I thought I’d write a quick update for people on here as it’s been a busy couple of months since I explained about coming off maintenance therapy and I haven’t really had a chance to let people know anything. We’ve been busy renovating the downstairs living room and thankfully are only a couple of weeks off completion now!
So, my last medical update was about being taken off Revlimid (my maintenance therapy). I’ve been off it for 3 months now…the first results weren’t too bad and my figures only went up by 0.5. Last month though, they went up by 2 which is faster than I’ve had it change over the past 7 years. It means that next months figure will be really important in my consultant making the decision as to what happens next and whether I start on the Myeloma XII trial which I have been given information on.
It is a really strange one – to feel that they took me off a drug that was keeping my progress slow and steady, resulting in it speeding up and potentially me needing treatment even sooner! I don’t quite understand how that makes sense for anyone except the drug company who no longer have to fund my drugs (they payed for them whilst I was on the Myeloma XI trial). I am wondering about challenging the system and asking for them on ‘compassionate grounds’ which apparently you can do. I need to look into what that means and how I would go about it, but surely if you can prove that a drug keeps you in some form of remission, that is more cost effective for the NHS than paying for a Stem Cell Transplant for me?
So, unless I can arrange for that to happen, it looks like I may well be back on treatment by the summer which would suggest a transplant at Christmas – not really what I want at all but if by getting in there early it stops me from suffering any type of bone or kidney damage, then I’ll have to go with it. We’ve thought about it lots over Christmas, as you’d expect. I maintain the fact that I’m majorly lucky to have been in remission for so long, and to have avoided complications. But, I’m absolutely gutted that, from being a healthy 43 year old who plays netball, racquetball and runs my own business, I will have to give up the sport etc and make myself so ill that I can’t function for 4 – 12 months. What a choice to make. It sounds strange, but in some ways when people are ill or suffering symptoms, the decision to go into a chemo regime feels like it might be easier.
The kids do know a little of what is going on. We weren’t going to tell them much until we knew I needed treatment to start, but then Sam started asking very specific questions about my health. We’ve always promised to tell them the truth and so we had to tell him that I’d been taken off revlimid. Of course that led to questions about the ‘what next’ so they do now know what could be on the cards. I think perhaps that’s for the best anyway – it gives them time to get their heads round it and I’m sure they’ll need that just like we do. It also means that if they stumble across my blog, that they won’t read anything on here that comes as a shock to them.
In the meantime, we’re taking the time to regroup and work out how 2019 might look for us. We had hoped to go away somewhere, but I think now, we will look at camping and prioritising getting our bedroom turned into an ensuite to help with the treatment process. I’m so pleased we’ve nearly finished the renovation of the living area as that means we have somewhere to enjoy and to have as ‘our’ part of the house (the rest is very dated). On top of that, it’s time to get back into doing things as a family….the poor kids have been very neglected during this whole house business, so we’re looking forward to more dog walks in the Clent Hills, more board games and generally more time together.
Next update probably won’t be until after the next lot of bloods…..I’ll be counting the days 