Starts and Beginnings

Hi everyone.
I've decided to document my life for a change so to hopefully inspire other people who will sadly face the same battle that I am going through. So, let's have a quick overview and introduction shall we?
Name: Dan Homer
Age: 20
Reason for blog: To document my daily fight against ALL Leukaemia with the Philadelphia Chromosome.
What's that?: The chromosome is when the leukaemia cells break off and die but instead of being washed out of the body, or absorbed by the white blood cells, they add on to other cells and create a new protein called BCR ABLE. Pretty Neat huh?

When were you first diagnosed?: 4/12/13
Remission: 15/01/14
Maintenance: 22/12/14
Relapse: 19/06/15

So, in English, after I had finished college, I was eager to start work. luckily, I found an apprenticeship in Middlesbrough as an IT Technician and I was as happy as a clam for 3 months. However, during this time, I began to experience pains in my legs, (cramps) and on occasion, I would overheat and black out/ faint. In late November, the pains got worse so I went to a walk-in clinic in Hartlepool and I was diagnosed with Vertigo. I accepted this but my health declined. My colour went from pink, to grey, to yellow. So by December, I could've got a part in the live action version of The Simpsons!
I was persuaded by my dad on the 4th December to go to my GP and they said I had vertigo too, but that they also wanted to do a blood test.
Now, I am extremely needle phobic so this didn't appeal to me and sure enough, I fainted, which turned out to be a good way to get blood tests done quicker!
After that ordeal, I went home and was violently ill and I was in the bathroom feeling generally crappy when the phone rang, it was the GP and he had the worst news possible for me. He told me that I had Cancer.
For the first time in my life, I was speechless so I got up, and handed the phone to my dad and promptly cried my eyes out. After a few minutes on the phone, dad came upstairs and hugged me and told me everything was going to be all right but that we had to go up the the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle ASAP.
After getting some clothes, we travelled to the hospital and went back and forth between A&E and various wards until I was transferred to Ward 4- the children's Oncology Ward. It was there where I was to meet my consultant, Prof. S. Bailey. He came in and gave me all the information on the blood tests so far and that it was indeed Leukaemia but a mildly resistant strain. (Typical for me, I've always been told I'm stubborn and now my illnesses are too!)
At the time, I didn't realise how bad this was, as whenever people mention the Cancer word, you automatically come up with a death sentence, but when he said leukaemia, I kind of brushed it aside and said, "Will this mean I won't be at work tomorrow?" His reply was no, and that I'd not be at work for some time. And that upset me, as I had just found something I was good at and now it was taken away from me.
Now, unlike Breaking Bad, I didn't have to turn to cooking Meth to fund my treatment and this is the NHS and it's free, so I started immediately. I was hooked up to a drip, and then when my brother left, I was hooked up to a machine that dripped liquids through a cannula, which in case you didn't know, are horrible little things but anyway, and I was escorted into my own private room and one by one, the nurses came in and introduced themselves and they told me that everything was going to be fine. They also introduced me to the CLIC Sargent team, who are around to offer support to patients and families during times like these.
Treatment wise, I was bombarded with various chemotherapy drugs and steroids, which increased my already large appetite, but I was also on specialist tablets designed to counteract the Philadelphia chromosome.
Guess what, lucky me but I also found out that on top of me being needle phobic, I also have a huge problem swallowing tablets, so within a few days, I realised that this was going to be an issue but hey ho, somehow I managed to get through it. After a few days with a cannula, I was asked about having a device inserted under my skin to allow for the fluids to be administered easier. I said yes, anything is better than what I already have. I was given TWO choices. A Hivkman Line, which is a tube that goes into the veins and protrudes out of the skin and splits into two channels, or a Portacath, which was the same but hidden under my skin and had to be accessed via a port needle. I chose the port as it looked better, even though I hate needles, it was easier for me. They accepted my decision and the next day I had the operation and all was good. After 2 weeks of treatment, I was allowed home for the first time, just in time for Christmas and it was the best one I had ever had, as I was surrounded by my family and it was quiet.
Just after New Year, I returned to the hospital and continued my treatment and it was going well and I made it onto remission, which is when bone marrow and blood samples are sent to a lab and looked at to see the amount of  cancer cells and happily enough, they were low, so the treatment was working.  In this next stage of treatment, I was given another choice, either to continue on chemotherapy and tablets and beat cancer this way, or have a bone marrow transplant. I was truly horrified by that notion but they gave me a few weeks to think about it as I'd have to undergo certain tests to see if I'd actually need it and who is a suitable donor etc.
during this time of uncertainty, I decided to get shingles, as my white blood counts were low so I was put into isolation for a few days whilst the virus was treated. This turned out to be a norm for me as most people go back onto the ward to have an infection treated, and that involved going in with a temperature over 38'c and spending 3 days on antibiotics. In my case, I went in with that notion but caught every illness under the freaking sun, which lead the nurses to always be on their toes around me and to get out the book of interesting and rare illnesses that Dan Homer can catch.

- As that's an interesting place to stop, I'll leave it there. I hope you look forward to the next instalment!-