CYCLE 3 DAY 6
Sunday and another rugby world cup day of quarter finals to be watched with coffee and bacon sandwiches. So at 8 o’clock I am sitting on my sofa, having breakfast as Wales take on the French. A narrow game with Wales winning by one point against a French team a man down due to a bit of over exuberant play by a French forward. I am in a familiar routine now. At half time I take my days self stab stick out of the fridge so that it can warm up during the second half. Then between games I do the self stabbing and renew my coffee supply for the second game. This week the hosts Japan played the South Africans. The South Africans were just to big and powerful in the end. So I have a week to wait to the semi finals of England vs New Zealand and Wales vs the South Africans, but because of where I will be in my chemo cycle I will just be doing the bacon sandwiches and coffee. No self stabbing next week, which will be a nice change. By the time the games are over there is just time to have a quick lunchtime sandwich and prepare to go to the gym. Before going I popped some lamb shanks in to a pot and left them in the oven to bubble away in a mix of red wine, stock and various chopped veg. By the time we get back from the gym they should be well done and delicious.
My partner and I go to the gym where I clamber aboard a cross trainer, as above, and go for it for an hour, head phones on listening to Australian modern didgeridoo music. Not as odd as it sounds. I was given a CD by a friend who visited Australia and brought me back some of this music. Its good to train to when I feel I do not need the full on drive and aggression that Rammstein provide me with. So I reached my Fitbit target of 10, 000 steps and burnt of 757 calories. The joys of a shower and then we head home to those delicious lamb shanks waiting for us. The evening slips into the blog and into preparation for an enabling environment meeting tomorrow in Derby. I shall take to my bed early tonight as I want to be fresh for the teams tomorrow. All the papers will be ready, clothes laid out and some sort of agenda thought about.
I am beginning to think that the cycles are having a progressive effect on me in terms of energy and tiredness. The gym sessions are more difficult and the aftermath a bit more pronounced in terms of tiredness and aches and pains. The numbness in my finger tips seems to be a bit more pronounced but it is difficult to be objective about it. I suppose logically if I go on poisoning myself every 21 days it is likely to have a cumulative effect, but it is impossible to predict how bad it will be and exactly what it will be. My strategy is to note it and carry on, whilst having a plan B and C to fall back onto. Sooner or later an oasis will appear in the desert, or not.
