[MollymooParticipant]

Eve we were in Plovdiv on Tuesday for his last dose of chemo here in Bulgaria, I spoke to his Oncologist about my fears and she told me that without a biopsy they couldn’t say 100% that this was Amyloidosis that was causing his heart to thicken. The cardiologist has a very strong suspition and no more. She said that it could be a number of other reasons that could be causing the changes, the swine flu that he had at the time of testing being one of them. She has told me not to worry until we know for sure but assured me that he was doing great with the Myeloma. We will wait until we get back to the UK and let them investigate further. I wish I could take it all in my stride like Eric does instead of being such a drama queen and emotional wreck.
Thanks agian for your help Eve. xxxx

[MollymooParticipant]

Oh that is great news, I was fearing that we might have to travel to Leeds.

Thanks Mike

[MollymooParticipant]

Thanks Eve, you are very helpfull, I will contact Stuart.

[MollymooParticipant]

Thanks Eve.

[MollymooParticipant]

I am starting to feel better about this already. He is given good treatment over here in Bg but that’s where it ends, there is no after care, Macmillan or equivelant so we are pretty much left on our own, learning what we can about the disease from Google. It was when he had the Swine flu and couldn’t breath that brought it home to me just how alone we were. I had phoned his Oncologist and had the phone put down on me 6 times by a member of staff before I actually got to speak to her then it was a 4 hour journey to Plovdiv, not ideal in an emergency. Can’t wait to get back now. Thanks again.

[MollymooParticipant]

Thanks for your reply’s Eve and Helen. I will keep you informed as to what happens when we get back home. Hope you are bothe doing fine as well. xxx
x

[MollymooParticipant]

Right Eric has phoned again and has tried to read what the Doctor wrote down and most of it is unreadable. What he can make out though is that there is no sign of renal disease, good news, and that he has high levels of IgA, I have no idea if this is good or bad. There is loads of other stuff written down but he has given up trying decipher it. I have asked him to phone me tomorrow when she comes back so I can speak to her.

[MollymooParticipant]

Cheers Andy and I totally appreciate your honesty, this is not a time for rose tinted glasses and burying our heads in the sand. I did mention SCT to them yesterday and they said they were not sure. Eric had a heart bypass 10 years ago come Christmas and he has now been diagnosed with Heart Failure so I know that there are treatments others can get but Eric might not be able to. It is due to his heart failure and them assuming that his leg pain was intermittent Claudication that all his other symptoms have been over looked for so long.

This is today's update, copied from my fb staus…

Eric has phoned me and I haven't heard him sounding so happy for such a long time. He has been ill for 18 months and has only been given magnesium tablets so he is actually looking forward to his chemo as he see's it as the first step to getting him well and hopefully pain free. He has also had a visit from 30 English speaking Turkish students that wanted to know his life story so he has loved that too.
He is now out on the street buying nom noms and sitting in cafes. He will phone me again when he gets back to relay a message to me from a doctor about something that he hasn't got (thank god she wrote it all down, he's useless at absorbing info) and it is going to make his treatment so much easier and the outcome brighter. I am so emotional but in a happy way.

Also he has been told that he has to have another BMB and he loathed the last one and he said it was the worse thing he has ever had to endure and if they want to do it again he will walk out. When he had it done last week, they did it right through his bypass scar and he has always been very sensitive about that area of his body as 10 years on it still gets tender. This time they have assured him that they will never take it from there again but his pelvis instead so he is happy about that.

While I am here can I ask what his appetite might be like after his Chemo, I am busy making loads of healthy soups and calorie laden steamed treacle sponges for the freezer.

Thanks again for reading and replying, I will let you know whatever it is he hasn't got. x

[MollymooParticipant]

Thanks Tom and Jo for your reply's

Today was the day that we had to make a huge decision, We went to Plovdiv hospital as planned but before they admitted him I wanted a few questions answered. Firstly, would the S1 health insurance really cover everything and the answer was yes. The next was how many days per month did they think that we would have to make this trip and they said every 21 to 28 days for 4 months. I was so worried that we would have to keep traveling back and forth for each session or have to stay in hotels with every cycle, at 120 leva per trip the costs would have soon mounted. They don't have out patients here like the UK so for each cycle he receives he will be admitted for the duration so it will be just 2 trips, one to take him and one to bring him home. After a good chat we decided to have his treatment here. Eric's biggest worry was that it would take such a long time to get everything sorted and treatment started in the UK so he is very happy to stay here.

I don't know anything about which chemo drug will be used on him but his chemo will start in 2 days time after tests today and a 24 hour urine sample tomorrow, we will then know more.

All in all I think that it is fantastic that they are treating him so quickly baring in mind that he was only diagnosed 8 days ago.. The Professor apologized for the state of the hospital (it's a bit tired but spotlessly clean) but assured us that the treatment is first class and they are very positive about the outcome of the treatment. I am feeling so much better today than I have for the past 8 days and I think I will finally go to sleep tonight.

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