vivdunstan

Just found that this year the shingles vaccination programme in the UK is being extended to include severely immunosuppressed people aged 50 or over. That’s in addition to non immunosuppressed vastly older folks. It’s a two part vaccine given over an especially short period to severely immunosuppressed. And not live, so safe for even immunosuppressed to have. So I can expect that this autumn too. Joy. Hoping I don’t get another neuro flare. Though I want the shingles protection. I’ve had shingles twice, including just before my PhD viva. And I was lucky to survive my only run in with chickenpox as a newly immunosuppressed 25 year old in 1998. I ended up in hospital on drips and in isolation for a week.

For over 75s, care home residents and immunosuppressed people like me. That will be Covid jab number 7 for me. And a week after I will almost certainly have another 3 month long neuro illness flare start. I’ve had this happen 6 times already, 18 months of 2021 and 2022. It’s horrific. On plus because I’m severely immunosuppressed the jab could very much save my life. But it’s horrific to cope with repeated flares. At least I am only due 2 Covid vaccines in 2023.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64876657

Tomorrow NICE who decide what drugs and treatments should be used in the UK will announce whether the preventative Covid antibody treatment Evusheld will be rolled out via the NHS to immunosuppressed people like me who have a reduced response to vaccines. I am lucky I have some antibodies now, after 6 Covid vaccines so far. Many immunosuppressed people still have no detectable antibodies. I am not optimistic that NICE will approve it. But I hope they will. It could help transform the lives of people who vaccines do little to protect. It has been used for these patient groups in many countries but not the UK.

Last night I finished two more books, so here are some quick thoughts.

First up Rachel Clarke’s Your Life In My Hands: A Junior Doctor’s Story. I went into this expecting it to be the tale of a junior doctor. Which to be fair it was. But it was also the tale of the junior doctors’ fight against Jeremy Hunt and co some years ago, including striking. That was interesting, but became repetitive after a while, and not as reasoned as I’d like. I found the medical tales of patients and the doctor’s on the job experiences more compelling. Another downside to the book was that it jumped around in the chronology. So not as successful as I hoped, though I’m glad I read it. Rating 3/5 stars.

Then I finished Victoria Lee’s A Lesson In Vengeance. This was set in an American preparatory/finishing school for the wealthy, and became a story of past mysteries, occult history and a thriller. Frustratingly though I found it disappointing overall. The story involves much of the past history of the school, but this aspect wasn’t as well developed and integrated into the plot as it should have been. There was a satisfying unease throughout, of a is there / isn’t there series of ghostly hauntings. I was genuinely uncomfortable at times walking around the house in the night after reading! And while the book didn’t take the route I expected, where it did go was both unsatisfying, prolonged, and ultimately at the end predictable. So thumbs up for idea and to an extent atmosphere, even if the spooks didn’t reach the levels they should have done. But thumbs down for the plot and overall effect. Rating 2/5 stars.

Current main reading as of mid February 2022. Continuing the Wheel of Time book 2, Steve McNeil’s video games history and a marvellous Louis Wain cats book. New reads for me are a history of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, short novel Strange Weather in Tokyo, and Rachel Clarke’s junior Doctor story.

I generally like to have a couple of novels on the go at once, one usually gargantuan, so that’s why I’ve got the Japanese book newly started alongside the (admittedly nearly finished) fantasy novel. I also like a lot of non fiction books.

Normally I read in a gargantuan font on my Kindle, but two of the above books are coffee table sized printed ones i.e. the cats and Hermitage books. But both are very heavy on pictures and very light on text, so they’re just about manageable for me. Both gorgeous books anyway.

I have nearly finished the Wheel of Time book but don’t expect to go straight on to book 3. But I am likely to read another whopper of a novel next.