bloodcancer

HCL Relapse 12 Months On

This day last year I started chemotherapy for my relapse of Hairy Cell Leukaemia. It’s hard to believe it’s been 12 months but thankfully, here we are! At the time, my calendar was filled with chemotherapy appointments and blood tests, every two weeks running until end of May, but in our minds, we were taking it one day at a time. Looking forward at the time, all we had to go on was what happened during my initial treatment, neutropenia,…

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Hairy Cell Treatment Latest Update

Time for an update! It’s been a while 🙂 In my previous post was written just before cycle 4. I went on to have 3 more cycles before my consultant suggested we take a break and do a biopsy to see where we are. Only so much can be analysed from blood results so biopsy it was. I had the results from this a couple of weeks ago, where my consultant informed me I am responding very well to treatment,…

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HCL Relapse – Treatment Update

I start my treatment for my HCL relapse this Thursday (17th Nov). It seems quite a long time since the initial warning signs were found in my annual check-up in July, but as bizarre as it sounds, it’s good to finally have a start date, because, a start date, means an end date! I am facing 6 months of fortnightly chemotherapy (at the Lister in Stevenage) – where I will be given Pentostation by IV drip. This is a very…

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Ride London Essex 2022 Done

Ride London 2022 – Done

Better late then never, so sorry for not getting around to this sooner, but thank you to those of you who donated to my fundraiser connected with this event. Total raised this year was just short of £600 which is fantastic. Again, thank you on behalf of Blood Cancer UK and myself. The Preparation A 100 mile ride does take some preparation in terms of planning the day before & the day itself. Training started in mid March which included…

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Ride London - Essex 2022

Ride London – Essex 2022

I am delighted to announce that I will be riding in Ride London – Essex 2022 raising funds for Blood Cancer UK again. This is my 4th time participating in the event and my second time raising funds for Blood Cancer UK having been diagnosed the summer following my first ride. I originally had a place on the pandemic Ride London – Surrey event which would have been on the “traditional course”. This years event sees the ride head out…

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1000 miles for Blood Cancer UK

One Thousand Miles for Blood Cancer – End of Week 2

2 weeks done, the stats.. 14 Rides (13 on Zwift, 1 IRL) 360.96 Miles in total (Lands end to Stoke-on-Trent – or near enough!) – er.. 36% distance 21:51:33 Total riding time. 12,821 Calories burned 26,521 Feet of climbing (50.52% of the total I could find for one of the popular routes) 108 miles behind ideal schedule (see burn down!) The red line is tracking my cumulative daily progress towards zero miles remaining (burndown). I’m behind schedule, as indicated by…

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In Remission from Hairy Cell Leukaemia

On Monday 8th January 2018, 176 days after diagnosis, I was declared in remission from Hairy Cell Leukaemia by my consultant. It is quite difficult do describe my emotions on hearing and absorbing those words. Relieved, grateful, thankful .. a time for celebration, well, not quite, it didn’t feel that way. Being mindful as we’ve learned during this process that 1400 (approx) people on daily basis are diagnosed with one of the 130 varieties of blood cancer, celebration of remission…

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Hairy Cell Leukaemia Recovery Week 5

The week started as usual with my trip to the clinic for blood test.  The good news this week was that my neutrophils were up to 1.33 so improving significantly each week.  This was enough for me to decide that I was well enough to work from the office every day, travelling in at lunch time and returning home after rush hour. I’ve also started back practising trumpet on my pTrumpet to get chops back in shape.  With 3 concerts…

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Hairy Cell Leukaemia Recovery Week 1 and 2

I had intended for this to be a weekly blog detailing my recovery, but the unpredictability of being neutropenic put play to that.  There is a very fine line between, “I’m doing grand…” and “Eh, temp is up.. time to go to A&E” – 1.5 degrees Celsius. Friday 4th August Waking up in my own bed for the first time in over a week, without having nurses wake you to attach you to a drip, without nurses lying through their…

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Hairy Cell Leukaemia – Treatment Eve – twas the night before chemo…

twas the night before chemo….. So, treatment starts tomorrow… something we’ve been building up to in the last 7 days.  Since being diagnosed, Mrs Q and I have tried to have as normal a week as possible.  After leaving the hospital last Monday, we popped into a coffee shop in Southgate to take it all in and make some calls to close family to update them of the situation.  Then, it was home, and back to work. Mrs Q has…

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