Friday, its a big day, blood tests day and a day to train, so I am up early and breakfasted ready to trot down to the GP surgery to have my bloods taken. I take my morning meds and then head down to the GP. Once I am in the surgery I am called in quickly and find my usual two nurses, one takes stuff out of me and the other puts stuff into me, sharing a clinic. There is banter and I am soon a couple of vials short of blood. It was not till I was walking home that I realised that I had not pre loaded with water, which means some of my bloods results might be down a bit.
This is a big deal, these bloods. Todays bloods will tell me if the half cycle I have taken has stopped the rise in my PSA, or slowed the pace of the rise. If it has then the strategy of me going back on the cancer chemo pills is working and will also justify me not taking any of the other drugs that have been prescribed me, especially the angina (friendly angina! clearly a medical madness) medication. This is a crucial time.
Once home I do the days crosswords and then I fill my drugs wallets for the next two weeks. Come lunchtime I and my partner and eldest daughter go for lunch at one of our favourite garden centres. It is a pleasant break before returning home to find some presents that I had ordered for my eldest grandson in Sweden had arrived. My first chore was to repack the goods and get them to the post office to get them on there way.
With the chores done it is time for me to train. I really do not want to but I can feel myself slipping back into an inertia of inactivity so not training is not an option. I get into my gear and go to the garage and get on board the rower. I am tempted to do just 30 minutes but I know that is not enough so set myself up for a 45 minute session. With another Mark Steels in Town episode in my ears I begin. Once I make that first pull I am committed and stopping cannot be an option. So I get on with it and in the end it turns out to be a reasonable session.
I record my session, change out of my gear and eat tea with the family before watching a rugby match, some TV, including an Aretha Franklin concert in black and white, what a singer she was. As I listen to her I start to draft the blog and my partner goes to bed knowing that I will not be gong to bed until my blood results come in. They get posted at midnight when the hospital does its up load. So now its about filling in time while I wait and wait.
The results are in and I am relieved. My PSA has dropped, not a lot, just 0.1 but it is a drop after only 17 days of this cycle. This is good news, my strategy is good and the way forward can be positive. My bloods are not perfect, Urea is still above normal but dropping and my platelets are below normal (due to dehydration) but that is it. I am holding my own, I stand.
