17/03/20

The taxi firm booked to take me to London for more pre-transplant tests tomorrow phoned to ask if I still wanted the car because "we're getting so many cancellations at the moment" - because of the coronavirus, of course. And the Facebook Myeloma group has a slightly panicky post from the wife/carer  of someone who's due to go for transplant on the 30th, five days later than me.

So, worst case scenario planning time. I go in as planned, get my high-dose chemo to kill off my immune system and, unfortunately, most of my digestive system lining and various other of my bits and pieces. I get my stem cells transplanted back, and then COVID-19 hits really hard. Most of the medical and nursing teams at the Clinic, and most of the support staff, either go down with it or are forced to self-isolate and "work from home" - not exactly practical in this instance. NHS hospitals are overwhelmed and Boris orders an effective commandeering of private hospital beds and resources for COVID-19 patients. There's great pressure to get me out of my room ASAP to make it available to somebody else. Meanwhile, most of the taxi-drivers in London aren't working, nobody wants to take on a long trip outside the M25 so in my still badly immune-compromised state I have to turn to what's left of the virus-riddled public transport system while still being a very long way short of well. And at home, Sue has caught the coronavirus and is on a ventilator in Broomfield Hospital. No-one at home (hopefully a neighbour feeding the cats). I need a lot of support at home, but no district nurse or equivalent help is available...

OK, it may not be that bad. But we just don't know how bad it will be three or four weeks after transplant day. The safest way, perhaps, might be to postpone the transplant indefinitely, and to go back to endless chemotherapy. I'll talk to people at TLC tomorrow and with luck will emerge with a clearer mind.

Next thing is to provide a taxi service of our own to take Sue into Broomfield for the final assessment of her Cardiac Rehab programme. After that, perhaps, a walk, in the park while we still can...