Hooray, I am not being sick.

Hallelujah! This is the third day of not being sick, after six weeks. It was so wearing and exhausting and I have felt quite ill. I have finally found an anti-sickness pill that works and it does not make me feel spaced and drunk as some of the other pills I have tried.

We were seriously thinking of cancelling our holiday as even the flights would have been a sickly ordeal, so I and my family are all very pleased. My poor husband Rob has been very stressed about it all this week, I think he felt helpless, so he is delighted.

My eGFR is still only 18 but is very slowing moving in the rights direction.
I am seeing a renal specialist on the 22nd February, but it seems that I just have to wait for my kidneys to recover on their own. We don’t know yet how much they will recover.
I want to thank all my friends and family for being SO supportive, they have all helped me through it.
I have just cooked a pizza and my son Christopher will be pleased with me because he says I should eat charcoal to chase away the toxins in my blood, and I burnt it. I did add some tomatoes so it sort of had a healthy element.

I am doing the Cancer Research Race for Life in July if I am well enough so I shall be looking for sponsorship please if you can. Here is the link for the team page. The whole team raised over 3,800 last year and 4,000 the previous year so it would be nice to beat the previous totals.

Here is the link and I thank you in advance: http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/theperfectfriends
It feels so good not being sick.

The photo
today is of the amazing team we has for last year’s Cancer Research Race for Life. It looks like many of them are signing up to race with me again

Still feeling unwell.

I had more blood test results Friday and it seems my eGFR is still only 17 and my creatinine levels 256. My GP is calling Jeremy Steele at St. Bart's on Monday to see if he wants to treat me or should a kidney specialist. My nearest kidney specialist is in Canterbury, a bit of a drive but easier to get to than St. Bart's. I have to wait to see what is decided for me.

I am disappointed that I don’t feel any better; I was hoping I would improve quicker.

My GP suggested I contact the Prof. To see what he thinks should be done. His reply was ‘thanks, you should use infusions then it will improve again.’ I guess that means drink lots of tea as it is a diuretic I think.

I am supposed to be going on holiday at the end of January, so I hope I can still go, as it is all paid for and the insurance won’t pay out for anything connected to mesothelioma.

My picture today is of my youngest son Stephen and his son Joseph. He is such a hands on Dad, it is lovely to see.

Reason for feeling so ill.

Well, it seems part of the reason for me feeling so bad is that my kidneys are deteriorating. I have a GFR count of 16, up from 14, (classed as stage 5 kidney failure) and normal is over 90, and creatinine levels of 293, normal is below 80.

It seems that each time I have a treatment it causes more damage. I have another blood test on Friday and hope it has gone up a bit more. It seems wise now not to take the January Frankfurt appointment; it could have been the death of me.

My nurse friend Clare suggested the initial blood test as I was so ill and she suspected the result. My GP should have picked up that my kidney function was falling rapidly, but didn’t. Not good.
I do feel a bit better, though still not right, but obviously needed the break from treatment.
I urge all Mesothelioma patients going for treatment to keep an eye on their GFR blood test.

Having said all that the treatment has been keeping the tumours from growing too much and would consider it again if other options fail. I would know what to look for in my blood tests now.

I have other Meso Friends getting treatment in Germany this month and wish them all well and good luck.

My Daughter Emily is in the final of Open Mic competition and has realised her ambition of singing at the O2, which is on 15th January. We will all be there to cheer her on.

Here is a picture of my wonderful husband Rob and me taken in May 2010.