Sunday

Weather has been rubbish, mind you I have also felt a bit rubbish this weekend too.
Watched the Grand Prix, exciting start.
I cooked lunch, since we only had a couple of chicken fillets I decided to make chicken burgers, added onion, courgettes and carrots to the mix. Its a good way to get the kids to eat veggies. Did some roast potatoes, peas and carrots ( the kids favourite veggies).
 Pick up blood the results of Friday's blood test on Monday. Then Wednesday its off to the Hospital to see the doctor.
Some friends of my parents said to them that their daughter had the same thing that I have and after eight months on the tablets she was cured.

Yesterday and today

Can't believe I forgot to post something yesterday. Anyway posting today from a bar while having a coffee.
Had yet another blood test today. Pick the results up Tuesday. Will be glad to get these weekly tests and visits over with, and go to monthly visits and tests.
The kids are off to a Halloween party tonight. I'm doing the makeup for them. Will post photos.
Still feel tired and have noticed that I get out of breath when walking up hills

Here are some picks of the Halloween family.

Wednesday

Spent the morning phoning San Carlos clinic, they are looking into refunding my deposit sooner. And oh look a flying pig.
The doctor phoned this afternoon to say I can start with the Imatinib (Glivec) (1 tab a day). The genetic blood test,must have shown presence of the Philadelphia chromosome thing.  I still have to keep taking the other tablets.
Organised my car insurance as well. so that gets paid on Friday.
Not much else to say today. Yet another blood test either tomorrow or Friday.

Visit to the clinic in Alicante, again.

Second visit to the clinic in Alicante this evening. Collected my blood test results from the Pharmacia.
No real change. Things that need to come down have either stayed the same or gone down. And things that needed to go up have. so pretty good, I think.
Spent most of the morning fighting with the Hospital I was first in San Carlos Policlinic in Denia. As they took a 1000 Euros deposit which would be refunded once the payment guarantee from the insurance company arrived. which it did about 2 hours later.  They are now claiming that I won't be refunded the money until they get paid. doesn't matter that I have gone over drawn and are now being charged instrest and an overdraft fee. So the car insurance won't be paid or the electricity until this gets sorted.
Phoned up the insurance company and they still hadn't received the bill from the hospital. Phoned the hospital and they said it was sent off Monday 24th Oct. Come on does it really take 14 days to make up a bill. Don't need this stress.
On a better note the doctor is happy that my blood test is about the same or better. Has increased my dosage of Hydrea to 2 in the morning and 2 at night. He is waiting for the reseults of the genetic blood test to see if I have the Philadelphia chromosome. This is where chromosome pair 9,22 swap tails. Once this has been confirmed I get to start the new meds. But he wants to make 100% sure before I start.

New meds day

Picked up my new meds. You would have thought for €2500, (good job my medical insurance is paying for them) the packaging could have been better.
Dishwasher is playing up seems to be a blockage in the drain pump.
So far I seem to do better in the mornings and early evenings, still need a short nap in the afternoon.
 

The weekend

Seem to have spent most of it asleep. Currently watching Deal or no Deal. Why do people treat it as a game of skill, when its sheer luck.
Hoping something better is on later.
Decided to make some bread, lets hope it turns out ok.
Will let you know later today.
Must check my lottery ticket tomorrow.

The bread turned out fine.

Wednesday18th to Friday21st

Rest of the week has been spent sorting out things with my medical insurance company,about payments of treatment and hospital bills. Oh and yet another blood test.
 The chemists I use for the blood test organise directly with my insurance company for payment, so no payment from me yippee. The woman who took the blood out said I look really good when I told then what I have.
 Finding I need to have a sleep in the afternoon,normally only about an hour is fine, though once I did sleep for about 2 hours.
Had a few emotional days and a few tears,don't know why, it just kind of came out.
Ordered the Imatinib on Friday cost is just over €2500. But my medical insurance company said they will pay for it, lucky me.
Looking forward to the weekend. Though no lie in as I have to take my first Hydrea tab at about eight in the morning. Might set it up so I can take it then go back to bed.
 Not too sure if I will do daily updates or just weekly updates will see how I feel.
But next update will definitely be after my doctors appointment as this is when I start the new meds.

Tuesday

Arrived at the hospital in Alicante, with my mum and waited about half an hour to have 4 vials of blood extracted. At least it didn't hurt that much.  Now I have just over 6 hours before seeing the doctor.
Had some breakfast in the cafe in the hospital. Then went off to the nearest shopping center, a good way to kill a couple of hours.
Lunch time, went to a Fosters Hollywood well that killed just over an hour. Only 4 more to go.
For afternoon tea found a nice Cafe that served all sorts of teas. I had Gunpowder Tea.
Yippee its nearly six . Time to make our way to the Hospital for the appointment at 18:30.
Saw the doctor and was happy with the blood test results, he upped my dosage of Hydrea to 3 times a day.
He also wrote out a prescription for imatinib. Its quite expensive he said. I had to have this by next Tuesday when he wanted to see me again. He said I could have the blood test taken nearer home if I wanted. 

Monday

Did some searching on the internet over the weekend about chronic myeloid leukemia . It seems there is a dodgy chromosome pair that cause the problem. Its the 9,22 pair. Apparently  the tails of 9 and 22 swap places.
 Told my son who is 5 that I have poorly blood. And told my daughter who is 8, that I have some naughty white blood cells that don't want to help fight infections, and the tablets I am taking stop them from making other white cells naughty.
Off to Alicante Tuesday.

Weekend.

Not much to say about the weekend.
 Had lots of phone calls from friends and family to see how I was getting on. Its always nice to know that people are thinking of you.
Will write more next week.

Getting to grips with home life

Friday . Fairly upbeat today. Picked up the kids for lunch from school. Had to explain to a couple of mums/dads why I hadn't been at the school for a while, plus the fact I had also lost weight.
 Decided at the moment that only very close friends and family will be told I have Leukemia, and the rest get told I have a blood disorder, and I am waiting for further test results.
Looking forward to the weekend
Its lovely to be at home again.
Need to sort out some medical insurance things, at least its a free phone number.
The meds(have been prescribed Hydrea twice a day and Zyloric once a day) I am taking at the moment are a temporary measure to try and just stabilise the condition. Will be seeing the doctor next Tuesday , blood test in the morning then early evening will see the doctor.

Home again Home again

Hopefully I am going home today.
Breakfast came and went. My wife phoned me just after dropping the kids off at the bus stop. Told her that I should be coming home today, but didn't know when. The my parents rang and said they would come over later to see me.
Had lunch and no news on when I was going home.
About 16:00 ish the doctor came in and said that I should be able to leave within the next couple of hours. He was going to write out a report and check that it was OK for me to leave.
Parents arrived at the same time as afternoon tea. The shortly afterwards the doctor came back with the report and said I could go home.
 Couldn't get out of the Hospital quick enough.

D-Day

Don't remember much about today other than the doctor came in while I was watching MacGyver.
And tells me the news.You have Leukaemia. But don't worry he said reassuringly (what do you mean don't worry, its f@#$ing Leukaemia), its called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (oh is that all I thought). Don't worry (there's that word again) its treatable by just tablets. Phew what a relief, I felt like my world had just swallowed me whole then spat me out again.
Had a little cry. Then rang my wife and parents to tell them the bad/good news.
Parents came over again to visit me.
The doctor came in again while my parents where there to say I should be able to go home tomorrow. Yippee.

Part 6 or is it a new beginning

Got woken up at 7 in the morning by a nurse to extract some more blood, I feel like a pin cushion.
at least I don't miss breakfast, which is 2 small cakes and coffee. Only another 4 and half hours to lunch. It seems the highlights of the day apart from when either my parents or wife come to visit is the arrival of food.
Met the Doctor again in the afternoon with the nurse. Bone marrow time.
 The took it from the breast bone to say it hurt was an understatement. I dread to think what it would feel like without a local anaesthetic.The nurse was lovely she held my hand, I felt like a little kid at the dentists. Felt very weak and wobbly afterwards, but that soon went after ten minutes or so. And the good news is that I would need another one in 6months time. :(.
Guess I will know tomorrow what I have.

Off to Alicante or Stomach pains part 5

Today is the day I get transferred to another clinic its about 110km away.  So a trip in an ambulance.
 The crew arrived just after 08:30.  I got onto the ambulance bed and they wheeled be into the back of the ambulance and off we went. I fell asleep for the journey and woke up about 10 minutes before we arrived.
I was transferred to an examination table, where they extracted yet more blood. I was then taken by wheel chair to a room with beds in it. There was a girl with a broken leg sitting in a reclining chair hooked up to a drip in the far corner. All the beds where empty. After a long wait I was shown to a room on the second floor which was the Haematology Department. The room was similar to the one in the other clinic but a little smaller, had a bigger TV though.
Lunch arrived at 12:30 ish and I was given a menu to choose what I wanted for dinner, and afternoon snack.
 Very nice. Once they had cleared the the lunch away a women arrive who I thought was a nurse but turned out to be a hairdresser telling me about their services. Yeah right I really need that!!!!
The doctor saw me just after afternoon tea so about 17:30 ish. To tell me that he had an idea about what I had but needed to to more tests and possibly take a bone marrow test to confirm.
spent the rest of the day channel surfing and reading a Clive Cussler book.

Stomach pains part 4

Another b-fast of coffee and cake thingy.
The kids are coming over after lunch today. Ages are 5 and 8.
Lunch came and went and the family arrived. So nice to see them.
It made my day, cheered me up no end.
About 5pm they left and my parents arrived, they had been to see me everyday. Couldn't help wondering about those who don't have anyone or they are unable to come over must be terrible.

Stomach pains part 3

Friday . 08:00 Breakfast is Coffee, a cake thing. did I mention I am in Spain.
My wife phoned to say she was coming to stay the night. That cheered me up.
Not much to say watch lots of rubbish TV, thank god I have my Android tablet, no wifi though. But at least I have a couple of good books in the Kindle app.
My  wife turned up just after about 7pm ish. Lovely to see her. Didn't talk that much other than what the kids had done that day at school and about the possibilities of what I have.
 20:00 dinner arrived.
21:00 nurse came in to hook me up to the drip again, a combination of saline and a mild sedative.

Stomach pains part 2

CAT scan day. Having had several MRI scan a few years back I kind of had an idea of what to expect. Was given to glasses of liquid which is called contrast. Tasted like liquorice can't stand liquorice, I wanted to throw up.
 A nurse came to my room with a wheel chair and wheeled me down to the CAT scan room. Started thinking of that joke where a man takes his dog to the vet. And the vet lets a cat walk past the dog, and says the charge for the cat scan is 200 pounds.
Via the cannula in my arm I was plumbed into some form of another contrasting agent.
About 30 minutes or so all done and wheeled back to my room starving, wasn't allowed breakfast. A nurse came in and plumbed me into a saline drip. And asked if I wanted some juice. I said yes, and she came back with a plate of biscuits, yoghurt and juice. It tasted lovely.
 Yippeee its 13:30 and that means Lunch time. Countdown to dinner at 20:00.
Sometime in the afternoon the head surgeon came to my room and said that I had an enlarged spleen it was about 2.5 times larger than normal. He wanted to remove it, but wanted to wait and get a Haematology expert to look at the results. They tried to get me into another clinic that has a Haematology Dept.   for Friday but the earliest would be Monday morning at 08:30. Oh great I can go home I thought. The surgeon said I would stay in the clinic until Monday.

Stomach Pains or is it ???????

Initially I went to my doctor with stomach pains. He asked me to lie down on the examination table, poked me a bit. The doctor told me to wait in the waiting room while he made a few phone calls, never a good sign. About 10 minutes later he said right you are going into a clinic to have some tests done, be prepared to stay overnight. Went to the clinic, and went into a consultation room and the put in an Intravenous cannula and withdrew some blood, about three vials I think.
 I waited in this room, wondering what was happening for about 25 minutes. I was then told I would be staying overnight so I could have a CAT scan in the morning. I then sat in a wheelchair and taken to my room.Given a gown and told to put this on. About half an hour later I was wheeled down to X-ray and had an X-ray.
 When I got back to my room I phoned my wife to let her know what was happening, and tell the kids I love them.Then told my parents.
 I thought I would be home tomorrow afternoon.
 Had a nice meal, can't remember what it was. At least the there was TV. Asked to pay a 1000 Euro deposit. which would be refunded once the payment guarantee from the insurance company arrives.
 Finally went to sleep sometime after midnight.