While playing the house-husband the other day I heard on the kitchen radio (it was probably Heart or Magic, which I blame entirely on my wife) that Angelina Jolie is planning to follow up the preventive double masectomy she underwent last year with further surgery to reduce her chances of developing ovarian cancer. It turns … Continue reading Prevention vs cure, with Angelina Jolie
Not long to go now…
All good things must come to an end, and my neutrophil-powered 'holiday' from treatment is no exception – although it has been extended from its original planned duration. Following the exciting news of my complete remission, the doctors had targeted this sort of date for my re-admission into St George's to begin pre-transplant induction therapy, … Continue reading Not long to go now…
Bring on the transplant!
Sixteen years ago, Mariacristina was happily tied up in a serious relationship with an Italian boy (and to give an impression of what a serious relationship means in Italy, you should know that Italians use the same word – fidanzato/a – for boy/girlfriend and for fiancé(e)), I was a shy English teenager living in Naples … Continue reading Bring on the transplant!
A sting in the tail… or two
Headlines first: I've finished this phase; I'm home again after a couple of inpatient stays (in different hospitals); I'm no longer neutropaenic; and my care has gone back to St George's, where I'll need another bone marrow biopsy to confirm how successfully the MARALL trial cleared out the leukaemic cells. After my last post, you … Continue reading A sting in the tail… or two
Toxicity vs tiredness…
Weary, weary, weary... The first phase of chemotherapy may have been particularly intensive from a toxicity point of view – and the delayed recovery to my blood counts was reflected in that – but it didn't come anywhere near this phase in terms of tiring me out. In terms of toxicity, this round has generally … Continue reading Toxicity vs tiredness…
The weight of relatively minor inconveniences
The most concerning moment in my initial treatment for leukaemia back in 2005/2006 came when I managed to pick up an e-coli bug while neutropaenic and was rushed to the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU), where I was rapidly filled with blood, plasma, antibiotics, tubes and anything else anyone could think of that might help me … Continue reading The weight of relatively minor inconveniences
A Christmas to remember; and Happy New Year!
Every year for almost eight in a row – with one year's break for my first bout of leukaemia treatment – I helped to look after disabled people for a week in Lourdes in southwest France with the young Catholic charity the Order of Malta Volunteers. As you can imagine, I wouldn't have gone so … Continue reading A Christmas to remember; and Happy New Year!
A very special Christmas – best wishes to everyone!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS! I'll not be going out (except perhaps for a walk on Streatham Common, during which I'll be making people wonder what they've done wrong when I change my course to avoid them, or cover my mouth and nose when they approach) for at least the next few days. Instead we'll be enjoying our first Christmas … Continue reading A very special Christmas – best wishes to everyone!
Risky business
Life is full of risks, and we constantly balance the risk of undertaking, saying or even avoiding something against the benefits as we get through every day. A lot of the time we do it without thinking, particularly for the little, everyday moments such as walking down the stairs – where clearly the benefit of … Continue reading Risky business
Decisions, decisions, decisions
The luxury of time Given my domestic indecisiveness and patience (what Mariacristina would call my snail-like speed at getting things done) on the one hand, and Mariacristina's decisiveness and, erm, insistence on getting things done as soon as possible on the other, it's a small miracle that it was I who proposed to her, and … Continue reading Decisions, decisions, decisions