I’m just going to get the ‘asking for money’ part out of the way first. In March, two of my girlfriends and I (and 5 other people we don’t know) are cycling for 5 days in New Zealand to raise money and awareness for a not-for-profit group called Melanoma Patients of Australia. This organisation supports Melanoma patients and their families through a number of different ways. Click on the link at the end of the blog to donate. Tax deductible of course! Approximately 250 of you read my Meladrama blog. If each of you donate just $10 (that’s like: 2 x lattes or ½ a cocktail) then we’re well on way to reaching our fundraising goal.

Thanks to the people who have already generously donated! I have just over $1000 in donations on the fundraising page so far.

OK, back to the Meladrama.

It’s been a pretty good month since my last treatment and really nothing is slowing me down. I’ve not had any side effects and am back to my usual routine: family, work, bike, dog walking, cooking, making birthday cakes…

At the end of November, I had my first appointment with a dermatologist in Melbourne, based on Dr Tom’s recommendation. Fellow health care workers, I feel we’ve made the wrong decision (you know, saving lives in ED…) the staff at the dermatologist were smooth faced and gorgeous – not a wrinkle between them; the cost of my appointment was $300 for a 15-minute time slot. I was there for longer than 15 minutes and she did give me some free samples of expensive sunscreen and, I did get about $70 back via medicare…but you know, that’s wild. Good news from this appointment though: no weird skin marks/moles/concerns. Tick. Advice: keep doing whatever I’m doing & she’ll see me at the next appointment in 3 months.

The next melanoma related appointment was a CT abdo/brain during the first week of December. I had this at work and everyone was (as usual) fab. Every three months, I’ll have some sort of imaging – so the next is a PET scan which I’ll be able to have in Albury/Wodonga. This way if there’s any new tumours we can find them quickly and treat them before things get out of hand. So far so good.

A couple of days after the CT I had my routine pre-treatment bloods. Rod and I were commenting recently about how once the shock of the diagnosis has passed and there’s a solid plan (and you’re not about to just well, die), everything else kind of just becomes routine. Bloods, scans, treatment and appointments are just part of our life now. Whilst that might sound a little strange, we’re just getting on with living our lives – our diseases are just quietly running in the background.

This month we changed up the treatment day from Thursday to Tuesday (due largely to the pre-Christmas rush on the Oncology Dept). My Oncologist (and I) are happy with my bloods – no changes at all. CT scan hadn’t been reported on, but we had a flick through and couldn’t see anything obvious. She said she’d call if there was something – no calls to date.

Full disclosure, I have had another minor infusion reaction. The Nivolumab was started at half the rate this time and then sped it up after ten minutes (mostly because I wanted to re-test it. Before you ask, yes, the Oncology nurses are very patient with me asking questions and making suggestions about my treatment). Maybe a minute or so after the quicker speed, I started to get a muscle cramp across my upper back. I let my nurse know and the infusion was stopped. I got some IV fluids for my troubles and some Panadol, then once a good 15 minutes had passed, the infusion was started again without any further issue. Next time, we’ll just start slow and stay slow.

My next treatment is scheduled for January 9 and I tell you what, the weeks are flying by! Thirteen infusions altogether, so with 10 to go we’re planning another long trip overseas next September. Long service leave has been applied for and we’re mapping out a loose plan. After quite a bit of staff Christmas party cheer on Friday, Rod just about agreed to booking business class flights! In his delirious state, he suggested we could “look into it” – however in the cold light of day, he’s not so sure.

I’m on leave as of Friday and am very much looking forward to three weeks of pool, bike, relaxing and catching up with friends. Thanks again for your ongoing support and love; I’d be lost without you. Enjoy your Christmas and summer holidays. Much love, Bel

https://melanoma-patients-australia-nz-cycle-challenge.raisely.com/t/torque-is-cheep