Zemeter bone-strengthening medicine

 

Here is the Zemeter going into my vein today at the Woolverstone treatment centre in Ipswich Hospital. It is a monthly infusion that makes your bones stronger. I think it strengthens the outer parts particularly but the chemistry is a bit past my bus stop. 

The reason I need Zemeter is because of the most irritating (and possibly the most serious) effect of the myeloma with which I was diagnosed last July. The problem is that the cancerous plasma cells - the villain of the piece in myeloma - mess up the normal processes of the bone marrow, and in particular the normal process of bone replacement. The way it happens is that the part of the process that destroys old bone tissue still works, but the part that renews the bone is impaired. This means I now have holes in my bones. They call them 'lytic lesions' and I have some I'm every part of my body. See the earlier post called 'Mr Cheeseman arrives' for details.

Now the consultant tells me that none of my bones are in a compromised state, so they aren't going to snap when I'm bungee jumping on Thailand or whatever, but some myeloma sufferers are much less lucky. Because all the symptoms are  bit hard to pin down, sometimes the first sign of myeloma is a spinal fracture or collapse, which is definitely not on my bucket list. I wonder what the list of things you don't want to happen is called. Perhaps it rhymes with 'bucket'.

So the Zemeter will add a bit more backbone to my backbone and all the other bones, and it carries on for about two years. And anything that can extend useful life is as good in a body as it is in a car or bicycle (mine are 42 and 43 years old respectively - I will post pics one day). After the Zemeter is finished I will rely on the next waves of treatment which keep the cancer suppressed and therefore reduce any bone damage. Unfortunately, as I asked this, the treatments don't ever reverse the damage, they just stop it in its tracks or slow it. But it would be pessimistic not to mention that myeloma is one type of cancer where new therapies and approaches are licensed every year. Nobody is expecting some miracle cure, but the lengths and qualities of remissions are improving on average. 

And the final little slip slap of good news/bad news is that, even though I hardly ever have cannulas now apart from this Zemeter, they had two false starts where the needle went out the other side of the vein. So I came back with three little plasters instead of one. And as you will know if you are a slightly hairy ape like me, the most painful part of the whole process it when you Brazilian that little plaster off your hirsute skin.