Every so often I get an update from Myeloma UK about their most recent news and struggles with NICE to get treatments approved and funded for use. Revlimid coming off patent made treatments more widely available in the UK. People had been buying cheap generics in India. Were we to go back to the UK I might get more involved with the charity because I have read quite a bit about Myeloma. I also have some weird French vocabulary now. In the UK treatment price is important for a nation of shopkeepers. In the USA if you don’t have top end health insurance you are fucked. In France the provision is good and logical. “If it works use it to treat.”
As a couple we have had four (five) cancers between us. I have had two basal cell carcinomas on my face and a stage 3 sigmoid bowel cancer. The wife has had early stage breast cancer and has multiple myeloma currently in remission. Were we playing cancer top trumps, we have a good hand. We could say that at the moment we are cancer survivors. We are not strangers to the surgical knife. My prostate specific antigen (PSA) level is up a bit again and the wife is due a mammography follow up soon. I am due to see a urologist next week. There is a possibility of a new prostate MRI scan. It is getting a bit harder what with all the metalwork in my hips. I may have a prostate biopsy scheduled which I am looking forward to with glee.
Just like for most boomers cancer is a fact of life.
Saying that you have had four cancers is almost as taboo as mentioning exorcisms…
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Cancer is for many a very emotive word. The probability of getting four cancers for two people is not that high. You could say that we have been unlucky. Or you could say, “shit happens, it is your karma.”
One of these might seem less sympathetic and empathic than the other… we all place our bets.
It is easy to feel victimised and “poor me, it is not fair.” But I don’t think that helps at all. A wringing hand never cured a cancer…
If the finger of fate points right up your arse it is best to relax and take the examination like a man…
I guess our experience has given us a slightly different outlook than most…
It has just occurred to me that if they do want to do a prostate biopsy a good time to do it might be when I am unconscious having my second replacement hip fitted. Though there are probably hygiene reasons as to why this is not a good idea…
Guess is they will test PSA again in six months. Dependent on that an MRI / biopsy will be on the blackjack table…
Hmnn
Dreamyoga 