Hello!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Default Avatar

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Please read the house rules and keep this community safe for yourself and others.

Meerkat

About

Username
Meerkat
Joined
Visits
534
Last Active
Roles
Member
Points
38

Comments

  • Hello Re lifelong antibiotic treatment - the rationale for this may be very different for your baby’s circumstances, but could I refer you to this link, as this question has come up before on this forum. https://www.anthonynolan.org/patients-and-families/patients-families-forum#/discussion/486/antibiotic-use
  • Hello This question has popped up before. And I commented then. I hope the following link works. https://www.anthonynolan.org/patients-and-families/patients-families-forum#/discussion/comment/2226 If not then put InsureWith in the Search ‘box’. I have used them twice. My long awaited trip to New Zealand didn’t happen…
  • Hello John I’m sorry you’re in this position. And what a dilemma for you. I had a SCT for AML in 2015, when I was 61. So a little younger than you are now. At that time I refused to discuss success/failure rates with my clinician. I felt that people of my age all come with some ‘health baggage’ so it was impossible to…
  • Hello This original question certainly resonates with me. I am now 7.5 years post transplant and whilst otherwise pretty well, I’m sorry to report that I still have some muscle pains and weakness. This was a huge frustration to me in the first few years post SCT. My clinician told me then that as a post-menopausal woman,…
  • Hello Beaglegirl. Whilst not wanting to play down your husband’s liver test results could I just add that the high iron overload, must be fairly common post transplant, because of all the blood products transfused. I was fortunate to have a relatively straight forward post transplant period, but I still had significant…
  • Hello Pandapop (love the moniker!) I do hope your appointment goes well. Do go with a list of questions is my advice. I was diagnosed with 5Q- MDS in 2007, aged 53 when I had routine bloods taken prior to some surgery. I had had no idea that I was anaemic. 5Q- is also a relatively benign type and I too was on a watch and…
  • Hello. Just to add my experience (now 7 years post SCT for AML), the muscles in my arms and legs have remained pretty weak and ache-y since my illness. I am hugely grateful to be where I am, but a keen walker pre-illness, I can’t now do the distances and indeed sometimes I feel as if my legs won’t even hold me upright. My…
  • Hello I’m afraid I’m a bit with Steve on this one! I never went anywhere without my trusty plastic bowl for quite a few weeks after discharge. It was regularly in use! And even months later I would suddenly vomit for no apparent reason. It was an incredibly slow and frustrating recovery for me. The food I started with was…
  • Hello What a hugely, hugely worrying time for you both. I’m so sorry that the transplant has ‘failed’ after all this time. The only thing I can add is to comment on Steve’s post above, re survival rates. In the run-up to my SCT for AML nearly 7 years ago (!!) I refused to discuss my ‘chances’ of a successful transplant. I…
  • Hi I had my SCT in October 2015. I too had some mild skin gVHD following this, treated with steroid cream as required. But no other significant ‘immune-related’ problems. I had my MMR vaccinations in line with the vaccination guidance, in Jan and April 2018, with no ill effects.
  • PS. Just seen your question Steve. I haven’t been routinely doing LFT’s, though one arm of the family had COVID a few weeks ago, so was doing them more often then. I’ve also done them if vulnerable people have asked me to. But on Friday I tested because I had symptoms. Best wishes Meerkat
    in COVID-19 Comment by Meerkat March 2022
  • Hi again. I’m pleased my post has provided some reassurance. Like most people reading this, I have been quite anxious about getting the infection, and whether it would impact significantly on my health. I have had the recommended 4 vaccines. I don’t know whether or not this has been the Omnicron variant. My back story…
    in COVID-19 Comment by Meerkat March 2022
  • Hello I’ll add my tuppenny worth too. I was discharged from hospital three weeks after my SCT in 2015. After other people’s comments, my go-to comfort blankets were my pillow from home, my music and the radio. My experience was that although I took lots of ‘activities’ in with me, these gradually returned home, as I was…
  • Hello I am nearly 6 years post SCT for AML and had some relatively minor skin GVHD in the months following the transplant. Tbh much of my skin was pretty friable in that period and I just thought this ‘different patch’ was more of the same, until the clinicians diagnosed it otherwise. It did improve and resolved with some…
  • Hello I would agree with what has already been said, though think different dieticians have different thresholds, depending on their clinical backgrounds. I too lost substantial weight during my acute illness and treatment. I remember the dietician at my transplant centre being relatively quite relaxed when I commented…
    in Weight Comment by Meerkat February 2021
  • Hi all I am just over 5 years post SCT transplant for AML. I received my (Pfizer) vaccine 16 days ago. I volunteer at my local hospital and I received this because our Trust recognises volunteers as healthcare workers. I had a sore arm for 24 hours, as I always do following the flu vaccine. Since then I’ve been fine.…
  • Hi. I haven’t had significant experience of this, but taking the fluconazole systemically, ie as a daily tablet, may be worth asking about. I think two weeks of nystatin, without real improvement indicates a change of medication is warranted. And I suspect this is impacting on your nutrition, which definitely was a…
  • Hi all Just as a postscript, Since my first post I have asked my clinician about this issue at my annual check up recently. She told me she was unaware of a clear correlation between SCT and heat intolerance, but agreed that the systemic nature of the Pre and post SCT treatment could certainly be a cause of some of these…
  • Hello. I’ll add my experience to this! My 5 year anniversary is also in October. I was given the option to stop taking the penicillin about 18 months ago. From memory, I was told it was prescribed to ‘protect’ the spleen following the SCT, in the same way that people are prescribed life-time penicillin following a…
  • Hi all. My SCT was almost 5.5 years ago now. I wrote briefly to my donor at 100 days and again after about 6 months. Both via my CNS. I received a response to my second letter, which was a very emotional read. However AN told me that the policy of my donor’s country was to never release any personal details, so I will…
  • Perhaps I could add my two penny worth. I have booked an expensive (for me) long haul holiday for later this year. I have used InsureWith for two European holidays since my SCT For AML over 4 years ago. However they were unable to provide cover this time because of the cost of my holiday. Insure and Go would provide cover…
  • Hello Jen. How kind of you to think of those people languishing in hospital beds. I’m not sure how it was funded but when I was in hospital in Leeds I really looked forward to the weekly Reflexology session offered every Tuesday afternoon. It was a real bright interlude during sometimes challenging times. Unlike Rachel I…
  • Hi Natalie. I too found the Macmillan website very helpful. This month I am three years post SCT for AML. I eventually decided on Insurewith because the quote was reasonable and I felt the online questions relating to a SCT were very relevant and easy to answer. Such as whether you had GVHD, were receiving lymphocyte…
  • Whoops. Just done my maths!! Just short of my 61st birthday. Haha. Old brain!!
    in MDS Worry Comment by Meerkat May 2018
  • Hello John. I am sorry to hear your news. I’m sure you’re still trying to get your head round what’s happening to you. I can really empathise though as my MDS, (which I had had for 8 years) transformed to AML in Spring 2015, when I was just short of my 62nd birthday. I was otherwise in good health. My transplant clinician…
    in MDS Worry Comment by Meerkat May 2018
  • Hi Rob. I’m afraid I agree with the others who have replied to you. I am currently sat on my settee, coughing away. I am 2.5 years post transplant and since the end of October I have had one infection after another. ‘Frustration’ is an understatement as these have really stopped me getting on with my life, including having…
  • Hello Lindsay. Forgive me for putting my two-penny worth in....... I decided almost at diagnosis that I didn’t want get well cards from people. Instead I asked friends and family to send me postcards of trips out, holidays etc. These built up very quickly and I really felt people were thinking of me a lot, which was both…
  • Hello Nick and Steve. I was interested to read that you both had visual disturbance symptoms around about the time of your diagnoses. I had never given it a thought prior to reading these posts, but I saw an ophthalmologist because of double vision, about 4 weeks prior to visiting my GP with symptoms that led to my AML…
  • Hello. I was coincidentally looking at travel insurance yesterday for a European holiday later this year, when I will be 2 years post transplant. And becoming very demoralised at the quotes offered. However I requested a quote from Insurancewith.com, which was recommended on the Macmillan website. Their medical screening…
  • Hello Jojoc and others. I have been following this community forum for several months, though have never contributed before. I am 15 months post transplant following an AML diagnosis in Spring 2015. Compared with some of the experiences I have read about on the forum, my post transplant experiences have been relatively…