I’m so glad you got to go to your daughters wedding! I can just picture you walking down the aisle, what a special and wonderful moment. Please keep us updated in your transplant. Sending as many positive thoughts as I can. Take care X
1 Like
Hi @SpaceAngel. I’m really glad you can be honest on here. I think we all have days when we feel like you do at the moment.
@Ericas reply mentions the support services that are available if you need them. Like you said, I’m sure their are lots of us who have, or who are feeling like you. I have used the support services and they have always been really helpful.
What I did take on board was your comment about achieving everything that you have wanted to achieve by 58, that’s amazing!
I do hope though - that although you haven’t any particular hopes for the year ahead, that 2022 does bring you some good times and smiles.
Take care 
2 Likes
I’ve been thinking about this since the thread started. My hopes are pretty similar to others. My hopes and dreams (since I was little) have always been about having a healthy and happily family. No big houses or cars (off course if somebody offered I wouldn’t say no 
) but just being normal and enjoying everyday things are the memories I treasure the most.
For me, the worry that the lymphoma - on top or the covid, causes my children upsets me the most. I want them to be able to do normal everyday things without worrying about making me ill. So, in summary, I’m hoping that Covid gets under control, that my lymphoma continues to behave and that my gorgeous daughters (and me) can do everyday, normal things without a worry in the world! X
4 Likes
Hello Yorkshire 1962
I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in 1996, but I’m still here!
A transplant was considered but they couldn’t find a suitable match; glad to hear you have a transplant early in the new year. I gather it’s quite an arduous process, but all being well you should be OK, let’s hope so. Chemotherapy is no fun, as I’m sure you know.
All the very best
David W
3 Likes
Hi @DavidW a great big welcome to posting on our forum.
It is so useful to hear others stories.
I really look forward to hearing more about you as I expect so much so much has changed since you were diagnosed in 1996.
Look after yourself.
1 Like
Hello Erica
Thanks for the welcome; it’s been a long time since I was diagnosed but you tend to remember the details. I was 48 years old at the time, and my father had died from Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1960, at the age of 45, so I naturally thought I was headed in the same direction.
Thanks to the efficiency and sheer professionalism of the medical staff at the RVI in Newcastle I survived 4 rounds of chemotherapy, and lived to tell the tale; the available medication had improved enormously in the 35 years since my father failed to survive, for which I am enormously grateful.
All the very best to all those on the forum.
David
4 Likes
Hi @DavidW and welcome to the forum. It’s really great to hear stories like yours. Medications and knowledge of blood cancers are improving every year. I was diagnosed five years ago but like you, I think I’ll always remember those details.
Here’s to another 25 years of good health to you.
Keep posting and take care
1 Like
Hello Nichola 75
Thanks for your thoughts, glad to hear you are OK. I shall be happy with another 25 years!
David
2 Likes
I was diagnosed in 2003 @DavidW at the age of 53, so I will take another 25 yrs too.
I can also replay the day of my diagnosis like a vivid video as if it were yesterday.
My 70th birthday, just before Covid times, was my best birthday ever,.
I was far more materialistic before diagnosis, but I have now realised the best things in life are free and my family and friends are priceless.
3 Likes
Hello Erica
Like you, I can also recall very clearly the day I was diagnosed, as indeed does my wife. I have nothing but praise for the team at the RVI in Newcastle, I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, as this is one of the leading centres in the UK for blood cancers.
I agree that going through something like that does make you less materialistic, you look at things differently and somehow alters your values. Since that time I have also survived having a brain tumour removed ( fortunately benign), but that’s another story!
David
2 Likes
Wow @DavidW you certainly have been through the mill.
I could write a book too. I was so healthy for my first half century, not a day off sick in at least 25 yrs.
Best wishes for 2022.
Gosh - that other story sounds really challenging as well!
1 Like
Hi @SpaceAngel, it sounds as though every day is a struggle for you at the moment. I hope you will keep posting here as it is a safe place where we can say how we honestly feel. Many will feel that just to get through Christmas this year has been an major achievement. I’m 74 and over that time I have seen the best, and the worst, that Christmas can bring so I’m never sorry when it’s over. I’ve given up making New Year resolutions. I tell myself I can’t improve on perfection! The truth is I can never stick to them. Keep posting Space Angel.
3 Likes
@Alice_BloodCancerUK - I hope your 2022 is much less uncertain and difficult!
For myself, I hope that going on hydroxycarbamide at the beginning of 2022 is not as scary in reality as it is in my mind! And I hope I have the clarity of thought and energy to put my energy into painting and design…it has been a wonderful distraction, and I hope it will continue to be so!
One more thing…I want to find an efficient housekeeper to do maybe 1-2 hours per week, so I can do what I do best…which is not housework!! I must action this!!
I wish for all of you some worry free head space, to experience kindness, and that some or alll of your wishes may be granted. Happy New Year to you all!
3 Likes
Oh @Modesigns an efficient housekeeper and a worry free head space sounds a brilliant idea to me.
I look forward to hearing more about your painting and design.
I want to find a tech savvy person.
Enjoy yourself and get creative
2 Likes
Hello Nichola
Challenging is right! Thankfully I have survived it and made a good recovery, but it has taken almost 3 years.
I decided long ago (well before I was diagnosed with leukaemia) that if I ever contracted any life-threatening illness the only thing to do was to adopt a positive mental attitude, which is what I did. Hopefully that has helped, together with a good dollop of luck and being in the right place at the right time.
All the best for 2022
David
2 Likes
Yes a good hospital the RVI and the one I go too although I have been to Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton hospitals too however the rare Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma I have called Mycosis Fungoides was a bit too exotic for them and I now have to go to Newcastle every 2 months.I haven’t been to the other Newcastle hospital the Freeman…yet!
1 Like
My husband was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in January 2020 just before covid hit so we’ve had a double whammy this last year. 3 rounds of chemo and one bout of covid later he was given a terminal diagnosis in September the day before his 72 birthday. He’s now on a new drug trial (just about to start the third cycle). As yet we don’t know if this is working but my hopes - our hopes - for 2022 is that the drug works well enough to keep him going for a while yet. He looks extremely well so outwardly you’d think there was nothing wrong with him. Long may that continue. Come on 2022 - WE CAN DO THIS!!!
5 Likes
That 3 years must’ve felt like a lifetime! I think a positive mental attitude goes a long way. I’m continuously working on it but it’s an area where I always see room for improvement!
So glad you got there in the end. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2022!
1 Like