Overview and background of my reasons for going to Singapore to receive HSCT for my M.S. in 2017. Well. I'm feeling really awkward; it's not comfortable for me to write about myself so publicly. However, I wanted to write this blog so I can update people about what's going on with the treatment - both in the planning stages, and while I'm over there. So here goes: Basically out-of-the-blue in February, I decided to look into stem cell treatment (Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation ( HSCT )) for my multiple sclerosis. I'd heard about this a couple of years ago, but didn't seriously consider it - it seemed prohibitively expensive and just generally not 'proven' enough for me. HSCT involves (at a basic level) suppressing the immune system with chemotherapy, and transplanting the patient's own stem cells (extracted before the chemo) to assist with the immune system's re-boot. The idea, as a treatment for MS (and other auto-immune conditi...
Hi all, things are going really well for me at the moment, it's great! On Tuesday we went to the hospital to pick up and learn how to self-inject the GCSF, the drug that encourages stem cells out of my bone marrow. I was all like, 'yeah, I've done years of self-injection, I'm all good!' but the difference is, these syringes do not come with an auto-injector, which is what I used when I was injecting all of my MS drugs (there was one auto-injector that had a light that came on highlighting the target for the needle, and another that set a bell off when it was done. More interesting (geeky) MS-life facts!). So the lack of auto injector left me with my belly exposed (the injection site), staring at the syringe in my hand--couldn't do it. Enter the Singapore Superhero who is Peter! It's his most important job at the moment, twice a day, 8am and 8pm. He's so proficient at it, what a star 😍 Anyway, so the injections have been going well, and I'm ...
Well, things are all go here! Fundraising is in full swing: what I want to say first of all is I am so deeply touched by people's generosity. Particularly financially on the Givealittle page and other personal contributions, but also with the support offered to help with arranging other fundraising events and initiatives. So many wonderful people are willing to give up their time to help me, I'm totally blown away by how amazing people are. So thank you, everyone, for all your help thus far! Today I spoke with a reporter from the Dominion Post (set up by my beautiful friend all the way from Sydney, Jamie <3 ). I don't think I'll necessarily like the finished product much when I see/read it (people might have picked up so far, I'm not a fan of talking about myself), but it's a good way to raise awareness, not just about my plans, but about MS generally. Over the last week we have secured an apartment for our time in Singapore. It was kind of a daunting t...
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