I am back in the clinic for my regular checkup, drinking a coffee whilst waiting for my nebulizer. I am well, and enjoying the cut and thrust of work (and ironically working harder than I did before I got leukaemia). I suppose it is quite natural, but I am more aware of the amount of cancer that is rife among us, particularly leukaemia. I read in the hospital charity newsletter that a 46 year old woman was admitted with leukaemia a month before me, and died whilst undergoing treatment. She would have been on the ward at the same time as me! It makes me realise how lucky I am.
My bloods are very stable; haemoglobin 12.4, platelets 178, neutrophils 2.51 and lymphocytes 0.89. Next time they will do a lymphocyte subset test, and if all is well I will change from havinng the pentamadine nebulizer to tablets, which will mean only a half day at the hospital (all being well).
They took blood for the chimerism test today, and I asked the doctor what the results really mean. Remember that the chimerism test is to see how many of my original host lymphocytes remain; the idea is that all of them will come from the donor (my brother). The best possible outcome is that all of my lymphocytes are donor lymphocytes. However, there is no real cure, and they do not really know how it affects the chances of relapse. As I have written before, my type of leukaemia (ALL) is quite rare in adults, and there is not much data to go on. The best indicator of long term survival is ... long term survival! In other words, the longer I am here, the more likely it is that I will be here longer! If I do relapse, they will not treat me again; if my disease is so aggressive that it can withstand a transplant, it is pointless repeating the process.
If I still have some residual host lymphocytes, they will give me another infusion of my brother's mature white cells; they are confident that at some stage I will have no more host lymphocytes. I will get the results in a couple of weeks.
On Sunday it was the stone setting for my Dad. Since I missed the funeral last year it was a good opportunity to say a formal goodbye to him. Even though I have no religion, I am sure he would have wanted all of his sons to say Kaddish (mourner's prayer) at his graveside, and it felt good to finally do so. It was also nice opportunity for a family get-together.
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