Hi Ang.

Good news that Graham has got his tests out of the way, I still have to arrange mine, they want lung function, a check by an ENT doctor and dentist as well. I jave been told to expect to go in 2nd week in January, Visit to the hospital on Monday so hopefully they will confirm. have a good xmas and enjoy it.

Richard

Well Grega, glad you could join us. As for timescale, everyone is different but there is a form of timeline. I had my last chemo session end of October. started prep for Stemcell harvest on 1 Dec. with the injections to stimulate Stemcell production. Harvest was done 9 Dec and took about 3.5 hours. I have been told that the SCT will begin 4 weeks…[Read more]

Hi San,

If the hospital is talking about a nursing home then they are probably being realistic as well as optimistic.Surprised you posted in ‘end of life and grief’, your mum has not gone yet. I can read your concern and fear in your post but she might just hang in there for a while. You say you haven’t visited because you have a cold, perhaps…[Read more]

Hi Tracy,

Your emotions sound true to form, a number of us felt useless, a burden to others and in limbo, like you, I couldn’t slow down, my wife kept telling me to rest, we had a home help but I ended up doing things before she came to help – not very helpful but I had to do it so that I still had a sense of self worth.

You haven’t said how…[Read more]

Follow Tony’s advice. The survival rate stats are historichal, whilst giving an indication, they don’t always take into account modern developments in medicine and care, there will always be a time lag, secondly, the illness is seen as an old persons illness, how many of those who were diagnosed with MM would have died within 5 years anyway?

You…[Read more]

Hi Caroline, Carol,

Your both moving on, I suppose you can’t really stop it even if you wanted to but it will be over soon enough. Not long to the new year and a new start. – PMA

I’m sure Graham will have given up his stemcells by the time you read this, hopefully it went smoothly. Let’s hope the next stage happens soon.

Carol,

You are following the same path as so many others. They all say it’s hard but doable. Just concentrate on the benefits after SCT – Positive Mental Attitude. You’ve still got to see your granddaughter in the New Year.

I am sure you’ll be fine.

Richard

Bah Humbug! lol

Morning Caroline,

Nothing like knowing there’re others in the same boat, we can learn so much off each other. Now you need to keep us who are following in your footsteps posted on your progress.

Richard

Hi Andy,

Today was a good day for me with having the Stemcell collection but Dai was always in the back of my mind. Unfortunately there is no end to those being affected by this dreadful illness but the likes of Dai have made it easier for many of us to come to terms with the illness and gave us hope about the outcome. He will forever be in my…[Read more]

Hi Ang,

Back home after blood test in the morning and Stemcell collection in the afternoon. All went without a hitch, it took me 3 1/2 hours but they are very pleased because they collected 10,000,000 cells per kg of bodyweight. They say they only wanted 2M /kg. No pain during the collection, all very easy as I’m sure others will tell you. If…[Read more]

Hi Ang and Rebecca,
Well I don’t know about labour pain and unlikely to find out but on day 4 of the injections (Thursday), I had very excruciating pain in my lower back. I felt I had been kicked or had a kidney infection. It lasted 24 hours only and then have had just the odd throb since then. This has been mainly in the hips with just a bit in…[Read more]

Well Tom, a real bummer I’m afraid. As for Velcade, they do say that it will hit MM hard initially and then be less effective. I have had Velcade since the end of June and have just finished the last session – Stemcell harvest on Monday.

The biggest thing is the pain I have from the Neuropathy in my feet. This started during treatment and got…[Read more]

What a sad situation to be in for the consultant let alone the patient, I would of thought the majority of people go into the medical profession because of a desire to care and look after others. It's a mad system that then makes these same people question the level of care they should give. Who can benefit from it? Resources are finite but surely…[Read more]

Hope the PAD goes well, I was on PAD but then put on Revlimid despite it being known to stress the liver. All suspended now – see my new post in 'treatments'.

The PAD made me very ill for a week after but compared to the Revlimid it was the lesser evil I think. As for funding, the attitude here is so different because the funding is different.…[Read more]

Sound advice from Eve. Fortunately the doctors here give me a print out of all the blood tests, they will give me a PDF file once the treatments done and I do keep everything in a folder at home. It helps to understand the illness and what is happening to me.

Hi Eve,

As I said, here in Germany it is the norm for the doctors to give full medical examinations including blood and urine tests. They are paid by the Insurance companies to do so because they understand that it is actually cheaper for them to find problems early. The problem is the UK mindset. Everything is about taking a chance and not…[Read more]

Having gained limited knowledge of the way things work here in Germany and comparing it to the UK, the big difference is in the thinking. Because here health care is insurance based the thinking is very much prevention rather than cure. To this end the insurance companies are happy to pay for comprehensive health examinations because they believe…[Read more]