Regional Resilience: Michael Burridge on Blood Cancer, Rural Life, and the Importance of Support

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[00:02:36] Maryanne: Good morning, my name’s Mary Anne and together here with me in the Talking Blood Cancer studio we have Michael Burridge. Morning Michael, thank you for joining Talking Blood Cancer.

[00:02:46] Michael: Good morning, Marianne.

[00:02:48] Maryanne: Now share with me a little bit about who you are, whereabouts in Queensland you live and your experience with blood cancer.

[00:02:56] Michael: Okay. Yeah. Well, I’m just turned 70. I’ve lived at Emerald since, May, 1979. I moved there as a shift electrician, at BHP Local Coal Mine, where I worked for 33 years. And, after that I worked at another neighbourly mine on a bulldozer, just, on a stockpile. after that I had a road term licence, I was just doing jobs for people, help out.

[00:03:18] also I used to do a bit of, farm work for the neighbours. So if they needed anything, I had an irrigation farm myself. my children, we all worked together there. fatten a few cattle and grow a few crops in the irrigation.

[00:03:30] Maryanne: So you’re a busy boy.

[00:03:31] Michael: oh, well, yeah, when you’re in the mines, a lot of get days off in the middle of the week and, uh, kids are at school, et cetera, And, I had to find stuff to entertain myself. So during the week.

[00:03:41] Maryanne: I love that though, because I think in sharing that Michael, a lot of people Don’t have an appreciation of what life on the land may look like or even people who work on the mines. As you say, a lot of your time off was during the week. And to then have to choose where do we place our purpose? What are our passions? you have to be creative, don’t you?

[00:04:05] Michael: yeah, I’ve sort of tried to make, days off, productive.

[00:04:07] Maryanne: So tell me, what led to your diagnosis? What was happening with you that, you know, one, what is your diagnosis and, what were the events that led you to the doctor in the first place?

[00:04:18] Michael: oh. Four years leading up to, last February, um, they were treating me for Ross River fever and all sorts of things. And, then they found out I had a prognosis from, one of the vaccines. I was on steroids for that and, after that, after two years on the steroids, I, still started getting, pains in my, um, spine, vertebrae stuff.

[00:04:37] And, uh, when I was on painkillers and I thought I was just old school from, working, all the years that you do when you’re 69. And, they just put it down, going off chiropractic practice and stuff and, there’s no, MRIs out there. Go and get a scan, you’d have to drive through houses to Rockhampton.

[00:04:51] so that putting on the back burner in the end. first week of February, um, I had, a vertebrae lock up, in me back. triple zero got involved

[00:05:01] Maryanne: Wow. So it was quite severe pain in the February.

[00:05:06] Michael: yeah, I couldn’t move, you know, I was pretty, pretty well locked up.

[00:05:09] Maryanne: Um,

[00:05:10] Michael: Yeah.

[00:05:10] And they took me to the, Emerald base, ICU section. Very lucky that, Emeril had got a new, um, scan, tunnel thing there where they sent me down to, the fighters going straight to Brisbane to the RBH and, top specialists there and they read them. Anyway, they put me through the tunnel and, uh, the specialists in Brisbane said fly him down.

[00:05:28] Maryanne: You mentioned that Emerald had a new equipment. Was that an MRI scanner?

[00:05:35] Michael: I think it might have been CT, I’m not sure,

[00:05:37] Maryanne: A CT scanner? And prior to that February, they didn’t have that equipment there?

[00:05:44] Michael: No, they just had a fairly big upgrade done on their ICU section in the last year. It was completed.

[00:05:50] Maryanne: So that’s, you know, quite, good for country folk like yourself who are in those remote regional areas. to have equipment that’s so valuable to identify early

[00:06:00] Michael: Yes,

[00:06:02] absolutely, Mary Anne. The people who foreseen the need for that, got to take hat off to them. Absolutely.

[00:06:08] Maryanne: So tell me when you had that scan and the ICU doctors identified something that required extra specialist attention, what the process then for you? What was the communication? What did needed to happen?

[00:06:24] Michael: Well, local doctor at the base said Come and see me, I was in the bed there and, he said, give me the bad news, what was going on. He said, you’ve got part of the vertebrae that’s been eaten away and you have a cancer mass your spine and also on your left spacula. and, Brisbane had the scans and straight away and got back and said to fly them down.

[00:06:46] So, the instructions were to keep me in overnight and, um, get me ready for flying first thing the next morning.

[00:06:52] Maryanne: So when you say flying down, my understanding from previous conversations with you, it wasn’t just a commercial flight for you, was it? It was a special Royal Flying Doctors Service that needed to get you down. Is that correct?

[00:07:05] Michael: Absolutely. The flying doctor, come up from Bundaberg, the next morning. they were there at, 6:00 AM fueling up, but waiting for me to turn up in the QATB, uh, ambulance service that run me out from the hospital. Yep.

[00:07:17] Maryanne: So the communication that was managed between ICU specialists to you and then the ICU specialists to Royal Flying Doctors Service What’s your understanding of how that all worked? Were you kept informed or?

[00:07:35] Michael: yeah, they kept me informed, but everything was organized. I’m not sure who, who took over the organization. I dare say over the, um, outpatient sections of the, Al Base would’ve organized the, flying doctor, et cetera, under the instructions from, Royal Brisbane, cancer specialists.

[00:07:50] Maryanne: Yeah, so they all worked in quite well together.

[00:07:52] Michael: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:07:53] Maryanne: So your transportation from ICU at the Emerald Hospital to the airport was via ambulance.

[00:08:01] Michael: That’s correct. Yeah. I.

[00:08:02] Maryanne: And can you share with me what your experience was like in the aircraft? From how were you transported onto the aircraft? What did the management of your health and well being look like when during the flight? Can you share with us a little bit about that experience?

[00:08:17] Michael: we got to the airport the ambulance, they had just finished fueling up, 6:30am in the morning, whatever, and were going to a stretcher and get me up these stairs of the aircraft, and I said, just leave it with me, I can, Try and do it myself. So got up the stairs and saved a lot of trouble, you know, to get on board.

[00:08:34] And, they laid me down and strapped me in, into the aircraft and put all the observation, stuff on me. there was a nurse, a pilot and the M’s, the QATB lady from Emerald. yeah, they were very good. so I was, monitored. in the aircraft, all the way, very professionally the nurse sat in the seat beside me and, kept an on everything.

[00:08:53] pilot was, he was amazing, seemed very experienced way he spoke. Yeah.

[00:08:58] Maryanne: what did the conversations look like during that time? were you anxious or were you frightened?

[00:09:03] Michael: No, I was just there for the ride. Mainly, I sort of didn’t like, let things get to me. I just took it in my stride and thought possibly knew I was the right path.

[00:09:13] Um,

[00:09:14] Maryanne: were you allowed to have anyone with you like a support person or?

[00:09:18] Michael: oh no, that was out of the question. could if I wanted to. I think there was another seat there if someone wanted to go. Yeah,

[00:09:23] Maryanne: Mm hmm. But you traveled alone?

[00:09:25] Michael: Yes. with the nurse and obviously the pilot up the front. Yeah,

[00:09:29] Maryanne: When you’re mentioning the, you know, they kept an eye on your observations. What did that look like? Was that your blood pressure? What else did they do for you? were you on a drip or were you on pain management? What were you on?

[00:09:41] Michael: I had, injections before I, um, left the hospital for any sort of pain to, yeah, I was pretty well, right as far as pain goes, but mainly I was just hooked up for observation. Same stuff. if you are in, ICU at hospital, you know, in the bed. Yeah. Being monitored.

[00:09:54] Maryanne: So you felt really confident in the care that you were in.

[00:09:57] Michael: yeah, I was made comfortable. I was strapped in, and no one well of anything and they hit a, any sort of pockets, whatever, there’s no other would’ve moved around. it was a smooth flight all

[00:10:06] Maryanne: A smooth flight. And tell me, what was the experience like when you arrived in Brisbane? What did that look like? Where did you arrive? Do you arrive on a helipad at the hospital or what did arriving in Brisbane look like for you?

[00:10:19] Michael: it was hour 40 from, Emerald to, Brisbane in the, uh, king Air, that was in. And, the pilot flew above the cloud, very smooth. he would’ve been on instruments all the way that, hour 40, the, um, Qantas and, Virgin, only do it now, 30. So, fairly slick. And then a little bit of a couple bumps, there was one coming in to land main airport in Brisbane, the domestic.

[00:10:41] It was just when we broke cloud, just a few little rumbles and bumps there, but it wasn’t too bad, yeah, yeah, it was lovely. Anyway, landed at the domestic and the main strip. I dare say they must have had clearance to come straight in, not savvy to that sort of information, but come in and they just taxied around to the other side of the airport.

[00:10:59] Domestic airport where all the hangers are. the R-R-F-D-S, Royal Flying Doctor got their own hanger there. And the, uh, QATB, this was waiting on the tarmac in front of the hanger, waiting to, transport me to the Royal Brisbane.

[00:11:11] they helped me outta the aircraft. and put me on a stretcher got me on the ambulance and done all the OBS stuff in ambulance before proceeding towards the Royal Brisbane Hospital.

[00:11:20] Maryanne: That would have been quite an anxious time for you, I would imagine, coming from Emerald, a remote country area and you’re in the big smoke, the city, on your own. was that time for

[00:11:30] Michael: was sort of quite happy, to know that I, I was in good hands, you know, was, very well looked after, and all that. Yeah, the people look after me, I had full confidence and then I was on the right track going to the right place.

[00:11:41] positive thoughts.

[00:11:42] Maryanne: Yeah, I mean it’s a surreal time, isn’t it, Michael?

[00:11:45] Michael: yeah, my life had changed and I had to deal with what was in front of me. And, that was, the first week in February. landed in Brisbane, and the QATB took me to, a section at the, uh, Royal Brisbane, specialist waiting to see me when I got there and me on a stretcher and, put me on a, uh, bed with a curtain around it.

[00:12:01] done all the, investigations they wanted to do before they took me up to the ward. And, put me in a bed there and then they took me down and started doing scans, MRIs See what’s going on. yeah, it was Action Stations.

[00:12:14] Maryanne: So, at that point when you were in Brisbane, they’re still doing investigations to actually let you know what type of condition you have?

[00:12:22] Michael: Yeah, they pretty well knew what was going on. asked a lot of questions. a couple of hours with a curtain me before I got, taken upstairs somewhere, to the, uh, ward. Yeah, an overseas trip booked, with two weeks to go before I went, and, uh, they told me then you won’t be going on that, so that had to be cancelled, lucky I was insured, so, all good.

[00:12:45] Maryanne: Yeah, lucky you were insured, but you know, that’s, you know, that’s a very hard pill to swallow, isn’t it? When you’re looking forward to something in life, and I’m sure you made plans to, to have to put that holiday on hold. wouldn’t have been easy.

[00:13:00] Michael: No, yeah, I had to ask the questions and make sure I was, uh, we were on the right track and I was, well assured that, won’t be going on that trip and I won’t be leaving Brisbane for a long time. that’s the indication I was getting from the specialists there. And then,

[00:13:13] Maryanne: So, at what point were you told you had myeloma?

[00:13:17] Michael: when they put me up to the ward after a couple hours of preliminary, um. Stuff they’re going through, took me up to the ward and I was only there for 15 took me, down to, uh, getting the scans and, next day I had, specialists come in and tell me the, exact details of what was going on, had on my specular and, of my vertebrae partly eaten away from the mass.

[00:13:39] And also I had, blood cancer and bone marrow cancer, which is the

[00:13:43] Maryanne: So you would have been in excruciating pain.

[00:13:46] Michael: yeah, I was, pain was pretty well managed. As soon as when the, triple zero, QATB arrived, they picked me up in Emerald. when I got the first call, I was on, pain stuff, then, you know, Injections, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:13:58] Very well managed all the way through.

[00:14:01] Maryanne: So tell me, once in Brisbane, who at home or what did support look like for you?

[00:14:08] Michael: I read my best mate up, Paul, and, I told him the situation was when I was in Emerald in hospital, what was going on, and, he went back to the caravan where I was staying at the time, and, got port together with a few clothes and a few things that I might need, so, yeah, that was good, I can’t, complain about any support from local people.

[00:14:26] I like that. photo of me, on the, stretcher in the, um, aerial ambulance, flying doctor. There was a photo one on Facebook. I had 93, comments of well wishes, not likes, comments, and, uh, I didn’t even think I knew that many people in emeralds . So yeah, the great

[00:14:44] Maryanne: It’s lovely, isn’t it? Having those connections. so you were mentioning Michael. when you hopped on the Royal Flying Doctor service flight that you posted a photo on your socials or whatever it is of you outside the aircraft and you got a lot of responses and feedback of well wishes.

[00:15:07] Michael: Yes, also, the, nurse on the plane photo of me with all the, uh, observation, stretchers strapped into the aircraft. that’s the one that went on Facebook, actually, yeah. 93 comments of well wishes, support from the locals from Emerald. So, yeah, I didn’t even know I knew that many people.

[00:15:25] Yeah, that’s very chuffed with that.

[00:15:27] Maryanne: Yeah, it’s very humbling isn’t it? You know, those well wishes from people that you weren’t necessarily aware that were, there for you.

[00:15:34] Michael: that’s right, Maureen. Like it’s, they tell you when you get down here that, A lot of your treatment’s going to be, being positive, thinking positive. If you don’t think positive, you’ve got the blood start to change and could make your condition worse. So, drummed into me that I’d look after myself and to be positive all the way through.

[00:15:51] Maryanne: It takes courage to take on that, mindset. because when a diagnosis comes into your life, there is an adaptation process because it’s not something you’ve chosen.

[00:16:02] Michael: Yeah, Marion, I think it’s just automatic. It just kicks in. You’re in and, uh, you’ve got see through and the best treatment you can and get over this pothole in the road and get back on with your life. the mindset I was taking,

[00:16:14] Maryanne: So from February, what did treatment look like for you, Michael?

[00:16:19] Michael: a month in the RBH. they, um, give me, treatment, to, of the mass, specular.

[00:16:27] that was a radiation type treatment. after that, that knocked me around a fair bit, but after that they gave me a week off. And, then started chemo in March. Early March, and I’ve been on chemo,

[00:16:39] Maryanne: And did you have that treatment as an outpatient?

[00:16:42] Michael: Yes, after a month in the RBH, when I the spacula vertebrae, sort of, I could leave the Royal Brisbane, they made arrangements with their social workers to have me stay at the Leukemia Village. Ton Road and, uh, it was amazing. Yeah. The support I got social workers at the RBH and the Leukemia Foundation, social workers.

[00:17:04] and the girls there at the village that they went outta their way to make me okay. from there I was going back and forth the RBH getting blood tests and weekly chemo. at the RBH from there,

[00:17:16] has gone on for about eight months. So since February, since you were discharged after that, majority of your treatment, Michael, has that been as an outpatient since that initial month?

[00:17:29] Yeah, first week in March, they let me have the RBH into the, the chemo village and, from there I was only a short distance away from the RBH where I could get a weekly blood test and, weekly chemo, very professionally and all organized with that. Cancer support workers, coordinators.

[00:17:46] Everything was, worked like clockwork. The girls at the, uh, Leukemia Village here, they made sure I was, in sync with everything that was going on. Amazing. cannot complain at all. Was in the right place. Absolutely.

[00:17:58] Maryanne: That’s great. And what would you say would be your key messages to other people who are having treatment for myeloma? what are the ingredients that you’ve chosen, Michael, that have contributed to your health and well being today?

[00:18:13] Michael: my, cancer support, coordinator from the IBH, which, One of the best pieces of advice that I think she gave me was, Michael, we don’t want you lying around in the unit at the village crook. We want you up and about. It’s ironic that, we keep you going, mentally and, she told me about it’s what it will It’s going to upset your body cells and won’t, won’t, heal as well as it should. So yeah, that was a very good piece of advice. I took up bowls down here, um, just social bowls twice a week if I was feeling well enough at the Regional Bowls Club. very good piece of advice that I Cancer Coordinator from the RBH and Well supported from the girls at the, Lekemi Village in Hurston Road where I was studying.

[00:18:54] Maryanne: So, you know, really, the choices that you’ve made is to always maintain engagement in connection with people who you enjoy, an activity that keeps you strong and active, and a good diet.

[00:19:08] Michael: Yes, I ate well while I was here. And, I used to sleep a lot. Telford’s there. I managed everything with sleep. And, charged me batteries and then I’d get up and then went and done something. Yeah. Sometimes I’d sleep 16 hours, no worries at all. yeah, that’s all part of it.

[00:19:22] Your body, talks

[00:19:23] Maryanne: Yes. Your body talks to you. So, you know, just in wanting to capture what you’ve shared, Michael, and thank you for joining us here for the Talking Blood Cancer podcast. But from initial diagnosis, you always placed faith in your team, in your treatment. surrendered and came down and Faith and RFDS to transport you safely to where you needed to be. together with your faith in your treating team, you made some really informed choices about maintaining your own mental health and well being by engaging in physical activity, keeping yourself positive, eating well and resting when your body told you to.

[00:20:06] Michael: Absolutely, Mary, and, was very lucky, the people that I, Associated with down here, they were another level, they were beautiful people, no trouble at all, you know, from the Broncos Leagues Club, to give some tickets to the games, I wanted, the Red Hill Bowls Club, the Leukemia Foundation Village, local church, of Arc, know, the lady used to up and take me for I was overwhelmed with the support I was getting from down here. Country people should not, think they’re going to be

[00:20:33] alone.

[00:20:34] Maryanne: Country people have got big hearts, haven’t they, Michael?

[00:20:37] Michael: Absolutely, some great people.

[00:20:38] Maryanne: thank you, Michael. I really appreciate your time here this morning. I wish you all the best.