steroids 2.2


Monday was one of those long days that you sometimes have to spend in hospitals, hanging about. Now, I love the NHS - I think it's one of the few truly great things that we have in this country - but there are problems. Mostly that there's frequently not enough staff, and those that ARE in are totally knackered, chronically overworked and, let's face it, underpaid. The idea that free, quality health care is a basic human right is a beautiful thing. Let's not feck if up.

Anyway, we had a really good chat with the MS nurse, which covered everything from Physio, Disease Modifying Treatments, accupuncture, oxygen tents and Hopi ear candles. It was a good chat but she didn't think steroids would be adviseable or effective, so soon after my last treatment.

Neither did the doctor who did my steroid assesment. Until he checked my strength, that is, when he just said that, actually, it might be a good idea.

This is when the NHS trouble started. I didn't get to see the doctor until 2 hours after my scheduled appointment. By that time, there was only one nurse left, and she was concerned that, if I started my first steroid drip, there'd be no-one around to "unplug" me after it'd finished (I've got to say both the doctor and this nurse looked absolutely knackered).

So, we started the steroid treatments the following day - hello catheter in my wrist, annoying hiccups, manky metallic taste in my mouth and one mostly sleepless night. But I am getting more control over my leg, more sensation in my hands and generally feeling pretty good so far.

Here's the list of tunes I listened to whilst having drugs pumped into my arm today!

Tortoise - 'Gamera'
Yo! MAJESTY - 'Club Action'
Weezer - 'Pork And Beans'
Beck - 'Timebomb'
The World Record - 'We're #1'
The World Record - 'Serious'
The Cool Kids w/ Don Cannon - 'Hammer Bros.'
Wilco - 'Deeper Down'
Tom Waits - 'Buzz Fledderjohn'

The nurse we saw on Monday saw me today and said that I'll be getting an appointment with a physio soon, plus I'll be seeing someone about some disease modifying drug treatments.

As my MS has been pretty benign so far, I've always been told to put it off taking DMDT's as long as possible. Apparently they're trying to start people on earlier these days, pretty much at diagnosis. I'll keep you posted!