After that the plan is to start reducing the ciclosporin - this is the drug which I suspect (and hope) is causing peripheral neuropathy and a multitude of other minor annoying side effects.
This weekend Karine & I are hoping to walk round Carsington Water for "Bloodwise Midlands" with Alexi's in-laws, Neil and Margaret. Bloodwise is a large blood cancer research charity which has been around since about 1960. Alexi & Lucy raised nearly £3,000 for them last year by doing the Great North Run. My Achilles tendon is playing up a bit more so whether I'll complete the eight miles is questionable.
Meanwhile the government seems to be up to various tricks, quietly announcing bad news for the NHS and for patients when everyone is focused on Brexit and the changes going on in both main parties. "A good day to bury bad news."
Karine pointed out to me that on 9th July Lord David Prior, Minister for NHS Productivity, (though that might change today!) announced in the House of Lords the government's intention to consider reviewing the funding of the NHS. In other words they are considering making sick people pay for their care at the point of delivery rather than through general taxation. I've always thought of NHS financing as a giant insurance scheme in disguise. In other words we all pay into it through general taxation and if you fall ill then it pays for your treatment (mostly). The advantage of this system is that everyone has access to healthcare, it is very cheap to administer and the burden of cost falls on those most able to pay, (assuming the very wealthy aren't hiding their money overseas).
The other bit of bad news this week is that NHS England has announced that patients will no longer be automatically entitled to a second Stem Cell Transplant if clinically indicated. A third of patients having a second transplant are still alive five years later. It is generally accepted that if you are in remission at five years then you are probably cured.
This policy will be particularly hard on patients who would normally have a Autograft which is a transplant using their own Stem cells and then if they relapse have an Allograft (i.e. from a matched donor). It is much tougher to recover from an Allograft and 10% of patients having an Allograft die from the procedure. So do you go straight for an Allograft or risk a relapse with an Autograft? This will be especially difficult for parents of young children.
It is difficult to see how this will save much money. A patient denied a second transplant will need chemotherapy, not a cheap option either. I haven't seen the full details of how this proposal will work so may return to the subject when more fully informed. If you want to read more about this the link below will take you to the Anthony Nolan site
* Joan Armatrading - "Love & Affection: Classics 1975-1983" disc 1 track 4
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