2020 all change

Hope you are all keeping well.

What a change to our lives 2020 has brought.

New vocabulary, that would have meant nothing to us as recently as January, 'self isolation', 'social distancing' and 'shielding', has now become commonplace.

As I understand it, only a small number of people living with MS are included in the vulnerable group  initially told by the government to shield (stay at home and not go out at all) for 12 weeks from Monday 23 March. These are:

1. Those who are very immunosuppressed
(eg treated recently with the chemotherapy drugs alemtuzumab, cladribine and HSCT).
2. People with very advanced MS.

I am pleased to say I am not considered to be in this group.  I do have chronic lymphopaenia with a total lymphocyte count circa 0.6 x 10^9 cells per litre (normal range 1.0 to 3.0).  This dates back to 5 years of beta interferon followed by a short 4 month course of dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) in 2015.

Lymphocyte profile May 2017

Tecfidera caused long-term depletion of CD8 T cells (these target intracellular viruses). Ironically, Tecfidera is considered to be non-immunosuppressive and is advised as safe to take during the Coronavirus epidemic. Perhaps I was just unlucky.

Whilst not quite self-isolating, I am of course (as everyone is) staying at home apart from sometimes daily exercise and with John making as few shopping trips as possible.

When I had a neurology appointment at the very beginning of March, I was surprised to be told that rituximab treatment (next due at the beginning of June) was planned to continue as normal. All fine in principle, but as things have moved on, I can't imagine travelling to London by train in the current climate. Rituximab may have to wait.

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In the initial weeks of the UK epidemic, light hearted cartoons did the rounds on social media. They feel inappropriate now that the gravity of the situation is becoming so real.

A few favourites below as a record of those early days:


1. Wash your hands and don't touch your face

2. Almost worse than the virus itself, fear spawned a spree of selfish panic buying, stripping supermarket shelves bare and exposing the worst of human nature. The Germans have a perfect name for it.

Hamsterkauf 

3. And it seemed everyone's biggest fear was running out of loo roll.

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Stay safe, be kind and look after yourselves everyone.

AM xx