Hi. Recently diagnosed and first chemo cycle coming in August 23 Can anyone share if they attended all appointments alone. And able to drive Ito and back home again. My journey wound be 30 minutes each way. Also I was due with extended family to visit Australia in October for son’s wedding. I really want my wife to stil attend. My. Consultant suggested strongly I do not travel Do I really need my wife to sacrifice her trip to support me or can I do this part alone. Other people will and have offered to visit me at home post chemo recovery. I will of course ask the team at hospital on my first visit. And advise would be great fully received
Hello Vespa
I am sorry to hear of your Myeloma diagnosis and wish you well with your chemotherapy.
I had chemotherapy from May to August last year. I live around 40 minutes from my hospital. I would personally advise that someone takes you and picks you up from each chemo day. Although everyone is different and you don't know how you will react, I was too unwell to be travelling alone. The actual appointments were ok but it was the travelling. I felt quite sick and wobbly after the long days at the hospital. By the last couple of cycles I was quite weak and would not have managed to walk from the car park to the chemo part of the hospital.
I live alone but have family close by so the actual recovery at home part was fine as I had someone checking on me and I could call them if needed. It also helped to have someone to be able to take me in when I became unwell. I can understand that you still want your wife to go to Australia for the wedding and I can understand the consultant advising you not to travel. You say that you have back up people to visit you at home so to me that sounds manageable. I think its probably best to get someone to drive you to the hospital and back and just have a back up plan in case you are poorly and have to go in.
I think just have a chat with your hospital team and see what they think. What I found with chemo was that it can be unpredictable. One moment you can be ok and then 30 mins later you can be on the phone to the hospital and they ask you to come straight in. This happened to me. I caught an infection that took hold quickly and was sent in on sepsis alert and given intravenous antibiotics etc. I think the thing as well with travelling while on chemo is that it would be difficult to get enough travel insurance? I found that the first 2 weeks after chemo were the worst for me and then I had a better week. It may be that the hospital can look at when your treatment will be taking into account when your wife is away and when you may have less good days.
I hope that your son's wedding goes well and that your chemo goes as planned.
Jane
Hi again Vespa I did see your post last night but was holding back to see if some of the Myeloma group members would pick up on your post. But you have received some great information and first hand experience from my friend Jane jane2511 .
As you know I have a different type of blood cancer and have had rather a lot of treatment including Chemo, Radiotherapy and Stem Cell Transplant. There is no one size fits all when it comes to chemotherapy...... and even someone with Myeloma on the exact same treatment as you are going to have will most likely have a completely different journey.
I was advised not to drive during my main Chemo..... it was a full on treatment...... and for a period of time after.
As Jane has described things can happen quickly with regards to the onslaught of fatigue but the main thing I found was my reactions would not have been suitable for me to drive safely and my eyesight was also badly affected..... both these problems would have made legally unfit to drive.
Infections are also a big risk and even although I had none during my treatments..... I did experience the speed that an infection could develop with a few events that I went from sitting in the garden on a nice day to a few hours later being blue lighted to hospital with Pneumonia and Neutropenic Sepsis.
So living by yourself has significant challenges and you would need a very good support network that you could confidently call on 24/7
Hello Kevin
I am glad it has helped and given you time to reflect.
If there is anything else that we can do to support you both, then please do ask.
Jane
Navigating the blood cancer journey is one massive balancing challenge where one decision can have a knock on effect on the other side of the balance.
