h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Has her own sharp's bin.

As, indeed, I will, come this Friday. or not.
OK, so the first call, had to end, and he went off to check stock.
The second phonecall confirmed stock, and delivery Friday morning.
The next phonecall cast doubt on this, and he'll phone tomorrow to confirm this Friday for delivery, or to rearrange delivery of it for next week.
Actually, I imagine they have lots of sharp bins in stock, and most of the other sundry apparatus, but I'm guessing they're waiting on arrival of the recumbinant DNA produced HGH, which will accompany the arrival fo the sharps bin and needles and sundry equipment and stuff.

Wow. my very own sharp's bin, and I'm not even 40 yet! < NOw I've really made it in the world

Then to await for my free T3 and free T4 levels to rise sufficiently so that I can start the HGH, and then it'll be arranging the company's nurse to visit and show me how to inject, and then... daily injections

In otter news, went to bank today and then bought some trousers... which I'm not sure fit quite right... but its been so long since I wore trousers I'm not reallly sure ... one is less a pair of trousers and more a pair of leggings TBH, the other pair is like a very thin almost tracksuit bottom type matterial, but... just nicer My right leg has a lot more oedema on it than the left, evidentialy and, oddly, my right arm seems to have more swelling/oedema in it too probably some obvious reasonmn for that, just not sure what Maybe the Dr will examine the oedema one day, I've only had it about a year and a half now.

Congratulations!

I'm not sharing my syringes with you either

- OK I'll have my own supply of disposable needles so you can help ourself.... Not really wildly looking forward to becoming a daily self-injector for the rest of my unnatural but, there is a possibility that this may both help with my massive weight gain over the last year and a half, and in particular with the redistrubution of adipose tissue (this weird high up belly on my front is just odd...) and supossidly the HGH can help a lot with cognition and mood and suchlike which would be nice and possibly help other hormone replacements I'm taking work a bit nicer with each other anyhow, its only a adipose injection and the needles are so tiny they don't really count... pah... I laugh at the tiny needles they use for I.V., injections thesedays, as I can't feel them at all anymore and often don't even feel the s super big, and wide diameter needle they have to use for my intramuscular injection of the testosterone esters; its a slow release injection so the liquid is really viscous as its in a lipid/oil base and its all hormone bound to protein esters, hence it takes an extra large diameter needle for the intermusuclar injection; the last one I got I didn't know she'd done it as I just didn't feel it go in

But... wow... my very own sharp's bin.... I bet none of the injecting junkies in my area even have their own sharp's bin

I've always had an aversion to needles.

I completely lost my aversion to needles and self injection the second time I was hospitalized with a diabetic crisis.

A mere pin-prick is nothing by comparison with that.

On the other hand, watching the scars grow around the choicer veins, I'd really prefer to save them as much as possible.

Yeah, my frequently have a hard time finding my veins these days, except for two of the older and experienced , who are very competent

I was just thinking what if I had all the blood they have drained out of me over the years? I would have all over me

They've exausted all the veins pretty mujch in my right forearm now, and tend to aim higher up on the inside of that arm thesedays where there is a decent vein stil remaining - I have a few tops, that I wear when I know they'll be wanting blood letting; my Hospital blouses, that are bare armed so they can have a good look about before they try one - they don't seem to want to use my left arm now, as it has the possibility of lymphodemia on that side due to the cancer and the chemo and especially due to the irradiation dammage on that arm from radiotherapy... having said which if they do use that arm, it still seems to have a few working veins in it = the main problem with getting blood though, from my arms, is the fear in teh eyes of the nurse taking the blood... - they see my small veins, and see the ..... lack of veins... and get so worried about hurting me, and I do have to explain that as I can't feel anything and it hardly ever bruises, they can take twenty attempts if they want, and it honestly doesn't bohter me in the slightest... - luckily now, in endocrinology, I tend to get the same nurse each time, who is really very good, and a good laugh, and she's confedent now with me and so isn't hesitant and as she just goes for it, she almostt always gets a direct hit first time; I do just remind her that there are a few veins (I know which ones), that look good, and which work, for all of half a second on having a needle in, and which invariably then just collapse and don't give up sufficient blood... but as I knwo what veins they are now, I can just tell them, and hope they pay attention

I really doubt I'll feel much from the tiny nedle/injections of the HGH, although I just hope it doesn't leave me b bruised all over... mind, the one benifit with the weight gain, I can use both legs for injecting, tops of my arms, breasts, as well as abdomin and so I'll just vary it round all th etime to minimise brusing I guess... still not sure when I'll actually be able to start the injections, its now dependant on my thyroid hormone levels coming up sufficientyly, they'll measure the T3 and t4 Monday when I'm in for my testosterone IM, but I'll have only been back on the levothyroxin synthetic thyroid hormone then, for about ten days or so, and it useually takes four to six weeks for observable/measurable increases in plasma T4 and T3 levels, I think (I was reallly very low last time they measured, utterly off the bottom fo the normal ranges, yet with no physical symptoms of being hypothyroid really... )

I'm self-injecting for 8 days after each chemo session and I didn't bruise at all. I'm not sure this was skill, though, more likely just luck!

Mol

oh nos! not the dreded injections to boost your white cell count?; I never got them, though a couple of times my white cells were too low for me to do chemo; but oddly they instead halfed my age, and said I could have chemo with seriously low white cell counts - I think generally if your under 20 YO they go ahead whatever your white cells are, but I certainly ain't under 20 - Hoping I'll be alright with the brusing and won't get marking or damage to teh skin; but I'll be injecting once every day, forever assuming I 'pass' the trial 9 month period on th e HGH injections - at th emmoment I've plenty of potential injection sites anyhow, since I put so much weight on - come on if I'm gona have to self inject each day I'm gona have to find some weirdness or insanity in it somewhere... and the only thing I can think of is getting... er.... inventive with injection sites

well; got the phonecall back from the pharmacuticle company today, and they've got the HGH back in stock, so it, along with my sharp's bin and the first load of disposible needles and wahtever sundrys else I'll be getting, oughta arrive Friday, and then Monday I'm in hospital for the testosterone injection (not before bime), and they'll take my thyroid levels then, so can see if I'm nearing a high enough thyroid hormone level, to be able to start the HGH injections

horrible day today.

Coudln't sleep last night, so just sat up on the sofa all night. in agony. muscles, bones, joints, and cramp too. hot flushes. etc. and then a headache too. so tired now.... tried about four times over the day to sleep to no purpse, every time I get in bed, the muscle pain gets more and the cramps come more quickly, and then the heart palpitations just get unbearable so I get up... HOpe I can sleep before the testosteorne injection Monday, I'm not sure even I can do 120 hours plus without sleep; the record so far was over 80, during chemotherapy last year and ... that was rather unpleant

It was indeed to boost the white cell count, no idea if it worked, next bloods Friday for next chemo Monday.

Wish there was a way to help you

Mol

ahh, you have bloods and the chemo on seperate days.... the center here did bloods when you arrived (plus dreaded weigh in), then gave you a rough estimate of when your chemo drugs would be up from the basement; sometimes we'd leave the hospital for fresh air, and even go get fish N chips at a decent place nearby; A few people who lived very nearby would go home, to then come back later.... mind, sometimes the wait was excruiating as there weree really big bottle necks, in the process, insufficient waiting areas, and the chemo dispensory in the basement was under a lot of stress and barely able to keep up; had to wait more than eight hours one time... just in a waiting room sweating

I wish there was too. Looks like the hormone thing is just something that replacement hormones treatment, is, well, pretty rubish at working for, the body is so good at homoeostais when it works, when it doesn't, an injection every eight weeks of testosterone, and a few tablets at a 'random' dose of 'average' just doesn't help much; and they all feed off and into each other; its almost inevitable due to the steroids that eventually it'll wreck with my glucose so much I'll also end up diabetic and injecting for that too, and the steroid bleaching of bone from the body often ends up with patients needing wheelchairs, which I seriously want to avoid if I can, as blind in a wheelchair just doesn't work on any level... but... things were better for me round Christmas time, and I'm not sure why they've taken a nose dive now, so, perhaps I can get levels to a more normal range, for me; just difficult to do so, when the Drs and nurses don't seem to understand the 'normal range' for a hormone is a population normal range, and not necessarily 'normal' for an individual....

#
I'm desperatley trying not to put all my hope into the growth hormone being the missing link, but I know for some patients, it really is transformative, whilst of course for others, it does very little; again its working as well as it can, is going to be so dependant on my other hormones being at optamul levels; of course no one has any idea what my optamil levels are for any of them, and they arn't even able to measure my steroid levels in blood now, since I had to swtich from the hydrocortisone to the prednisolone.... - good job I find this nonsense interesting, from a scientific point of view... I was actually accepted onto an Msc course in Endocrinology, at the same time I got accepted onto immunology... I did immunology, which was useful for my cancer, but perhaps endocrinoogy would have been the better choice

Best of luck with your next chemo, BTW... hope your not getting too many terrible symptoms - and the fatigue does go.... the only thing I find to help it during treatment, was just trying to get outside and do some walking each day, even though it often felt like the thing I least wanted to do... - mind, my insomnia didn't help, I barely slept for four months during chemo...

I'm having a fairly easy ride, I think - tired more than anything else. Started moulting today but you'll have seen that from my blog!

I do think it would be sensible for hospitals to do baseline tests for *everything* before chemo starts, so they have a better idea of each individual's 'normal'. But I suppose the cost would be prohibitive. I'm fairly sure that some of my post-chemo fatigue was caused by my period (esp as they told me to stop taking my multi-vits, which included iron). But it's been really hard for me, the person who's actually lived in my body for 46 years, to unravel chemo-induced from normal; without baseline stats, I don't see how the doctors can do it.

Mol

I think, sadly for us, the basic answer to that is.... they can't and don't want too; oncology certainly at my hospital want to do 'nothing' as much as possible; doing anything either opens them up to increasing their work load (they'r eat capicity), or costs....

Just hope your hair falling out is the worse that will happen - and as I was about to comment on your blog; enjoy the smoothest skin possible!- seriously, I lost hair I didn't know I had (there is apparently a light very fine covering of hair, even on one's forehead; wow, talk about pure soft smooth skin!; arms, wow!; the pa plasters when they take blood stopped hurting... oh, - no hair!; legs. oh. my. BoB.... I'm still tryign to get legs as smooth as chemo gave me!- I often joke with the girls at reception in oncology now; can I have some more chemo please....- becasue I want the smooth legs back!)

yes. though; they shoudl measure basil levels of all manners of things, FSH and LH (both men and women), as a lot of chemo's can affect menstruation and testosterone production etc; interestingly my oncology department then lied to endocrinology, and denied my ceasing producting testosteorne was releated to the chemo.... - I'm still not 100% convinced all these hormonal things I've got now arn't just a chemo side effect)...

Oddly, as it turns out, the reverse is true; the constant pain I was in during chemo; I've got that for life now; its a steroid side effect. brillient.

I'm just at an uter loss what to say to endocrinology Monday. if I'm honest, I get acused of being agressive, and if i just put on a face and say everythign is OK, gthat won't help either.
Getting close to asking for a differnt consultant, or just biting the bullet, adn asking GP to refer me to a London hospital; but then I'd end up with hours of travel to London for every hospital appointment

I got a very strong sense that both oncology, and more especially endocrinology, won't tell me the truth, which makes coping difficult. - no point me getting angry with their inactivity on my symptoms and side effects rom treatment, if, at the end of the day, the real answer is, 'tough' and 'that is just how it is, nothing we can do'. But my being this ill, doesn't seem to be the norm, so I'm not thinking that is the case, just some patients get taken more seriously.. . .