UVB treatment

Today will be another day spent going into hospital as the Fox receives his second dose of UVB rays.

Monday’s trip ended up taking quite a while. Most of the time was spent on paper work & undressing & dressing. He only spent 20 seconds in the light cabinet, dancing around. The idea is to keeping moving around, throwing legs & arms around to ensure the light rays get to every part of his anatomy.

Having been told to wear black underwear – he’d even gone & bought some new ones especially – he now was told to remove even them as the eczema affects his backside & so needs to be treated too. He was then told to take a sock, double it over & cover his “tackle”/”crown jewels” as that part needed protection  as  it tends to be rather sensitive.

So he entered the cabinet, danced around while trying to keep this sock in place. His face & eyes were protected with goggles & a helmet.

Each session will get progressively longer. He was also advised to go a get a haircut as he won’t be able have another one until the end of the treatment in 8 weeks’ time. Any area that is covered from now on must be covered to at least the same extent. It doesn’t matter if previously bare areas become covered, as when his hair grows, but it is dangerous if previously uncovered areas become bared. That will usually cause severe burning, great discomfort & possible skin cancer. So the Fox went for a haircut yesterday.

We’re relieved to find all his appointments will be at the same time which means we can get into some sort of rhythm. Tuesday’s become shopping day. Today we’re hoping, with nothing extra having to be done, we will get the feel of how tiring it’s going to be & sort out the rest of our schedule around his appointments.

I’m, at the moment, trying to do meals than can be prepared in the morning. That way, if we’re too tired to do much cooking, we will still get a good meal. Monday was a Hampton Pie, today a Cottage Pie & Friday will be a Beef Curry. All quick & easy in the evening, needing little more than warming up. Anything more adventurous is being done on non-treatment, non-shopping, non-household chores days. So yesterday we had a Lamb Stir Fry, cooked by the Fox, & tomorrow he’s intending to do a Sausage Risotto. We won’t starve whatever else.