So – decided that I would indeed go and join the proposed meeting-up of a bunch of the newer joiners to my Under 50's Myeloma forum. I'd acutally suggested they meet at the Slug in Waterloo (easy for me!) and they chose it, so thought it might be rude not to.
Thank god one of the 'old crowd' was there – Phil Kelly, who together with me set up the Under 50s forum 5 years ago now. Good to see him and at least he swears as much as I do – the rest seemed to still be on best behaviour (something the original group got over remarkably fast as we bonded like glue).
We were 8 in total, more than I had thought as it was a spontaneous thing driven by one of them going for a 2nd opinion at King's and various others then deciding to come out of the myeloma closet for the night and hook up. A bizarre mixture of people sharing 'normal life' stuff – jobs, where you live, funny stories – interspersersed with viewpoints on how long to wait for anaesthetic to kick in before having a Bone Marrow Biopsy, who the best specialists are and different drug regimens to cope with varable circumstances…
Also a bit (more than, really..) sad for Phil & I that we are no longer with the original folks that we met 5 years back. Only 1 other is still alive – Sandra – and it felt like we were almost replacing them with the new group.. Which we're obviously not, but it did make us stop and think – even more than we both do, all the time.
Anyway, overall a positive when it could have been a whopping downer, so worth tipping up to.
And then headed back for dinner with Mum & Cathy – just flown in from Xmas in Holland and ready to experience a roast chicken with 'cauliflower mash' instead of roasties. Sigh – but we need to de-lard, so cauliflower, you are our new best friend.
Much love and thoughts to all the Myeloma guys, past and present x