Running hot.

It's only been two weeks and I'm so over these fevers already!

I'm rotating paracetamol and Ibuprofen on four hourly doses and it still won't keep the fever and chills completely away.

I've been lucky the last two nights in that I've only had one incidence of being chilled on each night and I've not soaked the bed in sweat like all previous nights. I sleep on a really soft towel I found that is made of some type of synthetic fibre, even when it's wet it's still soft and dry to the touch.


It took a week to get over the prednisone, doing it cold-turkey is no fun at all! like having a really bad flu, racing heart-beat, joint aches, headaches etc. On top of that I'm still not over this cold/chest infection and I cough so much that I gag (and sometimes throw up:( ). The injury to my ribs has nearly healed, they ache but not so much that it bothers me. I can cough without pain now, so that's another plus!

Tuesday is the follow-up meeting with the hematologist where hopefully we shall discuss the latest CT scan results. I'm quite puzzled myself by my current state of health and for the first time in years I won't go out on a limb and offer a theory. However, it's interesting that a constant high fever has never been a symptom of Hodgkins for me (though it is in some people) as I usually just get the occasional fever at night, the constant cough has always been a symptom of relapse, but could also be lung damage. The two symptoms that I have always had are not present, that is a pulsing back-ache and itchy skin. So who knows? It will be a lottery.

If the scan is clear (hopefully not a false negative because I've been on steroids) then I'll try and push for further tests. I can't go on running such a high fever and popping pills for the rest of my life. It's completely debilitating. Today I had promised to go out for a walk in the hills with my brother (first exercise in weeks) but for the last two hours I've been curled up on the couch in a knotted ball shivering. The fever has broken now and I'm soaked in sweat. But I'm hardly fit to step outside.

I'm still slowly getting through my post-Targa work-list. Returning borrowed equipment and parts. It's been embarrassingly slow with being so sick and I've had to phone a number of the kind people that have helped out with gear and apologise for taking so long. Nick Buck kindly lent us his rally service truck during Targa and it's taken me two weeks to return it! How awful is that! I phoned him and he didn't seem to be bothered, Nick is one of life's true gentlemen. Thanks Nick for all you have done for us.

That just reminded myself to phone Deane McMillan and apologise for not dropping my race car off to him last week, I was just too sick to get it ready for him. Deane is going to return the car to it's former glory for me. I've told him I don't need it back till early next year sometime. Again Deane said not to stress about it and to drop it to him when I'm well enough. I can't wait to see it all fixed again, no dents and scrapes!

OK, must go and remove more clothing before I start dripping... Will report on hospital results Tuesday night.

Cheers! ...Ron