BMBs and carers

February 13, 2011

Hello everyone. Excuse any spelling mistakes or typos - it's Sunday and we had a

a drop or two of wine with our lunch! I should not really be in charge of a

computer.

Re BMBs - I've only had two in nearly 6 years. The first one was 'orrible and

was carried out by two young doctors, aged about 14. They made a right bollocks

of it and kept taking the needle out and muttering that they didn't get enough

so in it went again. In out, in out, shake it all about! When I got off the bed,

my right leg collapsed from under me and the pain! Darlings, the pain!!! I think

they must have touched a nerve or something. My nurse was furious and words were

exchanged I suspect. Anyway, the 2nd time it was done by a specialist nurse and

it was OK. Not as bad as the dentist. To get to the point - there's a thing

called a molecular test which is almost as accurate as a BMB, where they look at

your blood through mighty and powerful - telescope? Microscope? You know what I

mean. I have one of those every 3 months. They take a gallon of blood and send

it off to the university hospital in Liverpool. I get the results on my next 3

monthly visit. Much less hassle than all that probling about in your hip.

The other thing I wanted to comment on was Lottie's great tribute to our

partners and carers. (Caregivers in American.) My partner, Kim (short for a

Polish unpronounceable name) has been brilliant. He was worried to death,

obviously, but never caved in and he put up with all my weeping and wailing. The

best thing he said to me was, 'You're not alone with this thing, we're in it

together.' (Followed by more copious weeping, naturally!) When I was discharged

from hospital, did he bring me home and carry me lovingly to my sick bed? Not

bloody likely. He took me to the pub for a beer. I didn't go in because my

immune system was still knackered, but we sat outside in the car, looking at the

view and having a beer. What a great idea, I was back in the world! He has never

once let me feel sorry for myself or behave like an invalid. We've been boating,

camping, long distance walking and cycling and done as much travelling and

exploring as we can afford. Our philosophy is, if this thing's going to finish

me off, let's make the most of whatever time we have left together. I think

everyone should live like this - you never know what's around the corner. You

could be run over by a bus, or gored to death by a mad bull. Who knows?

So that's the end of my rambling for this evening. We're going away tomorrow,

for Valentines, so I'll send some more manic drivel when we return in a few

days.

Chin up and toodle pip, Shelagh xx

February 14, 2011

shelagh, i understand how you feel about bma/bmbs. patrick had one on wednesday

and it took 3pa's one nurse and his hemo-onco. to hopefully get enough for the

tests. he has been in quite a lot of pain and swelling this time. he still has

to do them every three months. pat was diagnosed 16 months ago and he is still

coming to terms, he is developmently delayed and so i deal with a 39yo. who will

always be 14. new thing here is you can either have morphine or ativan not both

to make the test any easier. oh crap! this stinks!

From: Shelagh <shelaghnugent@...>

Subject: [ ] BMBs and carers

Date: Sunday, February 13, 2011, 8:26 PM

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