Cycle 5 begins.

I spoke to my consultant yesterday. The next stage is likely to start in September so I’ve started another cycle (#5) of chemotherapy today. This is to ensure the paraprotein numbers remain consistently low over a reasonable length of time. Its also to ensure that the risk of contamination to the stem cells prior to transplant is reduced as far as possible. The stem cells they put back need to be as clean as possible. The whole transplant/graft should hopefully be complete by November with a recovery period after that.

All in all its still going well. Although I did speak to occupational health this week and I think the less said about that the better. My dealings with those in the know are going well 🙂

I had hoped that the next stage would be starting a little sooner but remain pleased that I now have an estimated date I can work toward providing everything goes to plan.

I’m not particularly looking forward to the actual procedures of high dose therapy with stem cell support (I’m going to do a separate post to explain this) as from reading up on it things can get a bit tough. However it’s a means to an end so will just crack on, besides I thought the chemotherapy was going to be a nightmare for me in the beginning, as it is for a lot of people but for me apart from the odd hiccup everything has gone pretty smooth.

As always thanks for reading. I’m hoping the information you’re getting is helpful. If there is anything you would like to know that I haven’t covered then shout up. If I don’t know I’ll try and find out and point you in the right direction. I have plenty time on my hands for research 🙂

Travel Insurance Tip

While I’m on providing updates; Nicola found a great travel insurance company for people who have had illness like mine so I thought I’d share it here and save a whole post on travel insurance which actually I know very little about. Travel insurance can be very difficult to obtain, companies can refuse to insure or charge extortionate premiums. The kids have just started their school holidays so for those of you going away might want to check out http://www.insurancewith.com. Before I start getting hate mail a quick disclaimer. I have no affiliation with the company and have not used them myself however someone Nicola knows or had read about (not sure which) had, despite being clear of cancer for in excess of two years, been either refused insurance or had obtained quotes in excess of £2500.00 which still excluded pre-existing conditions. This company quoted £22.84. The online quote was checked by ringing the company to check price and cover and found to be correct.  You can call them on 0845 8687234 to check any quotes you receive. Don’t bother saying I sent you. They don’t know me from Adam 🙂 If you know a better company or have dealt with the above company and had a good/bad experience then please leave a comment for others to be aware.