Right, that's cycle 2 finished and it seemed like a really long cycle- longer than the one I did by bike from Brechin to the French Alps when I was 15. Decision is pretty much as expected- go on with cycle 3 as my bloods are really in pretty good shape( actually really quite good for me given the chemo etc) and despite the side effects of the thalidomide, evidence seems to be that its doing me some good with paraprotein hopefully still coming down. Though I was at clinic yesterday, the paraprotein result doesn't come through for 3 days so I won't know till Monday where I stand in that respect.
I'm not as on the ball as I should be- which I put down to the thalidomide( thalidomide is to blame for absolutely everything!) and I turned up at the WGH dentist on Wednesday at the wrong time and then also at the wrong time for the Haematology clinic- requiring one of the registrars to see me when she should have been having lunch. Its the thalidomide I say!
In terms of my jaw, a wee referral to the dental hospital to see if anything needs done for the wee bit of osteonecrosis I have but meantime put on antibiotics. What great service we get- and its all joined up( except when I get the appointment time wrong).
When I was waiting in Ward 1 at WGH for my prescription for my chemo drugs( I take all my chemo in tablet form and do it at home myself) I had a long chat with one of the doctors about really serious issues- yup, we were discussing the merits of solar water heating and photovoltaic cells! Those of you who read my earlier blog will know I built solar panels last year to heat our domestic water- best thing we ever did and our boiler kicks in only rarely now. Every time we hear of gas prices going up we go into the garden, look at the solar collector on the roof and have a wee smile.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
You're getting me interested in solar. Nice article in the latest Time Magazine about thin-film panels, which may bring solar electric way down in cost in the next few years. With some storage mechanism (batteries, water tower, whatever) I wonder how much wattage a home really needs. Gotta go look at my electric bill, see how many watt-hours we use ...
I took thalidomide for a while, 50 mg per day, no steroid. It was actually quite tolerable - worst side effect was a rash. But 100 mg may be a different story, and that's a lot of prednisone.
Maybe I mentioned - I am on a trial of CC-4047, the next thing after Revlimid. Probably not available in Scotland yet except in a trial, but I do know that there has been (may still be?) at least one Phase I trial in the UK. Some people for whom Revlimid fails do find that CC-4047 works, and the side effects are generally less. I'm responding to it, whereas I did not really respond to thalidomide. Haven't tried Rev yet.
If your current regimen is working you wouldn't want to change it, but you might keep your eye out for a trial in the UK just in case.
By the way, I wrote a post about Agent Orange, 2,4-D, and 2,4,5-T. I used those chemicals, and maybe you did too: Agent Orange
Post a Comment