Everything but the cancer!

~ Debra Mesecke

Today – Round 8 Week 3 Day 6

Hay fever, heart burn, hyperparathyroidism, numb fingers, tired, no fingertips, no stamina, no sleep and potentially no job.  These are all the things keeping me awake at night.  Is that ridiculous or what?

Last night highlighted for me I CANNOT drink red wine any more!  All night with wicked heart burn nearly killing me.  This morning all I do is blow my nose with blood because of this dam adult onset hay fever (caused by change in hormones apparently).

I seriously have not been able to swipe into my phone for weeks, on Tuesday night had lots of tingling in my fingers and now they are just numb and smooth and I realise, it’s not my phone packing up, it my fingers smoothing over.  I have the perfect alibi to commit robbery (which I might need to do to afford this cruise) as I have no finger prints to leave behind and they won’t find my DNA only, my bone marrow donor’s Janet.

I cannot get my head around this parathyroid BS.  Nuclear medicine test is on Wednesday and will probably have results by Monday week, but if side effects of hyperparathyroidism are as Dr Dan suggests, as I suspect they are – then I am just as likely to eat my words and have to say I have had some. MABS = Moans (psychological, NO), Abdominal Groans (constipation, swelling, bloating YES YES YES), Bones (Noooooo?  I have high bone density or I have dead bones, let you decide on that one), Stones (Kydney stones, Nooooo? but I do have high blood pressure which can also effect Kydney function so I might be at risk).  I just can’t deal with them taking it out and keep picturing myself in a wheel chair with osteoporosis and usable to support my own weight, but then again maybe that will help lose that massive swollen tyre I carry around my waist.  Oh the agony of side effects to all those years ago.

On the bright side I am here to tell you all about it.

Happy days xx

 

Published by Debra Mesecke

I was 21 and I was planning a wedding, buying a house and had a job interview for the job of my dreams on my 22nd birthday.  You see I was being made redundant and had to find a new job by August.  Especially with the new mortgage now.  It was April.  I worked for CML and my new job was a done deal.  All I needed was a medical.  And with that, just like that....my life was turned upside down and I was diagnosed with CML, ha ha, I know the irony.  My hematologist had a laugh at that too.  I had Chronic Myeloid Leukeamia, which was normally reserved for 70 year old men.  Quite rare for a young adult to get, so how would they treat it?  I underwent two separate trials until finally it was decided my best chance of survival (all be it only 50% chance), would be a MUD BMT (matched unrelated bone marrow transplant), now known as VUD Allograt (volunteer unrelated donor).  I was told 21 years ago the chance of finding a match was 1 in 20,000 (and that is everyone was on the bone marrow donor registry).  Scary odds. So being the risk taker I am I said "go for it".  They found a match and that was my first miracle in this journey.  The second miracle was, it worked - new blood type, two different DNA profiles and the miracle of medicine was reborn inside me.  The third miracle is my son.  25 years on, I now face a new challenge.  Breast Cancer.  Certainly not the first person to have cancer, to have invasive ductile cancer, hormone receptive and HER2 +, or to even have a dual diagnosis.  But this is not another Webiste about a cancer survivor, this is just my excuse to finally publicly write.  Along the way I  am hoping I can share some insights I have learnt over the years and at the same time, give you a good belly laugh.

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