Living Without HepC

Today it was up early and off to see Mynurse at the hospital. She had called me to ask if we could change my appointment to an earlier time. So, we had made a special point of arriving at the hospital as early as possible – and got there fifteen minutes before my appointment time. I told the receptionist that I had arrived early and could she let Mynurse know as I knew she needed to leave soon. And then she seemed to forget – and I allowed this continue for fifteen minutes before I approached her again to let Mynurse know I was here!

Small thing, but it did irritate me that the receptionist was so inept that she forget to do her job or so rude that it didn’t matter about leaving a patient despite the explanation for arriving early. Why didn’t I say anything earlier, I ask myself. My best explanation is I thought I shouldn’t appear to be challenging, aggressive or irritable – “I was behaving myself”. Why??? It left me feeling irritation I didn’t need and thwarted in doing something for someone else by arriving early. Looking back now, it is also a small indicator that I was losing my sense of equilibrium. If I had been feeling more “centred”, I think I would have recognised that following up the situation with the receptionist was not particularly challenging, aggressive or irritable – and certainly not my problem.

I discussed my Bell’s Palsy with Mynurse, as it was the first time I had seen her since this developed. I could see her checking out my face carefully, looking for the paralysis. I am guessing see she wasn’t very impressed as there were few signs of any paralysis! Actually the nerves and muscles affected have returned to about 90% normal now and I am on the way to full recovery – except for the pain in the nerve behind my ear. For this, Mynurse suggested stronger tablets combining paracetomol and codeine.

It was just over 2 weeks ago I was diagnosed and I had expected this Palsy to last 3 to 6 months. It must say something about my natural healing abilities that I have recovered this quickly – even allowing for the possibility that I had only a ‘moderate’ case of it. I do know it has left me feeling like “the stuffing’s been knocked out of me”. This on the top of the interferon and ribavirin.

We also discussed Week 12. This is when I will have another viral load blood test done – whose results will be compared to the sample taken at Week 0. We set up a series of appointments around this, including changing an appointment with my Consultant, Graham Foster, to coincide with this. I then went to collect my meds and have the standard round of blood tests.

(I will do a separate entry with more details about Week 12 and its significance in the treatment process.)

By the time we got home from the hospital I was ready for a break and spent the remainder of the day in resting mode – this usually means sitting for long periods of time, thinking about loads of things – I write this weblog much better in my head from that chair than I do sitting here in front of the computer!! (And I am sorry you do not get to read some of the interesting points I think of at the time, then somehow forget when I sit here.)

I took two of the stronger tablets recommended by Mynurse for the ache behind my ear – and they quickly cleared the pain, to my great relief. (They certainly did do the trick – I haven’t needed to take any again! The pain has appeared only briefly and occasionally since then I am pleased to report!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2005 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.