Wednesday 31 December 2008

The Story So Far . . . . .

Where to start?

Although this is blog will tell the story of the roller coaster ride that has been 2009, it's probably best to start off and set the scene back in October 2008. It's not meant to be a blow by blow account of coping with an illness, more of an insight into how life changes when you get that diagnosis, how time is spent when you're off work for a long time and especially the invaluable and overwhelming support that comes from family and friends in your hour of need.
I'm starting this prologue back in October 2008 because that was when the first signs of coughs, flus, viruses and any amount of other chesty infections started to attack me.
At first, I put it down to the usual types of infections that most folk get at that time of year. These are often worse for me because they lower my levels of resistance, allowing the Ulcerative Colitis that I've had for 19 years, to flare up and make things worse. Usually though, I'm able to fight them off after a couple of weeks and things settle back down to normal. However, this time seemed different. As well as a terrible and lingering cough, I started to get night sweats for the first time meaning that I would wake up freezing in the middle of the night and have to get up and change my T-shirt which was absolutely soaked with sweat. I also had a pain in my right side - like a stitch. I put it down to having 'racked' myself with all the coughing.


So, to cut a long story fairly short and get this blog on the road

  • A course of steroids through October to December didn't help
  • Bi-weekly visits to the GI Clinic at WGH increased to weekly
  • Weight reduced by the day
  • Energy levels dropped
  • Admission to hospital seemed inevitable but Christmas was looming and nobody wants to go into hospital at this time of year

So Christmas and New Year came and went, and despite feeling pretty rubbish everything was fine including my new trews, bought for the Rugby Club dance, which attracted many favourable comments!

Roll on 2009 - things can only get better. Can't they?

No comments: