And longer at home...

I've been signed off work for the next 7 days, pending my imminent and now booked stay in hospital ...again, you may recall i was in the Bristol Royal Infirmary for 2 weeks last October having my skin treated (quite sucessfully too) prior to going on Methotrexate that it turned out my Liver couldn't tolerate...

Anyway...

did I say I saw the Dermatologist this afternoon? Probably, my brain is mush thrpugh lack of sleep. So now I just have to await the call to say come in to teh ward we have a bed for you.

I also have to go get a chest X-ray and a whole raft of additional Blood tests tomorrow (only had bloods taken last Frisday) prior to being put on the new Immuno-suppresent Biologic T-Cell inhibitor Treatment (they make these names up to confuse us mere mortals without Medical degrees). The X-ray is to make sure I have no TB indicators and part of the bloods is to make sure I do not carry Hepatitis, as both of these would be life threatening on the new treatment.

The Chest X-Ray will also serve for me to check if the lung damage I sustained from Bacterial Pneumonia when I was 14 has ever repaired itself.

So for now I am a man of leisure, if an itchy sore and insomniac one.

I will Moblog from Hospital as I did last time....wonder if I will get the yellow side room again?

At Home...

Not gone to work today, I have been struggling to get any sleep for over a week now because my Psoriasis is so bad; my skin is extremenly sore (painfully so) and very very itchy that I am only managing to snatch sleep in about 15-20 minute stretches... I am completely zombified now.

Going to see the Dermatologist later today thankfully, I expect to be taken back in to Hospital to treat my skin in the very near future, probably for 2 to 3 weeks again.

Children

To those of us who have children in our lives, whether they are our own, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or students... here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God's omnipotence did not extend to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing he said was "DON'T ! "

"Don't what ? " Adam replied.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit." God said.

"Forbidden fruit ? We have forbidden fruit ? Hey Eve..we have forbidden fruit ! "

" No Way ! "

"Yes way ! "

"Do NOT eat the fruit ! " said God.

"Why ? ""Because I am your Father and I said so ! " God replied, wondering why He hadn't stopped creation after making the elephants.
A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked !

"Didn't I tell you not to eat the fruit ? " God asked.

"Uh huh," Adam replied.

"Then why did you ? " said the Father.

"I don't know," said Eve.

"She started it ! " Adam said.

"Did not ! "

"Did too ! "

"DID NOT ! "

Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own.
Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THE STORY !

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven't taken it, don't be hard on yourself.
If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you ?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT !

1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.
2. Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children.
3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.
4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.
5. The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.
6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:

Be nice to your kids. They will choose your nursing home one day.(I love this bit) lol

AND FINALLY

IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION AND YOU GET A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE: "TAKE TWO ASPIRIN" AND "KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN"!!!!!

Last weekend I mostly....

Fitted a Roof Crate at last to our car in readiness for teh vast amounts of equipment we need to carry about for the next re-enactment season,. The X04 model from Direct 4x4 approx £175

Took about 3 hours to bolt it all together (quite a few fiddly bits) and another hour to fit properly (very bruised knuckles), but worth it.

and yes it is dented, it got blown over in some bad weather on sunday evening and landed on my garden wall :( managed to knock most of teh damage out...just has a used look now :)

It was 10 years ago this week....

Time for a story...

Back in the mists of time...Well 10 years ago this week I discovered a few small red spots on my torso....Thinking I might have something infectious I went to my GP and he diagnosed an allergic reaction, prescribed me a bottle of Anti-histamine and sent me on my way.

2 weeks alter I had flared for the first time, I had 30% body coverage of Guttate Psoriasis (not that I knew what it was at the time) and was very worried about what it actually was having never heard of Psoriasis.

Back to the doc, who again didn't have a clue; looking back I find this quite worrying I mean this was Scotland I was living in, 2% of the population have Psoriasis to some extent anyway and I would have thought the lower UV level in Scotland would have made it more prevalent...but anyway he sent me off to a dermatologist.

1 month later I received a letter telling me I had an appointment with the Derm in 12 weeks time, by now I was quite p***ed off at the NHS. Eventually I got to see the Derm and was admitted to the godforsaken hole that is the Derm ward at the Western General Hospital in Glasgow for Coal Tar treatment. I remember being lied to constantly, being told that this would go away and would never come back during my 3 week stay in the dirtiest and most unfriendly Hospital ward it has ever been my misfortune to be in. After my release I had a 6 week UVB Broadband treatment, throughout which the machines played up constantly and I ended up sunburnt most sessions. What a fantastic introduction to Psoriasis , but hey I was told this would cure it and make it go away, no-one told me it was genetic or anything.

We moved from Scotland quite soon afterwards as I got a new post in Bath. Pretty soon the spots appeared again, so off to GP (old family doc) and within a week I was seeing Dr.Tan (still think this is a great name for a Derm ) at the RUH in Bath. My treatment couldn't have been more different than in Glasgow, clean modern Derm unit, friendly staff, full explanation (at last) of the nature of the Psoriasis beast. I was treated for Psoriasis by Ingrams regime at the RUH for 5 years about 3 times a year 6 weeks plus at a time as an out patient, but it was obvious that the effectiveness of the treatment was getting less and I was becoming resistant to the UVB treatment.

I was diagnosed as a Diabetic, and my son was born. We moved house at this point from Keynsham to Weston-super-Mare, and so was transferred to the books of Dr.Archer at Weston General Hospital. He persuaded me to try PUVA, my next two treatment cycles were of "Bath PUVA" (where you spend 20 mins soaking in a chemical solution in a Bath to sensitize the skin to the UVA light), which were moderately effective and then I had 2 sessions (8 weeks 3 times a week) of Oral Psoralens PUVA (tablets of Psoralens taken to sensitize the skin), the latter involves spending all day wearing sunglasses as the retina also becomes UV sensitive. After the 3rd PUVA (in 18months) it was obviously not having that much of an effect anymore, so the Derm suggested trying Narrowband UVB and also prescribed me my first oral meds for Psoriasis, Neotigason (Acetritin) a "retinoid" that would hopefully reduce the Psoriasis as well.

Over the next 6 months it was obvious that the UVB was not working, I started to suffer severe depression and ended up signed off work for 6 months, and h was at a really low ebb dealing with the psoriasis and the Diabetes. I had been told I could not have anymore UV treatment due to the risk of skin cancer after so many previous treatments. I then spent 2 years on Neotigason only with no UV treatment.

Throughout all this I have been using various lotions potions and creams on my skin...Steroids, Retinoids, Moisturisers, Calcipritol, Banana extracts, coconut oils, all without much effect other than acting as moisturisers, I am pretty much resistant to all topical treatments I have tried.

After 2 years the neotigason was obviously not working so the Derm moved me onto Hydroxyurea, which made me quite sick and then finally onto Methotrexate last September. I also spent 2 weeks in hospital having intensive Dithronal treatment last September....The combination of Methotrexate and the hospital stay finally did the trick, after 9½ years I was finally clear ofpsoriasiss.

the next four months were great, I was able to go swimming for the first time in a decade, I could play with the kids (three of them now) I no longerrequiredd someone to follow me around with a Hoover...Then the bombshell, the Methotrexate was destroying my Liver (my Liver enzymes were up 1000% above normal) so I had to stop taking it 4 weeksago.

And now I have in the last two weeks gone from 1-2% coverage (Clear n my mind) to nearly 30% cover and getting worse.

Finally I am a candidate for the more expensive Biologic treatments now on the market and my current Dermatologist (Dr.Kirkup) has put in a cse for me to be prescribed it....I will find out in 2 weeks time...

In the meantime it's back to constant moisturising to relieve the itching....and resisting the urge to pick at the scales...

Weekend away

We're off over the Irish Sea this weekend. Off to Lisburn in Northern Ireland to visit Mrs.A's Sister A and her Fiance.

Nice cheap flights from EasyJet, mean we are able to all get there by air cheaper than it would be to get one of us to London by train.

So tomorrow we will be jetting off at 8am, and will then spend the day wandering around Lisburn, Whilst A goes to work. Then we will spend the weekend proper with them and their boy J who Agi Junior gets on really well with.

It'll be the first time on a plane for LMB and LMD, Agi Junior has flown 3 or 4 times before, including a long haul to Mexico, so is an old hand at it. Still LMB and him are getting quite excited by the prospect.

Righty-ho...off to pack.

Oh for a snappy title....ah well

Look I once again drag myself away from Eve-Online . I am trying to be a good blogger...I've been getting threatening emails from some of my friends about not blogging regularly enough. S'not my fault.... blame the evil MMORPG Pusher SleepyPete.

Amny years ago I got hooked by Elite (On the ZX Spectrum) , then Elite:Frontiers (On the Commodore Amiga), then Elite: Fontiers - First Contact (On my first 386 PC)....for over 10 years I waited for a suitable replace ment game and Eve fits teh bill in lieu of the vapourware Elite IV.

Anyway (oooo look Piggy and Tazzy's fave word)... work is hectic. We are deep in Audit season, and it doesn't help that I am a Lead Auditor in several of the audits rather than teh poor hapless auditee...audits are bloody hard work to arrange, no-one able to decide suitable dates, too busy, apathetic; but just occasionally you find someone who passes with flying colours after you have been advising them all year and you feel you have done something right.

My weekend of having all 3 aginothlings to myself passed without incident. Barring how great Agi Junior has been; helping me by doing little chores like clearing the dinner table after meals, he even hoovered the Lounge (well he tried and that's what counts), leaving aside chasing the girls around with the accessory hose...but that was just a bit of fun :o)

You'll see from Mrs.A's blog that she has given in her notice to her employer...the resignation letter is a belter; hopefully when the dust has settled she'll post it (censored to protect the guilty). I am in two minds about her resigning; the job was really getting her down and she was getting more and more depressed by it, but I am worried that we may not have enough coming in to cover teh nousehold expenses if she can't get a job within 3 months or so (she has self employed work already in place for that period) ... Fingers Crossed.

PS: If you hadn't already noticed CQ is back from her skiing jaunt...

Who me?

So sorry I neglected you all again...

A week of no posts, I am suitably ashamed.

In my defence I haven't just been playing Eve all week I have been putting extra hours at work to build up anough spare hours to take next Friday off so we can Fly to Northern Ireland for the weekend; visiting my Sister in Law and her fiance.

But hey I'm here now.

This weekend will see a milestone in LMD's life, her first night without Mummy. Mrs.A is off to work in London this weekend and the Aginothlings will be in the sole care of your's truely. LMD has had all milk supplies from Mum cut off as of her 1st Birthday on Monday; surprisingly she isn't showing any signs of being bothered at all, she is however increasing her food intake to compensate as expected, so all is well.

Not sure what I'll be doing with the three of them , but i'm sure I can come up with something, at worst I can use them as temporary supports in my attempts to get the walls buit in Mrs.A and Mine's bedroom....LOL :o)

Been getting regular text messages from Craziequeen about her time in Bavaria, her not skiing (why does that word always look wrong?) and her ending up in Hospital after a slip on Ice, she is finally on her way home 1 day late.