Back in Cheshire

Long day yesterday getting home, very tired. Been a great couple of weeks catching up with some amazing friends in the south, a bit of a major row with a friend though, which was not so good, I am normally very level headed and patient, but I am struggling at the moment with friends and their problems, everyone keeps telling me I have to start putting myself first, so I suppose I better had.

 

 

 

Yasmin, soon to be a mum, with me on one of our many Bike holidays

A week of healthy living before I off again, this time to Poole in Dorset, rather unusually to stay with an ex of mine, Yasmin, who just happens to be 8 months pregnant, so will be a bit of a contrast to last week but I am really looking forward to it. Started well today,  just like being a teenager again, Saturday morning walk into town and ages spent in a record shop, they even do Vinyl! Bike ride dodging the showers this afternoon, which felt very good.
My amazing sister Patsy has been busy doing some research while I was away and has found this new treatment, Interleukin-2, that I may be able to have  on the NHS http://tinyurl.com/mo7wycx

Patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma face a poor prognosis; currently, 30% of patients already have metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, according to national data. HDIL-2 therapy, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992, is a type of biologic treatment that manipulates the immune system to attack cancer cells. Interleukins are proteins produced by the body’s white blood cells to defend against bacteria, viruses and other foreign invaders. Treating with high doses of a laboratory-made interleukin activates the body’s production of T-cells, natural killer cells and antibodies that fight the cancer.
Because the therapy poses potentially dangerous side effects such as rapid heart rate, low blood pressure and kidney dysfunction, the treatment is used only in a carefully controlled hospital setting in select patients who are otherwise healthy enough to tolerate it. The Roswell Park study, however, shows that more patients than previously thought may be good candidates for this complex and aggressive therapy.

The treatment itself sounds a bit grim, but then Kidney Cancer is a bit grim, at least it may be another option, Patsy has already done the legwork, Christies in Manchester offer the treatment, http://www.christie.nhs.uk/ apparently the largest cancer centre in Europe, and she has put them in touch with my Doctor at Clatterbridge. My next scan is due on June 10th so I will be able to discuss it with him them. The thought of spending time again in Hospital terrifies me, and the side effects are a little worrying but I don't have any choice if the treatment may prolong my life.

I feel pretty good at the moment despite some very long days over the past couple of weeks, feel pretty positive and know that I have some fabulous people around me, met up with a friend in London last week,  Aimy who I haven't seen for 3-4 years, and it was so good to just fall into the friendship again, so easy to get on with, and she is so interesting to talk to, very knowledgeable about a host of subjects, so we will be seeing a lot of each other in the future I hope.

Aimy and Diva