Friday 12 January 2018

Talktalk

There are things I want to say, but I don't know if they will be to you
Alcoholiday - Teenage Fanclub

I'm sticking this up here as part of the "complete record" aspect of dialm.

I remember, 5½ years ago, spending a lot of time working out how to talk about myeloma. It is one of the reasons I started this blog. One choice I made was to write to groups of my friends, letting them know the situation. It isn't great subject matter for a letter, but the benefit - for me - of writing it once, rather than saying it endlessly, is huge.

I find myself in the same situation again now. I've just written to a group of my friends. I'm posting it here not so much for posterity, but in the vague awareness that someone else, in a similar position, may find it useful to see how I manage my own situation.

Talking about illness is tricky. I don't believe it is constructive to ignore it. Nor do I want to spend all day every day talking about it. I've learned lots, from other people, about the many different ways people handle it. Some better. Some worse. This is my way. You might find it informative. Or you might think I'm nuts. Either response is fine by me.
Dear friends

This is a bit of an odd letter. Odder for you to read than for me to write because it’s not new news to me.

Some of you know already that I have myeloma - a type of blood cancer. It causes anaemia, poor immunity and damages bones. I was diagnosed nearly six years ago, after I broke quite a few vertebrae in my back while out running. It can be treated, but can’t be cured. I had a lot of treatment six years ago and have been reasonably well since then, but it has been coming back slowly for a while, and I need to have more treatment this year.

I’m not sure how the treatment will affect me (the drugs are ones I haven’t taken before), but I’m assuming I won’t always be at my best! I wanted you all to know so that you understand if I look a bit worse than normal, and if I sometimes can't attend things when I should. (I’ll need to have a stem cell transplant at some point in the summer, which will be a lot more intense.)

I write a blog, which tells the story, for anyone who is interested, but also means people who want to know how I am can find out, without us all having to talk about it. This doesn’t mean it’s a taboo subject, but it’s not anyone’s preferred topic of conversation in the pub either. At least, not all the time.

The blog is at dialmformyeloma.blogspot.com

If you want to get notified of updates, you can either click the link on the blog and give it your email address, or you can follow me on twitter: @alexlondon.

I’ll see you all soon I hope. I’ll take all your good wishes as read, so don’t feel any obligation to reply to this letter, or even to mention it. In my experience, my myeloma gets more than its fair share of airtime anyway.

Alex

4 comments:

Lorna A. said...

You definitely aren't nuts, well no more than the rest of us. :)

Stephen said...

Well done Alex, good to deal with things up front as you have done. My approach was just to avoid everyone as I was fed up talking about it and trying to explain things. Taking all the drugs is a mental strain in itself, and there was nothing worse or frustrating than someone saying had I not considered the latest 'cure' in the Daily Mail that may not work without massive dangerous side effects, and is 5-10 years away from practical use and is not available on the NHS. So I like the way you have approached it.

Alex Bicknell said...

Such as the recent curcumin story, for example. Everyone’s got a suggestion. Everyone’s trying to help. It’s hard, because the intentions are good, even if the contribution is not. (The intentions of friends that is. The intentions of the Daily Hate are never good.)

Alex Bicknell said...

As I’ve said before, Lorna, we can all have padded cells adjacent to each other, in the myeloma asylum. Love to you both.