It's been some time since I've posted about Michael's health. At least the symptoms of uraemic poisoning, headache and nausea, have pretty much gone, but the weakness is no better and he is only able to walk slowly for 5 minutes or so, and has no energy for most day to day activities. He has lost quite a lot of weight, especially muscle, and is fairly anaemic. There have been various setbacks in the last few months, including a small stroke, all of which he has pretty much recovered from, but which haven't helped. He is up and about but tends to fall asleep frequently during the day, and feels the cold badly. I think everyone hoped the the dialysis would achieve more improvement than it has.
Apart from the anaemia, none of this is particularly typical of multiple myeloma (a bone-marrow cancer), the root cause of his kidney failure, and the levels of the cancer are not rising at the moment, but the haematologist feels that the time has come for more chemotherapy and steroids. This will be starting next week, in tablet form. The side-effects of lenalidamide shouldn't be too severe, but will tend to exacerbate what he's feeling at the moment, at least until it starts to take effect. He'll be monitored regularly and assessed after 4 months.
It was a relief, because something had to be done. I just wish they could be more definite about the reasons for him feeling bad – it would somehow help, for me at any rate.
