Yes, there’s a title to strike a mix of fear, horror, morbid fascination and also – obviously – pleasure that I’m still here – into my heart.
It seems much more recent than waaaaay back in 2016 that Prof told me my remission was over and that I would need a second stem cell transplant. Preceded by a year of a new chemo / immunotherapy combination of drugs to try and get my blood in better nick before the SCT. There was this new drug just arriving on the block, called Daratumumab – I guess they didn’t hold a Name Generator before coming up with that little mouthful.
Anyway, 2016 was spent trying out Dara – the first time in the High Dependency Unit, with a nurse staring at me for 6 hours while it was dripped in, as side effects were common. Including for me – we had to stop for a bit due to breathing issues, but then it continued and was fine. Dara went in combo with a second drug, Velcade, as lots of Myeloma treatment involves whacking in two drugs in the hope that two is better than just one..
In those days Dara was an infusion, ie a whole day of being attached to a drip while it was – very slowly – dripped into me. And then a quick Velcade injection into my stomach – always sore and then itchy for several days after, leaving fading red to blue bruises all across my tummy. It’s a good job I prefer high waisted bikinis and pants!
These days Dara is also an injection – a bloody massive one mind you – also into my stomach. That takes about 5 minutes to give, hence the awkward nurse chats (‘what are you doing this weekend?’) as they are bent in front of me feeding it in.
Anyway – long explanation but the short version is that last week marked ten years of me being on this same treatment. Which most importantly means that it has worked and continues to work brilliantly for me. Ten more years of being able to live a mostly normal life and to still feel relatively healthy.
What I hadn’t twigged was that I was the first patient at Parkside / Cancer Centre to be given the treatment, and possibly – in Prof’s view – the first person in Europe! And bless, them, they put a little celebration together for me.
A cake, a bottle of Prosecco (my fave, hmm), a tray of little cakey thingies from Paul bakery, some cherries, crisps and drinks. And Prof came in specially, on a Monday (when he doesn’t usually work) to mark the moment. I dragged Hawksey in, and we were joined by Prof’s senior aide Linda and various of the staff for 5 minutes each, grabbing a quick break from work (and nabbing the cakes on their way back out!) And perfectly positioned in front of the Icon mission statement – I hate to think which hideous brochures I might now feature in, but if it helps Prof then it had to be a yes from me.
All in all, a really sweet tough that they absolutely need not have bothered to do – but they very kindly did. And you’ll note how I had to keep pulling Prof’s jacket across the Chelsea logo on his short – that it was thing I do draw the line at being featured with!
(It will be interesting to see how their effort compares with Kantar’s on the occasion of my 30 year anniversary working for the business this September! Gawd help me.)
Here’s to many more years of the Dara/Velcade combo continuing to do its injecty magic, and to me benefitting from having Prof – now aged 88 – as my consultant.
x
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