April 2023 #2

I recently attended the BHOC for the last of Imunoglobulin infusion in this series.  Happily I again did not react and all went according to plan.  I am indebted to the nurses who took such care with my treatment.

Yesterday I returned to the BHOC and saw my consultant and yet again I was advised that paraprotein could not be detected and my light chains were normal.  In my last post, I mentioned my project to repair the loggia roof.  Since then I've been onto the roof of our dormer and made good where lead flashing had slipped causing one of the wall-hung tiles to drop.  My continued good health allows me to undertake such projects.

You will recall that in March I learned that the NICE appraisal for CAR-T cell treatment would not take place as scheduled and thus its introduction as an option in England could not proceed.  I've now learned that the treatment had been launched in the USA and accordingly the T cell processing facilities were now at capacity and that they could not take on further countries.  A massive shame.  I can only hope that further capacity will become available.

Two falcon chicks being fed - Click to enlarge

Every year I celebrate the arrival of spring.  Sometimes it's the appearance of flowers on the magnolia, sometimes the nodding of daffodils.  This year it has been the hatching of two of the Peregrin Falcons on the roof of Salisbury Cathedral.  This morning the BBC announced that a chick had been seen for the first time on the CCTV.  When I checked I saw that two of the four eggs had hatched and that the parent (mother?) was feeding them.  (To watch this simply Google "Salisbury falcons).  Presumably the other eggs will hatch over the next few days and we will watch the charming little chicks develop into the raptors they really are.  With luck we will see them fledge.

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment
Ellis Peters

Keep safe, keep well 

Stephen