a Tac delivery from the homecare company that supply me with it, so I've got plenty now.

I've still not heard back from S, the tx co-ordinator at Hosp A. I'm meant to be completing my transition on 7th June, which is now just 5 and a half weeks away, and yet nothing more has been sorted since my last clinic (8 and a half weeks ago) and the lack of communication from the team at Hosp A is more of a concern than it's ever been! Following the last transition clinic at the start of March, S asked me to email her about how everything currently works under Hosp B. I sent that email on 22nd March and on 23rd March S replied. She said that everything looked similar to how it'll work at Hosp A so she thought transition would be simple. She then said that she would be away for a week from the following day but would be in touch when she got back. Since then I've heard nothing. I sent S an email on 20th April just saying that I hoped she'd had a nice week off and a lovely Easter. So not really chasing her up, just reminding her that I'm here. She's not replied, so within the next few days I'm going to send her a more specific email asking for a reply to my email from 22nd March. This is not helping my confidence in the transition!

At my transition clinic in March I asked my consultant for another referral to the gynaecologist there. I saw her previously but at that point everything was fine so she said she didn't need to see me again. I'm currently taking a form of the Pill called Cerazette because I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst (using just an ultrasound scan) in Dec 2007 after being admitted to hospital monthly for a few months with intense pains that I required IV Morphine for. I was started on the Pill after that and haven't had the pains since. After I started on the Pill my periods continued to be very heavy (they always had been) and became more irregular. After talking to my GP about this he recommended doubling my dose of the Pill which he said would stop my periods, so I did this. It has stopped my periods for the most part but in Feb I was on my period for 3 weeks of the month and I've been surprised with one or two more random periods since then. So hopefully the gynaecologist will have some suggestions. I received an appt letter a couple of weeks ago for an appt on a Tue in June. My mum works on Tues' but Chris said him or Sophie will be able to give me a lift.

My tummy pains do seem to have improved since starting on the Spasmonal and Amitriptyline that I was prescribed at my last clinic. I'm still getting them and they're still very painful some days, but I think generally they're slightly less infrequent and slightly less painful. I gave up taking the Spasmonal about a week ago because from accidentally missing a few doses I realised it wasn't doing anything. I'm continuing with the Amitriptyline though and will talk to my consultant at Hosp A about it when I see him again in May. It was also hoped that the Amitriptyline would help my nocturnalism but it hasn't and I'm still as nocturnal as ever. And no matter how late I get to bed I always lie there for an hour or so before falling asleep.

From last night til this afternoon I felt constantly dizzy which is something that's never happened to me before. It was especially bad when I was in bed trying to get to sleep last night, it felt like I was moving. I have no idea why it happened but hopefully it wont come back again, fingers crossed.

My heels have been playing up a lot recently and the heel cushions and arch supports I bought for my shoes don't appear to be making any difference at all. They're often very painful when I've done a little bit of walking, though not always. And sometimes they're painful for no reason at all. But I had a physio appt last week (which I'll write more about later in another update) and the physio I saw said that she'll have a look at my feet when I see her again in a couple of weeks. I really hope she'll have some suggestions.

Although it's lovely to see some sun and not be cold all the time my body doesn't seem to react very well to the heat at all. When I'm out on a warm or hot day I often feel very lethargic, headachy and generally quite ill. But if it's cool or cold I'm constantly freezing. I can't win! :P I wore loads of layers over the winter but over the last few weeks I've gradually lost a few of them. I'm now no longer wearing leggings under my jeans or t-shirts over my polonecks :) I am still in polonecks though and still wearing vests for now :P

I've had my ears pierced for about 8 years now and my piercings have always been fine, I've never had any problems at all - up til now. Over the last couple of months my piercings have got very sore after wearing some earrings - not infected, just sore. I've tried wearing different earrings, including some that I was quite sure were gold, but my ears are still getting sore. I've had no earrings in for the last week or so because it seems that's all I can do at the mo. I'm going to try to find some that I'm certain are gold and see how they go.

My energy levels and levels of exhaustion have been up and down as usual. Surprisingly I coped quite well with my hectic fortnight, but did have some bad days.

I'll blog again tomorrow :)