LSTM

A hospital visit and the dreary weather suggest an indoor blip will be unavoidable today, but as I’m waiting for G to pick me up, I notice the posters displayed in one of LSTM’s  windows. Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, part of the Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is currently celebrating its 125th anniversary. The oldest school of tropical medicine in the world, It’s unsurprising that it was established in Liverpool, a port at the heart of world travel and trading. 

For the last 18 months or so, LSTM has been the central point of my medical investigations, coordinating specialists in other areas to reach - hopefully - a diagnosis, and my consultant here is now overseeing my programme of treatment. This, of course, is a far cry from the research and training that goes on here in terms of world-wide disease control and healthcare, but the management of TB here in the UK is important with around 1000 cases each quarter. 

So, four weeks into - nearly half way through - the first intensive period of treatment, things seem to be going well. I’m past finding the drugs completely debilitating, and if it wasn’t for the catheter, I’d say I was feeling pretty positive. She’s happy with my ‘progress’, and after blood tests etc, I’m free to leave. 

It’s a drive home through the rain and a stagger to the sofa where I spend the rest of the day sleeping off and on. A trip to Liverpool really shouldn’t be so tiring …….

So my blip today’s a collage of LSTM posters - tropical insects and microbes being undeniably tiny, though the impact of the work done here is vast. (And yes, there’s a least one ‘selfie’ included!)