Ian – Interview 97
A period of stress and tiredness led to a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Treatment included chemotherapy, total body irradiation and autologous stem cell transplant. He is in remission.
Ian felt stressed and generally unwell and went to his GP with a variety of symptoms including tiredness, pain and swollen lymph nodes on his head. The GP sent him for an x-ray and advised him to take some time off sick. Later the same day Ian felt worse and phoned a colleague, who came round and called the GP out. Ian spent five days in intensive care while the doctors figured out what was wrong. He was given dialysis for kidney failure and was started on high dose chemotherapy.
Ian was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and told he would need 6 8 weeks in hospital for chemotherapy. During treatment he developed a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his left foot and needed heparin injections in his abdomen. Ian was eating poorly because he found the hospital food unappetising and the nurses told him to eat otherwise he would die. They gave him high energy drinks and he began to pick himself up physically. After about six weeks he broke down and begged to be let out of his hospital room and was allowed to be wheeled around the hospital grounds, which helped him to keep going. He was later allowed home for a visit and spent increasing amounts of time at home between treatments over a period of four months. He was then enrolled onto a clinical trial and received total body irradiation followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. It took three weeks for his immune system to recover. This put him into remission.
Ian’s chemotherapy was administered intravenously through a Hickman line and some intrathecally (in his spine). Treatment side effects included mouth ulcers, hair loss, diarrhoea, vomiting, rash, night sweats, and he has been left with numbness in his feet. He experienced complications including pneumonia, sight loss requiring cataract operations, and a second DVT that went from his leg to his lung. He takes warfarin daily to prevent further DVTs.
After about a year’s absence Ian returned to work on light duties but soon decided to retire from police work. They moved from Wales to England and he became a house husband while his wife worked. After a while he felt he wanted to do something else again and retrained as an occupational therapist (OT). His job soon took over too much of his life again so he decided to become a self-employed locum OT instead.
When Ian became ill he was living in his native North Wales working as a police detective, a job that dominated his life. His marriage was suffering as a result and his wife moved back to England, only seeing Ian at weekends. Once he had been hospitalised his wife came back to attend to him while their children were looked after in England by her parents. Ian says his illness made him realise how much he loved his wife and they have been together ever since.