Dear welshwife,
What a shock for you both. I do hope that you managed to sort out some travel insurance from the suggestions above and that you’ve managed to get away to Poland with a safe journey and that your time there will be beneficial to you both.
I am a patient rather than a carer (and I do wonder if the carer has the more challenging role), diagnosed in June 2012. I found that once I started treatment, it did begin to address the pain and I was amazed that I started feeling ‘better’, even with the side-effects. I have just started second-line treatment and, after being in so much pain since last May, it is beginning to ease again. Phew!
In the meantime – and this is obviously personal and depends on each person’s own medical condition – I find that the tablets that are a combination of paracetamol and codeine/co-codamol really help soothe night-time pain. I don’t use them in the day time or all the time as they can cause addiction but on a bad night they can be very helpful. Certainly in England they are available behind the counter at places like Boots. Also getting a memory-foam mattress has helped with night-pain too.
Once you return to England, I hope you will find plenty of support on this Forum or at a local group or via the Myeloma UK helplines. It felt so very daunting at the beginning. I remember asking my husband to scan the Internet for any stories of hope he could find. Everyone’s Myeloma journey is unique, but I found the possibility of hope a really great tonic and has helped me through these first seven + years so far.
Rachel
