~ Poems of Love ~

The following poems have been written by me, for my husband Hamada, who suffered from Multiple Myeloma [IgG Kappa] a cancer of the plasma cells, which are found in the bone marrow. After many months of chemotherapy, contracting pneumonia twice, once given only twelve hours to live and having three bad fractures to his spine and also showing in his Pelvis, he made it to four years seven months. The Multiple Myeloma attacked his Kidneys first showing at diagnosis in May 2006 leaving Hamada only a small percentage of kidney function. He never complained, using his most amazing smile even when I knew he had severe pain. Hamada underwent a Stem Cell Transplant using his own 'harvested stem cells' . During October 2007 he spent seventeen days in the "Centre For Clinical Haematology" at Nottingham City Hospital UK. where he achieved this transplant. We had a scare at six months after transplant, when told 'the beast was back' but subsequent tests showed a partial remission. Again in early 2009 it was confirmed that Hamada was out of remission He fought again during 2010 with newer chemo type drugs. First with Velcade and then with Revlimid but to no avail. His Kidneys were failing further and Hamada chose not to have dialysis. This blog contains poems and updates, written for Hamada, telling of our life together.
Now a beautiful book has been published, see http://www.susiehemingway.com/books/
showing Hamada's personal fight against Multiple Myeloma in the first fifty 'poems of love' written by me his wife. I hope you like these poems of love and also 'our story' dedicated to Hamada, who passed away peacefully at home on 23 November 2010 after a most courageous fight against Multiple Myeloma.

19 June, 2008

A Great Weekend And A Confusing Phone Call !


We had a wonderful weekend at "Hemingway " celebrating my sister and brother-in-laws Pearl Wedding Anniversary more about that on www.susiehemingway.com Hamada so enjoyed having all the family here and we had such fun with garden games and a great BBQ. We erected a large Marquee in the garden so that nothing would be spoilt, with our sometimes, rather odd weather. Jo sang for us and so did Manu which was just wonderful. Hamada ( who never smokes cigarettes) enjoyed a smoke of Apple and Mint sharing a'Shisha' pipe with Jo, taking him back to Alexandria, Egypt. For a small while Hamada looked pain free and very relaxed. It was a joyous day and created such lovely memories for us all.

On Tuesday I received a telephone call from one of Hamada's team at Lincoln Hospital, saying that the results of the last Bence Jones Test had at last been returned. This, contrary to the last reading, showed that the results were very good! It appears that the marker is again very faint indeed! We are not going to get too excited by this, our lives are up and down enough with all these tests and medical problems we face everyday as it is, although we really are tempted to do so. I am aware that this is a very difficult test to read at the lower end of the scales and that mistakes can be made at this level. Still with this reading now at 0.01 does that mean that Hamada could just be hanging on to his remission or not? (It's only been eight months since Hamada's Stem Cell Transplant)

Please all you very knowledgeable guys out there, I would be grateful to know what you think. We are not returning to the Haematology Clinic until July 3 when we will discuss this in full.

4 comments:

Michael Morse said...

I'm not knowlegable at all about these things, but I do think Hamada is in remission, and I refuse to think otherwise!

Susie Hemingway said...

Yes Michael, I need to believe this too' I have my fingers and toes crossed that the remission is still there - he does look much better, and apart from the pain is more mobile - thanks for your confidence as well, it all helps so much.

Roobeedoo said...

The important thing is to keep monitoring the numbers. That is such a tiny tiny amount, but it is still detectable - so things are great but you DO need to make sure the doctors run the test regularly. And make the most of feeling well! Good news!

Susie Hemingway said...

Yes, we intend to do just that and keep a very close eye on everything but how confusing that it is so up and down each time? Bence Jones tests do seem hard to understand. We are making the most of this time once again, that Hamada is well and we rejoice everyday that this is so.- best wishes to you Roobeedoo and thank you X

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