I will always associate my cancer treatment with the Lord of the Rings films. The Fellowship of the Ring came out during my first round of chemo, The Two Towers was released whilst I was in hospital during my bone marrow transplant and The Return of the King was released the week that I learnt that I was a year in remission.
Back then, this quote gave me a lot of inspiration:
Frodo: I wish [the Ring] had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
And that's what I've been doing since then. Deciding what to do with this time that I have. Trying to fit in as much as I can while it lasts. And strangely, this year, adjusting to the fact that it might go on for quite a while - this whole future before me that I have to plan out - has been hard.
Frodo: I cannot do this alone.
Galadriel: You are a Ring-bearer, Frodo. To bear a Ring of Power is to be alone.
I always liked that one too.
Monday, 18 June 2007
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Wow, that's really sharing!
When you have a bone marrow transplant you lose the immunity that you've built up against diseases. Two years after my transplant I was reimmunised against polio, diptheria, tetanus, pneumonia and HiB. This summer I'm going to be teaching abroad for six weeks and I've had a few extra immunisations. One of the ones I had was the BCG immunisation against tuberculosis - an immunisation that I'd had previously at school.
A few weeks later, at a meeting of people who are also going to teach at this English language camp, someone asked what jabs we'd all had. I said I'd had Typhoid, Hepatitis A and the BCG. Someone asked if I hadn't had the BCG when I was fourteen. I said that I had, but I'd had a skin test and I was no longer immune. They said that they'd never heard of that happening - they didn't know it could run out. I said that I'd had a bone marrow transplant a few years ago, so most of my immunisations didn't count anymore.
They responded by practically bellowing, "Wow, that's really sharing! I thought we'd leave all that personal stuff until we got there." And they went on and on about it. I explained that I was nearly five years in remission, was totally healthy, and was able to get travel insurance so obviously nobody expects anything to happen. But they went on and on. I know that this person is loud, but it just seemed a really odd reaction. The tone of their emails has changed since then too.
And people wonder why I avoid telling people.
A few weeks later, at a meeting of people who are also going to teach at this English language camp, someone asked what jabs we'd all had. I said I'd had Typhoid, Hepatitis A and the BCG. Someone asked if I hadn't had the BCG when I was fourteen. I said that I had, but I'd had a skin test and I was no longer immune. They said that they'd never heard of that happening - they didn't know it could run out. I said that I'd had a bone marrow transplant a few years ago, so most of my immunisations didn't count anymore.
They responded by practically bellowing, "Wow, that's really sharing! I thought we'd leave all that personal stuff until we got there." And they went on and on about it. I explained that I was nearly five years in remission, was totally healthy, and was able to get travel insurance so obviously nobody expects anything to happen. But they went on and on. I know that this person is loud, but it just seemed a really odd reaction. The tone of their emails has changed since then too.
And people wonder why I avoid telling people.
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