Before I got cancer my main concern was the diagnosis of MS which came to light in 1998. At that time I remember thinking to myself "that's ok, this is what it's going to be like then, this is as bad as it's going to get, I won't get anything else then" I honestly believed that!
I had a fight on my hands then too to recieve funding for Beta-interferon; the only disease modifying drugs avaliable for MS, which I eventually won and started on in 2000. That was a huge relief because at that time I was having lots of problems with symptoms (numbness, loss of sensation, loss of balance, pain to name a few) It was a very scary time, I had to learn to inject myself once a week but I think I would be in a wheelchair by now if it wasn't for the treatment.
The irony of the situation is that I had to stop the Beta-interferon before starting on the Herceptin because the interaction of the different drugs could have been fatal. Whoops! But I must admit I'm not missing the injections too much! The Health Service is saving a lot of money too, a years worth of Beta-interferon is about £11,000. I wish my local Primary Care Trust had taken that into consideration when they decided not to help me with the cost of Herceptin.
As it stands it appears the MS has gone into a quiet phase at the moment, which is possibly a happy side effect of the Chemotherapy I've just finished, or maybe God thinks I've enough to cope with.