CYCLE 5 DAY 21

I woke today feeling quite chipper after going to the gym last night and was determined to keep the pace up, to keep my direction. It would be the last day of toothbrush 5 of six, which has a Borg like ring to it, which I like. This whole adventure feels like a Star Trek adventure where I am boldly going where I have not been before. New planets, new starts and new bits of my body that demand new understanding of biochemistry and physiology. Perhaps I should start heading these blogs:   Star Date ……

I cook fried egg sandwiches for breakfast and make coffee while I check e-mails and WhatsApp. I down my first lot of block steroids and start my “to do” list:

1. Pay the remainder of the registrar fees for the 24^th of January. DONE
2. Post RCP invoice to meet finance deadline. DONE
3. Change dentist appointment to New Year so its post chemo. DONE
4. Get bag ready for gym later on. DONE
5. Pack bag for hospital trip. DONE

By the time this is all done its time to get ready to go into town and have lunch at the Cosy Club before seeing “he who has made a pact with the devil”. We both wanted Ham Hock Hash, we were both disappointed, they had none. This is at least the second time this has happened in a short space of time. I’m not amused. I settle for macaroni cheese and a kicking mule. Nice enough but it is not Ham Hock Hash.

We walk down to the hospital and settle in for a wait. I produce the newspaper and we sit doing puzzles and watching others go in to the inner sanctum. My name is called, I follow and answer the ritualistic questions, name & date of birth. We are shown into the consulting room but there is no consultant. “He who has made a pact with the devil” is not in this week, so a nice registrar is standing in. Lovely social skills and very pleasant.  I raise the fact that my platelets have dropped to 90, outside the normal range, and there is a moment of pause. I’m informed that normally this would mean a delay until they recovered, but I’m in good shape, so as the last bloods were done on Thursday the platelets should be up more by now. So the nice registrar orders new bloods to be done today. If I get up to 95 I can do my next cycle tomorrow as planned. This would be really good as if it gets delayed by a week it Christmas week. The agreement is that if I hear nothing from the clinic or the McMillan crew then I should rock up as normal tomorrow. The registrar also confirms that I do not need to take steroids after the 7^th of January when my 6^th cycle ends. He gives me blood forms for an interim blood check post cycle 6 and one for my next appointment after three months. He also says that tey will book me a new CT scan just prior to my three month appointment. We shake hands I go to seek the local vampire down the corridor.

We go to the “Blood Room”, I promise this is what it is actually called, and deposit my blood form and we sit and wait, resuming our puzzle completions. After a relatively short wait I am called forward and this time manage to give the wrong birthday. For some reason I swapped the 6th for the 4^th of July. She noticed and we joked about thanks giving and then got on with the sample taking. In no time at all I had aa new fluffy cloud taped to my arm and I was out of there.

We walked back to the car and I drove home. My partner went to work and I started to check my Patient View app to see if the results had come through yet. They had not so I down loaded the Patent View app to my phone so that I could check when I went to the gym. I downed my second lot of block steroids and headed for the gym. All went smoothly apart from a short wait to get a cross trainer, but once on I did my hour clocking up 767 calories and my 10,000 steps for the day. It was tiring but I am determined to keep my exercise up as I am convinced this greatly helps my chemo and my vital signs.

I step into the changing room and begun to get ready for the well earned shower when my gut reminded me that taking block steroids on an empty stomach is not a good idea. I made it to the toilets and sat for a while in contemplation of the need to stay focussed and to remain disciplined till the very end of my chemo and beyond. The shower revived me and I retreated to the lounge for a coffee and to check if my result were in, they weren’t. What is more I was hot flushing, so I sat back and waited for a while till I had settled down and made way home via the chippy. I ate my chicken and chips, chicken is good for platelets my research told me, and settled to watch a bit of TV, but almost immediately my sister rang me. We chatted for about an hour and a half, mostly family stuff and our experiences of late of friends being ill or dying. By the time we concluded making arrangements for me to do the annual “Santa run” to London on Thursday it was time to begin the blog.

00:14 Hurrah my blood results are up on my Patient View. My all important Platelets are up from 90 to a majestic 176. I go to bed a pleased and relieved person.