How to make a rigid presentation box

February 14, 2015February 14, 2015 robinbtaylor Crafts, design, gifts, Packaging, Packaging Design, Tips gift box, home made, how to, presentation packaging, Rigid box

In preparation for Valentine’s day, and as I’ve been stuck at home for the week, I thought I’d make a rigid box to go with a home made gift I was planning.

Although readily available from the shops these days, making your own can mean you can be flexible with materials, colours and sizes and will make the difference between a cobbled together design and something that looks like a gift to be kept.

Talking to traditional box makers, you’d think it was a dark art, but following some basic tips and a bit of practice, it can be a satisfying way to add a bit of luxury to your home made gift.

What do you need?

All the tools can be found at your local craft shop or DIY store and are as follows:

Tools

A sharp blade, I prefer a scalpel but a craft knife would work.
Steel measuring rule
A sharpened pencil
Masking tape (this needs to be the paper type)
Adhesive. A strong spray mount can work well but make sure you have a ventilated area (or the garden) close to where your working.
A firm surface to work on (I’m working on the dining table with a cutting mat to protect the surface)

Materials

A sheet of Rigid pulp board: I’m using a grey board which has a black coating on one side. The material needs to be between 1 & 2mm thick (1000-2000mic or 0.04-0.08″). One side of the board will be visible on the inside, so you can coat this or use a coloured or pre-coated material as I am, but these boards can be expensive so a solid grey or display board can also be used.
A covering material: I’m cheating by using self adhesive material, but any substantial paper such as wrapping paper works well. You don’t want to be able to see through it and the adhesive needs to stick well, so this may need some experimenting, but if it’s paper on the inside, and not too thick, you can’t go far wrong.

The Method

Step 1: measure the base.

I like to use the edge of the board to keep my lines square. Start by drawing the base panel offset from the edges by the depth of the box.

the side that we’re drawing onto will become the outside of the box, so if you have a coated side, make sure this is face down.

Step 2: Measure the sides

The long sides of the box are the same length as the base, so just extend these lines out from your base. The short sides need to be stepped outwards by the material thickness. For me this is 1.5mm, and this allows the material to overlap in the corners. Extend and join the lines to form a cross shape.

Step 3: Cut out the board panel.

All the outer lines including the short (1.5mm) step should be cut through. The 4 lines making up the base panel need to be scored half way through. This takes a bit of practice but I would suggest several gentle strokes testing each time. If you’ve cut through far enough, the panel should fold neatly. Be careful not to cut too far through as the corners will be too weak.

Step 4: Forming the box

Taking some neat lengths of masking tape, fold up the sides and join them together like a but joint with the shot edges overlapping the long edges. This will form the main structure of the box so it’s important that the tape is firmly stuck.

Step 5: Mark the covering position.

The covering needs to fold over the edges onto the inside by about 15mm (1/2″). Normally I’d draw this out on the CAD table but if you use the made up box as a guide, this is not too difficult to draw by hand. I have a grid on the backing paper of my covering which helps to ensure it’s square, but using the edge of the material (and careful measuring) works too. Using a ruler, position the box 15mm from your starting edge, then roll it over so that it is sat on its base. Measure the distance from the edge and position the box the same distance from the short edge.

Step 6: Mark the corners

place a dot at 45 degrees out from each corner, about material thickness away from the box. This will be the starting point for our layout and will help us re-position the box later.

Step7: Drawing the wrap outline.

From these dots, we’re going to create a kind of cross shape with some extra flaps to make it neat.

Start by joining the dots to form a rectangle. Then mark diagonal lines outwards from each corner about 25mm (1″) long. The long sides of the paper, will wrap up and around the corners onto the short edges by about 15-20mm. The diagonal lines form the start of these new flaps.

Using the outer flap distance you measured before, draw the outer edges of the wrap by creating a rectangle equi-distant from the base rectangle.

You can now form the long sides of the box by drawing vertical lines offset by 20mm and meeting the diagonal lines towards the middle.

The short sides need to be cut in from the corners, so that they can fold over neatly inside the box. Measure the inside dimension using the measuring rule and draw parallel lines offset from the base panel and extended outwards towards the outer rectangle. At the corners draw a V shape so that these parallel lines meet the diagonals of the long edges at a point.

Step 8: cut out the wrap.

Using the ruler and following the lines you have drawn, carefully cut the wrap. You may need to change the blade to make sure you have a neat edge. You will be left with a shape like this:

Step 9: apply the adhesive

if like me you’re using self adhesive material, carefully remove the backing. You may find the material is a bit curly so perhaps leave it under some books for a while first to stop it sticking to itself. If you’re using spray adhesive, you need to be quick here. It’s important to apply a good even coat, but note that the glue starts to set off quickly so read through the next steps carefully and maybe practice first as it is important to make up the rest of the box before the glue dries.

Step 10: Position the box

Place the glued wrap face down on the surface so that the glued side is up. By aligning the corners of the box with the V shapes you made, carefully and firmly press the box down onto the wrap. Quickly check and smooth any bubbles out, and place back down.

Step 11: Fold up the long edges

Start by pulling the centre of the long edge upwards tightly then using your other hand smooth the wrap outwards towards the edges to ensure there are no ripples. Fold the angled tabs around the corners and press down firmly. Repeat for both sides.

Step 12: fold down the turn-ins

Next you need to fold the turn ins down. I like to make a short upwards cut in the corners to make this easier, especially with thicker materials as it relieves the pressure. Start by folding the corners down, then move to the middle and press outwards. You will need to be firm to make sure the adhesive sticks and that the corners are neat. Repeat for both sides.

Step 13: Fold up the short edges

Now the short edges can fold up and over and cover all the tabs. Work from the middle outwards as before and press the turn-in down firmly. The cut back that we drew earlier should ensure that you have a nice even seam at the corners. Repeat for both sides.

Step 14: making the lid

The lid is exactly the same and follows the same steps as before. This is where you can get creative. I’ve chosen a short height lid like a shoe box of about 30mm deep, remember that the base panel of the lid needs to be bigger than the base box, so measure the outside dimensions and add a bit of room for friction (a millimetre or two) to each side. If you want the lid to be full height, use the same depth as the base. You can also try contrasting colours or prints, ribbons or filling materials. I went fairly plain as I was limited to what I had in the cupboard, but the materials available these days mean you can create some really nice effects.

…most of all have fun!

Recovery Day 48-53

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma R-Codox-M, recovery period, Rituximab

It’s been about 2 weeks now since my last round of treatment, apart from 2 days in hospital in the middle of my recovery period, this has been the longest stay at home since the end of November. It’s a strange feeling, and as the saying goes, the time has flown. I also realised that I haven’t driven once during that period, which for someone who used to clock quite a few miles is also a little strange, but I think I’ll pick it back up again!

Having mostly frittered the time on needless procrastinating, mindless TV (I even watched 2 whole episodes of Doctors!) and computer games, I feel I’ve wasted some of it. I’m sure most people (and definitely my consultant) would say that it’s important relaxation time, although it’s usually against my nature.

I was originally due to go back in to hospital on Sunday/Monday. In the seemingly haphazard, last minute approach that I probably wouldn’t accept from elsewhere, but have started to get used to; I had a call yesterday (Thursday) from the hospital saying that a bed had come available and they’d like to get cracking.

This terrible timing was a little frustrating for 3 reasons:

1: I intended to hand make Liz’s Valentines gift which I now had to rush in a day rather than span over a few days as originally planned.

2: I’d just received a second hand copy of Goldeneye for the wii in the post, and was looking forward to some nostalgic bond reenactment.

3: I was due several visits over the weekend from friends and family, which I now had either to cancel or relocate. (I did, however, cheekily combine my visit from Owen last night with a lift to the hospital for which I was grateful)

From the comments by the nurse, however, it sounds like my consultant had made a note on my file about the delays during my early phases of treatment and wanted me to keep on schedule. I am, on reflection, glad of this. A bit of frantic hassle now will lead to my treatment being completed quicker and more effectively meaning I can return back to a renewed sense of life.

So for now, I’m back in ward confinement on R-Codox-M starting with the R for Rituximab which has so far been running for about 2.5 hours with another half to go…

Day 44-47 Recovery Period

February 7, 2015February 7, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma, Uncategorized anaemia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia

Blood then home

On Wednesday morning I was told that as I had no serious symptoms and a normal temperature, they were happy for me to go home after the transfusion. There were 3 bags of blood required including a flush between each and a process of admin (I think they have to order each as they need it). The first starting at 11:00 meant that I would be in hospital until about 20:00. Interestingly, although they know my blood type, they have to perform an additional “cross matching” exercise the same day. As well as blood group, they also refer to antibody levels.

My mum arrived just before 8pm and I went home fairly promptly; the nurses had organised my discharge notes and the pharmacist had delivered my bags of medicines by about 6 even though I was still plugged in- I think they must have needed the bed!

Back Home

Thursday morning I felt revitalised. I think during the gradual decline I hadn’t realised how much the anaemia/neutropenia/thrombocytopenia had affected me.

I wasn’t sure whether the nurse was due as she was previously booked in for Friday, but she arrived promptly at 10:30 to administer another shot of Lenograstim (some nurses refer to this as GCS which is granulocyte colony-stimulating) which has been extended for a further 10 days.

I knew I felt better as I decided to tidy the living room a little which has become cluttered with pharmaceuticals, dressings and solutions.

I spent the afternoon filtering through work e-mails which had filled my inbox. I also started working on some sketches for a whisky project that was pending although an email popped up Friday morning saying the customer didn’t have any budget so I decided not to complete or submit these.

For the rest of the weekend I’m looking forward to relaxing in the traditional sense, rather than through the necessity of not being able to do much else.

How do I Feel?

I generally feel well although waking up this morning was hard work. I can feel the effects of the Lenograstim again; it has the tendency of inducing bone and joint ache similar to how you feel when you have flu. I can also feel the back end of the last Chemotherapy session creeping over me; the tips of my fingers are very numb and tingly (a bit like pins and needles) I also have a similar sensation in the tip of my tongue. My ‘fissure’ seems to be subsiding and my recent bathroom visit was much more manageable. At it’s worst, I felt like I had been eating broken glass, so the knowledge that this was a temporary experience is a huge relief. Finally, and this is difficult to pin down to my treatment or whether it’s just tiredness, I have a kind of cloudy brain feeling. Although I feel awake, it’s as though I’m viewing the world through an obscure experimental movie like ‘Being John Malkovich.’ A temporary cloud hovering over all my senses I hope, but this feeling was much worse earlier on in my treatment.

I am repeating the R-Codox-M treatment (cycle 1-3) in a week’s time. I was told that the chemicals are accumulative. I’m hoping with apprehension that the symptoms aren’t accumulative too.

Day 39-43 Recovery Period

February 3, 2015February 3, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma blood counts, chemotherapy, Haemorrhoids, platelets

Before I start this post, I need to offer a health warning to family and friends: I’m ok, there’s nothing to worry about, I just had a bit of an emotional blip; but I think it’s important to be honest.

Day 39 first day home

I was looking forward to being home for 2 reasons: firstly a chance to relax again and regress back to childhood playing computer games while being waited on by Liz. Secondly there was a family gathering planned on the Saturday in aid of my Aunty’s birthday and it would be a convenient excuse to catch up with a bunch of relatives who I hadn’t seen for a while.

My blood counts, as noted previously, were on their way down, so the district nurse had been booked to arrive daily to administer the Lenograstim injection. On Friday the nurse arrived about 10 minutes before my Dad who kindly offered to make a cup of tea and finish the washing up. When she left, he foolishly asked if there was anything else he could do. Several journeys to the loft later it was time for him to go so I felt a little guilty that we hadn’t had time to catch up, but very grateful for the help.

otherwise the day was fairly un-eventful apart from completing a level of Halo!

The Party

Saturday was mostly spent sleeping and relaxing in preparation, I was feeling fairly well in myself but a little weak so took it carefully walking to and from the car and sloped off for a bit of a sleep on arrival. The party was good, nicely laid out with a good spread of food, music which the aunties could dance to and I managed to catch up with most of my relatives. My mum’s cousin came over with his wife who had been through a similar experience 4 years previous. They offered support and said that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, a sentiment which was appreciated.

I generally follow a more scientific than theological ideology, but the words “I have been praying for you” spoken by a couple of relatives was also greatly appreciated, especially knowing that it was both genuine and heartfelt.

Even though I spent the time sitting down, I realised how tired I was when I stood up. To those who didn’t know me, I must have seemed like a drunken old man stumbling to bed early, but I felt a sense of achievement all the same.

The Panic

During Sunday, I became aware that I had taken a couple of risks. I like to think of myself as a ‘pragma-realist’ I like to form decisions and opinions when I have all the information, although I understand that sometimes ‘all’ the information is un-available or difficult to obtain.

The risks therefore were as follows:

1: I hadn’t had a blood test since Thursday and the next was due Monday (I was aware of this on discharge, but decided not to press the point in case of jeopardising my release) this meant it was difficult to know how low my blood levels were.

2: I went to a party full of people in a public place. (I had discussed this with the doctor who said this might be ok, but again hadn’t been explicit about it with the nurse or doctors on the day of discharge in case it would jeopardise my chances of being able to go)

In the afternoon, I had started to feel quite weak and feeble so went to bed early. As soon as I started to drift off, my mind started wondering. Recalling a comment the doctor had made on Thursday; “I can feel the lump here, it’s much smaller than before,” began the start of my panic. Until this point, I had thought it had gone completely and suddenly could feel it again myself. On top of this, my skin was feeling really cold to the touch and I was sweating which is usually a late symptom and should have stopped by now. To top this off and noting that I’ve experienced every type, size, shape and colour of fluid and solid discharge during my treatment I had uncomfortable bowel passing which was quite bloody and I had strange blotches (like red freckles) appearing on my skin. Adding all these together I started for the first time to think of the ‘what ifs.’

The hardest thing to console myself over was not all the problems I’ve had or things I should have done, it was all the things I hadn’t yet done. As much as I’m comfortable with the experiences I’ve had so far and am confident that I have learned a great deal during my relatively short life, I feel I have a lot more to achieve and am capable of offering more. Obviously no-one knows what’s round the corner, but I would be deeply unhappy if I had to leave without having made a positive contribution to society, even in the form of offspring. With all these spinning thoughts and imagined conversations with friends, family and colleagues flashing through my mind I started to well up. As a pragmatic bloke the first tear dropping down my cheek is always a little embarrassing, but it happens; I’m not sure why we feel the need to instantly quell it, but perhaps that’s our way of coping. I managed to stop the tears before waking Liz, but felt a little refreshed when I woke up. Perhaps it was just a case of the Sunday blues.

Return to hospital

On Monday the nurse came round to take blood tests and flush my line. I got up late as I was extremely tired, so I asked Liz to bring her (and all the kit) upstairs. I spent most of the day asleep although managed to make it downstairs in the afternoon. Mum had the day off work so cooked lunch for me and Liz which was nice. I watched a bit of telly and sloped back off to bed. Nervous of the bleeding I decided To avoid going to the toilet before bed.

Tuesday morning, I had to go to the toilet. By this time, based on the discomfort and a bit of help from the NHS website, I was pretty sure it was heamorrhoids. I decided to call the hospital to see the best course of action. The nurse said that my blood counts weren’t back yet but that I should book in with the GP to get them checked out. She prescribed me cream over the phone, I was tempted to offer Skype but decided against it! A couple of hours later at about 16:30 I had a call from the hospital saying we need you to come in via A&E the blood results were as follows.

Heamoglobin – 76

White blood count – 0.2

Platelets – 10

Neutrophils – 0.0

I am now back in hospital receiving a bag of platelets (low count explaining the heamorrhoids, which the doctor here has actually said is an internal tear or fissure and not piles after all) I have a further 2 bags of blood to follow and the nurses were surprised I managed to get away without further or worse symptoms! I’m hoping they’ll send me home once I’ve had the transfusion, but recent experience tells me that’s anyone’s guess!

Day 37-38 Limbo

January 29, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma blood cells, blood counts, blood threshold levels, lenograstim, neutropenia, WBC, white blood cells

Aaarrggggh, well that’s how I’d planned to start this post, but this morning things have changed. I was initially due to have my intrathecal injection on Monday, but it was rescheduled to Tuesday. By Wednesday at 15:30 having still had no news, I was starting to get a little frustrated. More specifically due to the fact that I’d been told I could go home for a couple of days while my blood counts are still high. Every day after chemo, your blood counts drop so by Wednesday I was starting to feel like I wouldn’t be able to go home at all!

The procedure

The other hurdle to my being fit for discharge was illness and specifically having a headache after my intrathecal (IT) chemo. I had been told that they would use a thinner needle this time and allow me to lie down for longer afterwards (4 hours) in order to minimise the risk of a returning headache. During the procedure, the doctor struggled to find the correct location. She hit the bone at least twice (which was quite uncomfortable) and she also reportedly bent a needle.

As the anaesthetic started to wear off, my back started to stiffen up and was quite painful. I was a little nervous of this triggering the headaches. On going to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I became a little dizzy and had to dive back on the bed to sleep for a bit.

The student nurse brought round my blood results for me which didn’t make great reading and I was a little concerned about my prospects.

Day of release

This morning, during my shower break, I did a couple of stretches and wore myself out but apart from a mild dull ache, my headache has subsided. When the doctor reviewed my blood results they’d actually come up a little thanks to the lenograstim I’d had the night before.

I thought I’d ask for a bit more detail about the results for reference:

Haemoglobin (HB) these are a type of white blood cell.
White blood count (WBC) this is a general count of cells.
Platelets (Plt) these are blood cells which help clotting.
Neutrophils (Neut) making 70-80% of white blood cells they are a good indicator of a healthy immune system.

Here are the ‘normal’ and ‘threshold’ ranges for each noting that everyone is different and the doctor would normally find out a baseline normal level for the patient along with other contributing health factors to help determine what the safe levels should be.

Haemoglobin (HB)

normal: 135-180, threshold: 70-90 depending on age and health.

My counts: 28th – 96, 29th – 97

The doctor said that they don’t pay much attention to these levels.

White Blood Counts (WBC)

normal: 4-11, threshold: below 4 is when they start to be concerned, but depending on health some people can tolerate lower levels.

My counts: 28th – 1.2, 29th – 2.5

Platelets (Plt)

normal: 150-400, threshold: 10-20 or under 100

My counts: 28th – 134, 29th – 102

I found this quite interesting; I noticed from the above that you have a lot more platelets than you need for daily life, but the doctor said you need high amounts if you’re having surgery or are in an accident. For example a count of between 10-20 would mean you start getting nose bleeds and bruising, below 100 you’d struggle to heal from a cut on the head and you need 200 or more to survive surgery. They tend to apply a transfusion if these levels get towards the 20s.

Neutraphils (Neut)

normal: 1.9-7.5, threshold: 0.5 (neutropenia)

My counts: 28th – 1.0, 29th – 2.3

I’m currently anaemic and have a reduced immune system, but I’m within safe thresholds for going home. I will also have another Lenograstim injection before I leave which will help give my bone marrow a boost.

Day 34-36 Chemotherapy

January 27, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma chemotherapy, Etoposide, ifosfamide, Intrathecal methotrexate, lenograstim, Mesna

I’m on day 6 of phase 2 chemo which is also day 36 of my treatment. I’m due to have another intrathecal injection today which, having just got over the headache from last time, I’m not looking forward to. I am, however now unplugged from the pumps and therefore feel a familiar sense of relief.

Day 34 & 35 treatment

The treatment for these past 2 days has followed the same course, frustratingly, due to the length of the courses (and that for some inexplicable reason, they can’t start till midday) they have been running through the night. This means 2 things:

Not much sleep (lots of interruptions)
Regular toilet breaks (due to the volume of fluid absorbed)

The chemicals for both days were as follows:

etoposide – 120mg in 500ml of fluid across a 1 hour course

ifosfamide (+Mesna) – 2900 (+800)mg in 1000ml over 1 hour

Mesna – 2400mg in 1000ml over 12 hours

Day 36 treatment

then finally today I’ll have Methotrexate applied intrathecally (into my spinal fluid) – as far as I’m aware, that’s it for a few days.

My neutrophils will start to drop over the next couple of days (neutropenia is usually expected between day 7-10) and to counteract this, I’ll be given injections of a drug called lenograstim which helps to stimulate the bone marrow (where blood cells are made)

I’m also being give another injection each day which helps to thin the blood and prevent blood clots. It’s supposed to go into my stomach, but it hurts when they put it there so I’ve been asking the nurses to administer into my arm (apparently into the subcutaneous tissue under my skin).

How do I feel?

honestly, I’ve had worse hangovers but I feel fairly grotty. A little disorientated and my brain is feeling lazy- I can’t beat my ipad at chess any more! I sometimes get the feeling of sickness but it goes; I think the anti sickness drugs are working.

If I get up in the night I get quite dizzy and my blood is taking its time to get back into my brain. I nearly fainted the other night and have therefore have been classed as a falling risk hence the award of green maple leaf. I have been advised to sit on the edge of the bed for a few minutes before getting up, this seems to help although doesn’t half make me feel like an old man.

liz said it’s good practice- thinning hair, unsteady balance, aching joints, unreliable bowels… Can’t wait to be young again!

Day 30 to 33 chemotherapy

January 24, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma chemotherapy, ifosfamide, IVAC, Mesna, Rituximab

Having completed round 1 the ‘R-CODOX-M’ part, I think I was lulled into a false sense of security thinking that the ‘R-IVAC’ cycle would comprise fewer chemicals. It seems that although infused over a shorter period of time, there is a greater volume of therapy.

Day 30 last day home

On Wednesday, I spent the day chilling out and sorting out my things ready to take to the hospital. In the usual convenient manner, having been told to call the ward at 14:00 to confirm arrival time on Thursday, they told me to get into Worcester by 16:00 which didn’t give me much time to arrange a lift and prepare myself for the journey.

on arrival, I went through the usual checking in procedure; general questions, next of kin, any power of attorney, weight, height, blood test, OBS, wrist band, MRSA swab, and logging of belongings. I was then allowed home for the evening although needed to be back in by 8.

Day 31 Chemotherapy

The journey in triggered my headache, so returning to my bed I spent the first part of the morning asleep or resting through the coughs beeps and whirrings of my new room mates.

The chemo started again at 12:00

Cytarabine 3900mg over 3 hours, followed by

Etoposide 120mg over 1 hour

ifosfamide (with Mesna) 2900 (+800)mg over 1 hour

mesna 2400mg over 12 hours

Cytarabine 3900mg over 3 hours

As you can see, this meant that my sleep was interrupted by fluid changes as well as (due to the volume of saline included with the above: 4500ml) regular toilet breaks. This meant that the following morning I was fairly tired.

Day 32 Chemotherapy

The onslaught continued and I spent most of my waking hours trying to sleep:

Cytarabine 3900mg over 6 hours

Etoposide 120mg over 1 hour

Rituximab 375mg over 3 hours

ifosfamide (with Mesna) 2900 (+800)mg over 1 hour

Mesna 2400mg over 12 hours

Cytarabine 3900mg over 3 hours

Day 33 Chemotherapy

I’ve had a few hours break this morning which was a quite a relief from being plugged into the pump.

The therapy is due to start after lunch as follows:

Etoposide 120mg over 1 hour

ifosfamide (with mesna) 2900 (+800)mg over 1 hour

Mesna 2400mg over 12 hours

How do I feel?

My main symptom is lethargy. This could be due to interrupted sleep although I expect some of the way I feel is due to the chemicals floating round my body. My headache has started to ease and although it still persists along with stiff neck and shoulders, it is much more manageable now.

In addition to the standard side effects which seem to coincide with all of the chemotherapy drugs (bruising/bleeding, anemia, sickness, diarrhoea, sore mouth, hair loss) the current round of treatment has the additional symptoms of eye problems, skin changes, numb hands and feet.

To minimise risk of eye problems, I’m taking medicated eye drops which are applied every 3 hours.

the fact sheet for Mesna under ‘why is Mesna given’ states the following: “if you are given ifosfamide or cyclophosphamide chemotherapy, you may get bleeding in your urine. Both drugs can cause irritation of the bladder lining. Mesna helps prevent this by protecting the lining.” Thankfully, the Mesna seems to have done its job!

my skin has become very dry especially on my hands and face.

I’m also experiencing numb hands and feet, but otherwise, my symptoms are so far mild.

With regard to hair loss, this has slowed down somewhat but I have noticed that my beard hair has been coming out in the shower. In fact I think I prefer wiping my beard off to shaving so I think I’ll not bother shaving for now!

Days 24-29 recovery period

January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma chemotherapy, hair loss, Relaxing, rest days

I’ve spent a few days at home now and adjusting to reality has become more difficult than I thought. Hindered primarily by my headache which while improving, is still a frustrating brake on my daily activities.

Day 24 – release day

I was collected from the hospital by my Dad who had to wait for a couple of hours while the nurses collated my notes and bags of tablets. Initially I was told that my consultant would like to see me before I left but this didn’t happen. Incidentally, I haven’t seen her since the 23rd December and have only been in contact with the on call doctors. I think therefore that she has been avoiding me as she knows that I will have built up a huge list of questions for her.

On the way home, I managed to mitigate my headache slightly by folding the chair back as far as it would go. It gave the journey an interesting viewing angle!

Having climbed the stairs for the first time in a while, I crashed out and didn’t do much beyond sleeping.

Day 25

I spent Friday at home watching telly (I’d built up a library of TV to catch up on) and sleeping. It felt strange being at home with nothing to do, and although there were chores I could have picked up on, just walking round the house was enough to wear me out so I decided to take it easy. Luckily for me, Liz has been keeping on top of most things so I don’t have to; but I have a strange desire to get back to fitness so I can help out.

First Weekend home

Without any plans beyond relaxing, it seems that I’ve started to regress into childhood. My primary activities have included: completing ‘plants vs zombies’ on my phone, playing ‘Halo’ on my X-box and building a ‘Lego city cargo plane’ which my brother bought me for Christmas. I had a couple of friends pop round for a cup of tea and catch up which was nice; although I felt a little guilty on receiving a text from one of them saying ‘I’ve just come round to see you in Worcester, but you’re not here!’ Although on reflection, he should probably have checked my location first!

By Sunday I’d managed to increase my standing stamina enough to walk round to my friends’ house for dinner. I wore a pair of jeans which were tight in November and are now bunched up like a sack of potatoes around my waist (my favourite belt is now back in the drawer as it has too few holes, so I’ve had to resort to a fabric friction belt) On arrival, I had to lie down on the sofa and again after dinner which felt somewhat unsociable, but I think they understood. It was nice to fit a little sense of normality into my weekend.

Day 28 – the start of Week 5

It feels like a lot longer than 4 weeks since the beginning of my Chemo, but I expect this is partly due to counting hours in the ward. I had a district nurse visit in the morning to flush my line and take a blood sample. Having been told that I’d get a call with an appointment time, the shock awakening of a knock at the door took me by surprise, so she had to greet me un-showered and wearing little beyond my dressing gown! After a bit of a chit chat, she realised she didn’t have enough syringes for a double lumen line, so she left and said there would be another nurse round in the afternoon. Looking at the X-box controllers and Lego lying round the floor, they both asked If I had kids and were surprised to find out that I’m in fact a 33 year old child myself.

Day 29

Today I had an outpatient meeting with my consultant. Having bombarded her with (predominantly scientific questions) we decided that despite my headache I’m ready to crack on with phase 2 treatment. She said that I probably need to have my spine injections restarted but she’d get a neuro-specialist to come and see me beforehand to check me over.

The symptoms

I’m fairly symptom free now. I have a long way to go to get back to fighting fit, but besides my headache, I feel fine. My hair is still falling out, but slowly now with little change to my current appearance of baby head. I have noticed, however in washing my face, that my beard is falling out. I gave up shaving a few days ago and although it is growing, it’s much slower than normal and at first glance, my 10 days beard, looks like about 3 days growth (mainly due to the thinning of it’s mass) my throat is fine, mouth is healthy and even my digestive system seems to be fully functioning, so I’m prepared, if not looking forward to getting booked back in to hospital tomorrow.

Days 22-23 recovery period

January 15, 2015January 27, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma chemotherapy, hair loss, hospital food, Recovery

I’ve cycled through the menus a few times now and while there is a reasonable amount of variety, I have never really expected any level of culinary excellence. Yesterday’s lunch, however, surprised even me.

Now admittedly, I got exactly what I ordered; and I’m not exactly a food critic, but as someone who currently can’t be bothered to eat at the best of times this presentation doesn’t exactly excite my appetite. Although I expect the average resident is fairly comfortable with the bland and ordinary, I’m pretty sure that without affecting cost and time, a small level of care and attention could vastly improve this meal in both nutritional and aesthetic values. Forgetting all the obvious omissions, I’d like to specifically raise your attention to the dessert. Apart from the choice of dish, if you’re going to drop a solitary slab of jelly in a bowl, it bears the question ‘why bother unwrapping it in the first place?’ As much as the idea of jelly appeared to be an interesting alternative, on reflection I think this would be enough to make Jamie Oliver quiver in his boots! With this in mind, the news that I can go home for a few days is a huge relief. I have a bit of a concern about my headache and how I’m going to cope with the journey, but to be honest if I have to bear that for forty minutes, the comfort of my own home and real food is worth the pain. The doctor decided that the second temperature was just a blip and had finished all my antibiotics and even reduced my other tablets to a small handful. I need to get a district nurse to visit and do blood tests and re-dress my Hickman line while I’m home and I’ll probably have to learn how to climb stairs again, but I’m looking forward to the short break of normality. Although still falling out, my hair loss seems to have slowed its progress so rather than shaving it off as is standard, I think I’m going to see what happens. If I look a mess for a few weeks in aid of science who cares! I’ve been taking a pic each morning the first few are below:

Days 19-21 recovery Period

January 13, 2015 robinbtaylor Cancer, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis and symptoms, Health, Leukaemia, Lymphoma cancer, chemotherapy, headache, neutropenia

As soon as I’m ‘recovered’ they’ll let me home for a couple of days which I’m looking forward to. I’ve been up and down the scale of Neutropenia over the last few days (low white blood cell count) I think over the last 6 days it’s been 0.5, 0.8, 0.4, 0.4, 0.9 and today it’s 8.7 which means I finally have an immune system!

Unfortunately, in addition to the confirmed flu I had with minimal symptoms (other than sore throat and headache), my temperature was borderline concerning at 38.1 on 2 occasions overnight. With this in mind, I’ve had a series of blood cultures taken whereby they presumably try and grow the offending bacteria in a Petri dish in order to identify what it is. This has the unfortunate result of my staying in the hospital for at least another 48 hours until they get those results back. In the meantime they’ve started me on a different antibiotic to try and help me fight it.

Yesterday I was quite ill and didn’t get out of bed until fairly late in the evening. I managed to eat a small amount but it was difficult to sit up with my headache as it is. I am feeling a little better today and managed to shower and sit up ok without too much discomfort. I am, however, beginning to get a little frustrated with this interminable headache.

Although they’re aware of all my symptoms, I haven’t really talked in too much detail with the doctors as they seem to be busy and distracted at the moment, but I have started to wonder whether this extended break in chemotherapy and delay before round 2 is likely to impact the electiveness of the treatment.

As someone who is usually in control and likes to take a handle on my own destiny, it’s a little difficult to let go and allow others to deal with it for me. I have to concede, however, that the doctors do know more than I on this subject and I rather have no other choice.