[brochoParticipant]

Hi Eve how awful for you both to have the added trauma after your mother-in-laws death.No wonder you have doubts Luckily mum arranged her funeral through Age Concern and was able to check it all out before signing up She always says its the best bargain of her life and sometimes amuses herself working out the cost of funerals now as opposed to 20 years ago which is what she paid !Strange I know! love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Min what a lovely generous lady your friend was to think of sparing her husband , no wonder the church was packed. Min you should be proud of yourself for using power tools I am definitely a wimp when it comes to jobs like that! Much to Jeffs despair I am more likely to use a hammer! I am with you on the cardboard coffin though , cant really see the point of fancy woods and handles , mum and I used to joke about her being buried at the bottom of the garden in a cardboard coffin, I will remind her tomorrow that should make her laugh Now wheres my hammer???? love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Mavis I do hope the snow stays away so that you can get to your grandchildren for christmas There is nothing like the seeing childrens faces on christmas morning, I bet they are just as excited as you are! All fingers and toes crossed for you In my house my husband and grandson are the tree decorators they do a much better job than I could Not long to wait now Mavis I hope you have an advent calendar to help you tick the days off love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Min Peters service sounds lovely a true celebration of his life . I think its such a shame we dont have our loved ones at home before a funeral it is so much more personal Its no wonder we find death and grieving so hard when everything is taken out of our hands and out of sight You mentioned the grandchildren were ok with seeing Peter too , I am not surprised as it is so much better for them to understand than imagining all sorts of things about dying Well now I really must put pen to paper and make my own arrangements love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Eve I agree planning your funeral is a good idea and makes it much more meaningful My mum has had hers planned and paid for for over 20 years now ! Age Concern ran a scheme where people over a certain age (cant remember what the age limit was) could pay a fixed price in installments, they also sent lots of helpful literature regarding planning So mum is very happy with her bargain but more importantly she feels empowered Mind you I havent done anything about mine yet ! love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Good Morning Mavis thank you for your kind words It is a nuisance having to write off a whole day following the Bendamustine but I am going to discuss it at clinic and see if there is a solution No my hair is still here it would be very chilly without it! The extra pain which turned out to be a tumour showed despite low pp levels that myeloma was active again . Ihope you are well and looking forward to christmas I certainly am love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Dai beautiful words its a shame I have no sound on my laptop I would love to hear the song love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Tina yes I think it is Thalidomide thats turned me into a zombie! In the mornings I have wonky vision and frequent catnaps of less than five minutes drives me nuts Todaay and last night were write offs I felt dreadful within 2 hours of Bendamustine and just had to sleep through it , the headache is unbearable , its now about midnight and I am only just able to drink a coffee It is a pain but I dont want to give up on Bendamustine as the choices for treatment are smaller now so I will just have to get used to it It is only paraproteins that dont give true readings in blood tests so neuts and platelets are still monitored ok and so far they have been pretty good , fingers crossed love Bridget aka Rip van Winkle

[brochoParticipant]

Happy Birthday Toms Stem Cells ! Did Elaine bake them a cake Tom? Heres to many more birthdays for them love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Shirley sorry I must have missed your post till now Your christmas dinner sounds great and its always nice to forget about mm for a while. I am so glad you are starting to feel better but as Roz says dont overdo things , mind you it sounds as though Stephen will make sure you dont Will you need oxygen permanently now ? Or will your lungs improve over time even though the damage is permanent Its easy to forget the risks of transplants now more and more are being done, it seems very unfair that you were unlucky with yours I cant help but admire your strength and sunny nature both of which have helped you get through the bad times , I hope there are lots of good times coming your way now that you are on the mend love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Helen yes it was a bit confusing and spooky but later I saw the funny side ! It will be a while before I know if it is working, I have to rely on bmb and mri scans together with any physical symptoms such as pain because I am now a non-secretorBecause of my own experience ( initially my pp results were accurate) I am always a little uneasy to hear people totally reliant on the blood test results alone as they are only a part of the whole picture So for now I will just keep on going and hope for the best which is all we can do really How are you feeling now? How is your hair coming on any sign of curls yet? The first time I lost my hair it came back with lovely curls but after the second time they vanished I was gutted! Now there is not even a wave in my hair which is very odd as I have always had a wave in it Still as long as it comes back I am not complaining and its always a little surprise ! love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Amelie sorry if I was over generalising I did remember John is your friend but I was just giving the patients perspective. He certainly is a very active man and his mum too , obviously good genes in their family ! I am glad you can come on here for answers to some of your questions but it is hard to be specific when we each have our own myeloma map To answer your query about different responses to similiar paraprotein levels theses numbers only form part of the picture a good doctor looks at the whole patient , how well they feel , is there a new pain and also blood tests and biopsies all theses things denote when treatment needs to begin Take care love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi only me I really feel for you its horrible watching our parents go through it It is not really a case of someone being able to give you a time table as to when your dad will feel better as everyone is different but in a couple of weeks time you will look back and be surprised how much better he is Just take it one day at a time, I know you want to make it better for him but unfortunately as unpleasant as it is your dad has to go through this process When he has blasted the myeloma to smithereens and enjoying a vey long remission with no heavy duty drugs you will realise it was worth doing Life will get better for all of you , yes things change but its amazing how quickly we adapt and things just become normal Hang in there the worst is nearly over make sure you have lots of tempting snacks if dads appetite is poor and a visit from a happy smiling daughter will work wonders too Please let us know how he is doing and dont forget come on here if you need to let off steam we are all here for you love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Jean what I didnt say is I could not have got through the last five years without Jeffs support The thing about not telling you everything might be male pride but come to think of it there are times I dont mention little niggles. I really feel for you Jean as now my mum is very frail I feel totally useless but even with her I try and let her retain some independance and dignity, so I do understand how hard it must be for you The most important thing really is you and Frank are facing mm together, he must feel very loved Take care Jean love Bridget x

[brochoParticipant]

Hi Meera great to hear life is getting better for you now. I admire your strength especially having a toddler to look after as well , but its a lovely age though everything is new Heres hoping you get your energy back up quickly just remember to allow your body time to rest when you need to Good luxk love Bridget x

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