Nothing to say?

I have been struggling to write a new post since Butterfly on a Bush written just after I started treatment. I knew that I would find it difficult whilst on treatment but I am trying to figure out why that is. I don’t want to stress about it but all the same I would like to post an update.

So far I have had a really good response to the treatment which has brought my kappa light chains down from nearly 3000 to 188 at the end of the third cycle. They did actually go down to 50 but went back up to 180 at my last test result.  Of course, I am hugely relieved that the treatment is working to bring the myeloma under control and I am physically much better than I was before I started treatment, as the symptoms I was having caused by myeloma being active have disappeared. However the rise concerns me, is it just a blip, a response to a viral infection or an indication that my disease has already become resistant to velcade? The answer will be determined by the next test result, as usual, it is wait and see.

I started my blog a few months after my stem cell transplant. My blog was intended to be about my reaction to living with a life shortening and incurable blood cancer and how I deal with that rather than the nitty gritty of treatment, side effects and the technical aspects of my disease although you all know about my kappa light chains and frothy urine! I lacked the composure and ability to reflect on my emotional journey during my initial treatment leading to the stem cell transplant. I was just dealing with it the shock and trauma of it all and was very depressed.

Since starting treatment for relapse, I find I am more composed but with little to say about how I feel about this period. From January to August, I have been relapsing and to use a cliche, it has been a roller coaster of a journey, the inaccurate test results, whether I could go to India, whether I could do the triathlon, what treatment, waiting for the trial, my light chains rapidly rising making me unwell with myeloma. I was in a highly charged emotional state during this period, it was exciting in a perverse way but also draining and stressful. Now that I have actually started treatment I have settled into a rather dull routine of  Monday and Thursday  visits to the Haematology day unit for the first two weeks of each cycle to receive an injection of velcade into my stomach and the third week off steroids and velcade with a clinic appointment at the end of each cycle to review my progress and side effects. I fit in going to work in between these appointments if I feel up to it.

Now that I have a treatment schedule and have entered the myeloma world again, I am less stressed than I was, flatter and calmer  but am struggling to to accept the way my life is right now and so gloomy about the future, feeling increasingly disconnected from the “normal” world that I was able to be part of during my remission. I have lost confidence, feel edgy and slightly uncomfortable in the normal world, different to everyone else. I think I am suffering from post traumatic relapse disorder, if there is such a condition, there is now I have just invented it! I have almost reverted to the mental state I was in when first diagnosed, like why me, it’s not fair, my life is over etc etc. I thought I had come to terms with all of that. Added to that pot of misery is the disappointment of relapsing relatively soon after my stem cell transplant (some people get years, why not me?) and the question of how long I can survive has lead me to becoming increasingly obsessed with researching the net on latest treatments for myeloma, studies and statistics as if knowledge is power. I am not sure it is helping me as I have no control over my disease progression, only over how I cope with it emotionally.

I am as always trying to live in the moment, and there have been some good ones, I went to the beautiful island of Majorca for a few days to visit some friends and swam and sunbathed, went to the Yorkshire Dales to see some friends, walked along the lovely river and watched a local inter village cricket tournament, a now en route to Cornwall for a few days. I feel a certain degree of pressure to plan nice things in my week off treatment but just because I am off treatment doesn’t mean that all the side effects magically disappear, the fatigue stays and the effects of steroid withdrawal such as mood swings, irritability, paranoia, depression and shakiness kick in.  Sometimes I prefer just to be home alone watching the blackbirds eat the little grapes off my vine!

So in summary, it seems for someone with nothing to say, I have found quite a lot to say.

“These are the days that must happen to you.”
― Walt Whitman

Butterfly On a Bush

A few days ago on a bright and breezy day I was pegging out washing on the line when I saw from behind one of my T shirts the most beautiful peacock butterfly land on the mauve flower head of a buddleia bush.  It was struggling to stay on the flower because of the gusts of wind blowing it around and it was flapping its wings to try and stabilise itself. I ran back into the house to get my camera and hoped it would still be there when I got back. It was and I managed to take a couple of shots of it.  It was clinging on resolutely, occasionally fluttering off unable to stay on but kept coming back to land.  The fragility of the butterfly’s situation reminded me of my own recently as I have been desperately holding on waiting for treatment to start, both emotionally and physically.

Since my post the Myeloma Trilogy, I have completed my first cycle of treatment. The Onyx trial finally opened on 9 August, I was the first patient and my trial tests really were whisked off to a lab in Paris (which spookily was my fantasy involving Lizbeth Salander in the Myeloma Trilogy post) and I was so hoping to be randomised to the new drug, Carfilzomib but there was only a 50/50 chance.  Just my luck I got the old drug, Velcade, which I could have started off trial two months ago off trial before I starting feeling the ill effects of having active myeloma. I was devastated and inconsolable, the poor trial nurse who broke the news to me didn’t know what to say and then had to perform a bone marrow biopsy on me!  At this point in time, it wasn’t that I wanted the new drug because I thought it would be a more effective treatment, it was because I had waited all this time for the trial to open to the detriment of my health when I could have started the old drug off trial before that happened.

Oh well, I have become resigned to it now like many other things I have become resigned to over the course of my journey with Myeloma, the loss of control is probably one of the hardest issues to deal with. The second cycle starts tomorrow and I hope that after two cycles there will be a significant reduction in my kappa light chains. I have my treatment schedule now but plans seem impossible as it is unpredictable how I am going to feel or what I can do on a day to day basis. A holiday in Italy has been cancelled as well as a tennis holiday in Greece at the end of this month so I am feeling rather sorry for myself. My self pity has been deepened by the excrutiating shoulder and arm pain I have at the moment caused by a trapped nerve in my neck which may or may not be related to myeloma or the treatment. I will be having an MRI scan to see what is going on soon I hope.

However I have managed to do some more enjoyable things in between hospital visits and prior to my trapped nerve such as canoeing down the river wye with some friends from Kerne Bridge to Symonds Yat in a 3 person kayak which was lovely. Oh and did I mention that I managed to do the bike section in the Salford Triathlon two weeks ago?? It was hard going but I took it easy and let go of my natural competitive inclinations and “allowed” everyone else to overtake me. My team mates did brilliantly too and at the end I felt overwhelming relief, firstly because I had been able to do it and secondly because it was all over now and I didn’t have to stress about it anymore. Action photos below, the small one of me coming off the bridge I really like but I cant improve on the quality or size without buying it as it was taken by a commercial photographer. I certainly look the part, who would know that I was week one into chemotherapy treatment and that earlier that morning I had struggled to get up the stairs to the registration area for the triathlon due to my shortness of breath!

 

Trials and Tribulations

Life is rather strange at the moment. I have relapsed but I am not on any treatment. I am quite well physically yet my kappa light chains were approaching 2000mg/litre at the last test on 21 June.  Another sharp rise then by about 850mg, I wish I was IT adequate so I could put graphs on my blog posts. Normal is up to 19mg per litre. However much as I might like to be normal, I am not!  I am adjusting to these figures each time and they now really mean very little.  I found myself saying to a friend who also has myeloma ” they’re only 2000″!! I remember when I first found out I was relapsing I was devastated that they had risen over 100 but at that point I was dealing with the trauma of relapse. Now I have got used to the fact that I have relapsed, that the light chains are not going to go back down of their own accord and I need to start treatment at some point probably quite soon.

I have the same physical well being as I did when I was properly in remission and my light chains were in normal range.  I am told that my relapse is biochemical rather than clinical as I have normal range blood results and kidney function and am showing no signs of bone damage ie pain! Therefore the only way it is detected is by the free light chain test of my blood serum. The last few weeks since my stay in hospital with a high temperature (see my last post, A Room with a View )  I have  seen my own consultant twice and went to St James Hospital in Leeds for a second opinion from Professor Gordon Cook which was extremely helpful. The purpose of the second opinion was to discuss treatment strategies, both immediate and long term.  We have discussed trials. One excellent trial c0-ordinated by Myeloma UK has been ruled out (the MUK5 trial) as my exit strategy isn’t compatible with the trial objectives. However another very similar trial aptly called the Endeavor Trial looks suitable for me as it compares a new drug which is not available off trial (Carfilzomib) against an older version of a similar drug (Bortezomib). There is a 50/50 chance of getting the new drug but it is not open at the Manchester Royal Infirmary yet. I keep being told shortly or two to three weeks but that has turned into a few months now as the trial sponsors seem to be prevaricating. Which is why I am waiting and waiting and waiting.

To hold the myeloma at bay, I was given a 4 day course of high dose dexamethasone  a couple of weeks ago ( a steroid commonly used as part of treatment of myeloma). I experienced a very bad reaction to dexamethasone whilst on treatment before. During the  days of the cycle I took it  I suffered from insomnia, carb/junk food cravings and shakiness.  The plus side is energy surges. Long term use resulted in  blurred vision, muscle wasting, heavy aching legs and tinnitus. During the intervals I wasn’t taking it I suffered withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, severe low mood and lack of concentration. I thought that as the recent dose was just a one off 4 day course,  I wouldn’t get these effects but guess what I did!  Not the long term ones but the short term ones. The good part of it was having energy for a works night out and drinking rather too many mojitos, then going to a friend’s house gathering that lovely first weekend of the start of summer in the Cotswolds and being able to do some rather energetic disco dancing for quite a long time! No photos of that I am afraid.

The downside was that for 2 to 3 days after taking the course I felt extremely low and irritable to the point where I had decided that I wasn’t going to take any treatment for my relapse if it was going to make me feel like this and I would rather let my disease take its course! I can find that laughable now but I really did feel like that at the time. It doesn’t bode well for the commencement of the suggested 6 to 8 cycles of treatment which will include dexamethasone and one of the drugs mentioned above. Will I be able to tolerate it both mentally and physically?

But whilst I am waiting to start treatment either on a trial or off trial, I feel like I inhabit two alternate worlds at the moment

The Normal World

Where myeloma is not mentioned. Work is extremely demanding right now as I am busy dealing with another kind of fast approaching trial, the highest value  claim and most interesting case I have ever handled. I want to see it through to conclusion.  I am making arrangements for conferences, meetings and court hearings to take place over the next few weeks without knowing whether I’ll be able to attend them. I am continuing with all my other usual activities including training for the Salford Triathlon on the 18th August which involves 6 training sessions a week. More about the triathlon in a post to follow soon but if you want to sponsor me or find out more just click on the just giving link on my blog.  Then there is of course much to enjoy about this glorious spell of  Mediterranean  style weather we are experiencing in the UK at the moment.

The Myeloma World

In this world I am a relapsed cancer patient not yet on treatment, being clinically managed by Haematologists, with very little control over what happens. Spending a lot of time thinking and talking about my chromosome abnormalities, clinical trials, drugs, treatment combinations, stem cell transplants, kidney function, kappa light chains, treatment strategies and having endless blood tests. This world consists of mostly waiting for results and at the moment a trial to open and uncertainty. Different friends came with me to my last two appointments and both were amazed by the level of knowledge I had about myeloma and the treatment of it. When I start treatment this will mostly become my world again.

Which World?

Well I don’t have much choice. I know I have to start treatment and once I start it I will have a routine and some say feel better mentally for it.  The anxiety caused by waiting and worrying that I am going to get kidney failure, bone damage or a serious infection would be replaced by the anxiety  that I will no doubt feel about coping the side effects of the treatment and whether it will work but I am already feeling anxious about that now so I suppose starting treatment removes one layer of anxiety!.

On the other hand, I oscillate between wanting to get treatment underway and wanting to delay it further whilst I am feeling so well so I could enjoy the rest of the summer and do the triathlon and perhaps even approach the 2 year anniversary of my stem cell transplant on 1st September free of treatment? I guess the decision is out of my hands. To use my currently much overused phrase “I’ll keep you posted”

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”
―     Gilda Radner