Monday, up, coffee, scrambled eggs, more coffee. Then an amazing day of absolutely nothing, almost. Well nothing that could be considered enriching. I did manage to have a phone call with my sister who explained that she had slept over much of Christmas, which explains why she did not answer the phone yesterday, so that’s good. I also organised the recycling for collection on Wednesday. My most creative activity was organising my bath bomb Christmas collection in order to store them in the airing cupboard. I watched a rugby match on TV, put a few pieces in the 1000 piece jigsaw the family have started and organised my Christmas reading gifts and notebooks. Exciting eh? That has to be my last “lazy” day, I need to get moving, reading, writing, that sort of thing. Oh I forgot, I did my washing today as well. It’s hardly the stuff of a no holds barred battle with cancer. That is the really tricky bit of all this, its all invisible, all very ordinary everyday, and it lulls me into inaction and seduces me into the everyday normal. This has all come from my sense that I have started a new medication and I feel absolutely no different. No signs of side effects (a good thing). I therefore think I’ve been waiting for something to happen and it has not, so I need to stop waiting and get on with life. Tomorrow has to be a get on with life day.
Saturday, Christmas day. Up to toast and coffee. Then it was organising a Christmas meal to be driven over to my partners mothers. During the cooking time a friend who is working on Bermuda rings me to wish me happy Christmas, a really nice surprise. There are messages from friends and family wishing me and the family Christmas wishes. The cooking goes well as does the subsequent loading into my car. The family drive over in two cars and by 1 o’clock the food is on the table and we sit down to a Christmas meal. The group includes my partners mothers carer. We eat, present presents and lazily chat. It comes to time to go home and once there we relax and watch TV for a while. People drift to bed in anticipation of tomorrow, which is going to be our Christmas. During the evening I try to ring my sister but the landline rings out adn does not go to voice mail so I try her mobile, it goes directly to voice mail. I send an e-mail to let her know and eventually go to bed.
Sunday and its the families Christmas day. Its up to coffee and toast adn then we start the opening of our presents. This always takes a long time and invariably there is a break for coffee. Life is generous. Everyone ends up with collections of new, all of which is thoughtful and useful. The families generosity to each other is great. Amidst the presents there are games and toys which include inflatable antlers to be worn and hoops to be thrown at them. In the background a dinner cooks. The family sits down for the second time in two days to a turkey dinner and a flaming Christmas pudding. There is a period of post food napping and then as the kitchen is cleared the family discover the fun to be had from another of the Christmas toys. Soon there are targets being hit and foam bullets flying around. We settle down to a new board game where we collect coloured dice and create scoring patterns. We play for a long time dipping into a box of chocolates brought on a trip to York. We nibble and at one point my partner takes a call in order to do some family business. Eventually everyone is played out and we retreat to the lounge to watch some TV and generally laze. The family go to bed and I am left to watch the football on i-player and to write the blog.
I realise that this blog is not overflowing with the details of a Christmas but I am tired, part Christmas and I think part medication. Tomorrow I need to train, integrate my new gifts and begin to read my new books and plays. Perhaps some Shed time.
Friday, Christmas eve. Its an early start as the turkey has to be collected and additional vegetables to be bought. So I am up and at it quickly this morning, a postpone breakfast and get in the car with my partner and drive to the garden centre. We make straight to the butcher in a deserted garden centre, literally no one around, at least not punters. We select big packs of bacon and sausage meat before presenting our Christmas club card and collecting our turkey. We stow the meat in the car and return to the vegetable stall outside and pick a sack of potatoes and extra veg. Another couple of bags for the boot again and then another return to the shop to pick up alternative puddings and some odds and ends. We drive home and unpack the car, putting the turkey in the Shed to keep it cool till the 26th when it will provide the meat feast for this families Christmas dinner. Tomorrow we will be taking a complete Christmas dinner to my partners mother and dining there. On boxing day we will have our at home Christmas complete with presents and early alcohol intake, except me of course.
I make myself a bacon bagel and a coffee, take my drugs and settle down for a few minutes. Both my youngest daughter and her fiancé are still working at their laptops and will do so till lunchtime. A friend rings me and talks golf and golf bags. I discover that some golf bag trolleys have battery driven wheels. I am mildly appalled and amused by the the thought that it rather defeats the golf as exercise argument. I’m at a loose end so I decide to go to the gym and abandon my plan to train in the garage. I drive to the gym and get myself a cross trainer. 65 minutes later, a lot of very loud Rammstein and not a little cancer anger and I find myself delivering a personal best. 744 calories burnt and 8.9 kilometres done. Its a bit of a surprise, I wasn’t expecting such a performance. I get showered and look forward to a coffee and a muffin but the bloody bar is closed again. I am miffed and drive off. I fill the car on the way home and when I arrive give myself coffee and minces pies.
I watch a lame Christmas film until dinner and then the family sit and dine. Everything gets cleared away and I retreat to the lounge to write the blog and wait for my evening drug time before an early night. I can feel myself flagging and less articulate as time goes on.
Thursday and I wake up. First thought is to check myself over. Any signs of side effects? Nope just a craving for coffee. I get up and have a muesli breakfast and then empty the house bins and get the recycling up to date. I unashamedly potter, check emails, WhatsApp, Post Office Tracker and the dishwasher. I decide to train early and get myself to the gym. An hour on a cross trainer spends 715 calories and gets me 7.81 kilometres. Post shower I get into the club lounge and treat myself to a large americano and an after eight muffin. A moment of quiet indulgence. I am still not aware of any side effects and begin to think I might have got away with it. Of course side effects tend to take their time.
Back home I find my youngest daughters fiancé has arrived. I have soup and sort out my kit. My partner ends work and we walk into the village to do some shopping to top up our food stores. The one thing that was not available was Christmas wrapping paper! On my return I walk over to the other village shop with my eldest daughter to discover a veritable cornucopia of wrapping papers. After a while I drive my eldest daughter to her circus skill session. I wait for the hour and then drive us back home in time for dinner.
The evening, post meal, is spent wrapping a few errant presents and then writing the blog against the background of poor TV. The intention is to get an early night as tomorrow I need ot be up early to go and collect the turkey and other bits of food we have ordered from the butcher at our local garden centre.
Tonight was my second dose of Bicalutamide. I discovered today that this drug is used to stop or slow down “Tumour Flare”. I guess the rising PSA is an indication that the primary tumour in my prostrate is “flaring “so the intervention is timely. I am glad I acted decisively. All I can do is now is settle into Christmas and go with the flow. Messages from friends are supportive and kind as they prepare for their Christmas festivities. It seems Christmas is in full bright and shiny swing.
Wednesday the 22nd of December. I get up and make myself muesli and coffee. As usual I check my emails and messages. I do a bit of Goole research and then get ready to drive to the hospital to collect my new drugs. The drive was fine apart from my SatNav taking me on some imaginative new variations on the normal route. However I get there and instantly recognise the place, especially the car park. Being a good citizen I went to the Pay and Display to get a ticket. FUCKING COIN ONLY! What organisation in this day and aged of advanced IT has coin only parking machines, the nhs thats who. I grumpily go to reception and ask directions to the pharmacy, who kindly send me off on a long jaunt. The pharmacists was not the cheeriest but delivered the neat little packet with my name on it.
The new drugs
I get home and put my new drugs into my drugs wallet for the coming week. The big decision was whether to put them into the night or day section of my dispenser. The pill has to be taken once a day at the same time. I pick the night section. In my head I decide that I would rather take them at night. I will risk them disturbing my nights, which are already disturbed. A friend suggests that I wait till after Christmas to start the new drugs, I understand the logic and the sentiment but when I think about it my rising PSA is a reminder that cancer never rests, is relentless, does not take time out. Having decided to go for the new drug now it seems illogical to delay starting, I cannot wait, cancer is not. Having sorted that I have soup for lunch and get my kit ready to go to the gym.
I drive to the gym and find myself a cross trainer. I set Rammstein to loud and get on with the session. It goes well, very well in fact as I achieve a personal best. 735 calories and 8.75 kilometres at level 11. Go me, this was unexpected. I have a shower and have already decided to reward myself with a large americano and an after eight muffin. This hope was dashed as the club bar was closed. Yet again they have not got the staff to open it. Its shit service and symptomatic of the job market at this time. For the second time today I grumpily go back to my car and drive home. I find there is a paper so settle down to do the crosswords until dinner is ready when we all sit down to the meal. As a family we are looking forward to the Celebrity Great British Sewing Bee and post meal camp in the lounge to watch. The winner produces a Dior type best garment but then his mum is a couturier designer and had advised him on the choice of pattern to use. Had he really never sewn anything before? Call me cynical but I have some doubts.
Against the background of the last episode of The Girl Before, where the message seems to be white blokes are shit, I start to write the blog. I’ve decided to change the header as this feels like a new period in my challenge. Undoubtedly this is a new phase with a fresh aim and that is the re reduction of my PSA levels. Its going to last at least for two months to the next oncology review and then maybe for a further period. It therefore seems appropriate to acknowledge this and change the blog heading. If all goes well and my PSA does drop then perhaps I can go to As Good As it Gets Phase III. It remains to be seen. Its coming up to 11 o’clock, which is the time I’ve decided to set as my evening drug time. Previously I just took my evening meds at whatever time I decide to crawl of to bed but with the introduction of the Bicalutamide there needs to be a constant time. So I shall take my first dose in a few minutes and then potter about for a while before taking myself off to bed. My intention is to train again tomorrow, so lets hope there is no nasty fast onset of side effects. I would be lying if I said I was not anxious, I am. Into the dark.
Tuesday and I wake up to find my partner having gone out and my eldest daughter having gone to work to collect some IT. As I get up there is a phone call from a friend who is catching up after some time away. We chat for a while and then we get on with our days. I make myself a bacon bagel and a coffee and settle down to review my e-mails. In the process of the review I try logging on to the “work” sector of my phone and to my amazement it actually works. I’ve been struggling for months to get to work to no avail, but all of a sudden it works. Having achieved this I head for the Shed adn spend the next hour or so writing letters. I am keeping one eye on the clock as I am expecting a call from the oncologist. I have a quick trip to the post box and then settle down on the sofa to wait for the call. Time rolls by the appointment time so I continue to wait. Eventually “He who made a pact with the devil” rings. We talk for a while, especially about the way my PSA is rising and the accelerating rate at which it is rising. He suggests a two month review with scans in January. I ask about the previous conversation that included new medication. We have a conversation about the possibility of starting the new medication now so that it can be part of the review in February. He says there are no right answers in this. I decide to go for it. My reason for going for it is that it gives me a sense of control over an area that I had thought I had no control over. I had accepted that I can control my life style, fitness, food, exercise but that I cannot control my cell biochemistry and it is that that determines my PSA . In turn this indicates the progress of my cancer. Therefore to be able to make a decision that affects my cell biochemistry and to make it happen quickly seems to me to be an opportunity not to miss. There are of course risks, there always are but this way it will be possible to tell if the change is affecting the rate of PSA rise sooner rather than later, in fact at least two months earlier and probably longer. It is a gamble.
We have a further discussion about the mechanics of the decision and how it will work. The proposed medication is Bicalutamide, a tablet taken once a day. The decision is made and I agree to pick up the prescription from the hospital in due course and then the drug will be managed by my GP. The nurse will call me later when the prescription is ready. I make a final check, apparently I am doing all I can in my lifestyle that can contribute to my survival.
The call ends and I sit for a few moments and google the Macmillan site to see what they say about Bicalutamide. This is what it said:
Hormones are chemicals that our bodies make. Hormones act as messengers and help control how cells and organs work. Hormonal therapies are drugs that change the way hormones are made or how they work in the body.
Most prostate cancers need the hormone testosterone to grow. Almost all testosterone in men is made by the testicles. Bicalutamide blocks testosterone from reaching the cancer cells.
Bicalutamide may be given:
on its own or with other hormonal therapies
for a few weeks when taking hormonal drugs called LHRH agonists to prevent any symptoms getting worse because of a temporary rise in testosterone (called tumour flare)
with other treatments such as surgery (radical prostatectomy) or radiotherapy.
We explain the most common side effects of this treatment here. We also include some less common side effects.
You may get some of the side effects we mention, but you are unlikely to get all of them. If you are also having treatment with other cancer drugs, you may have some side effects that we have not listed here.
You will see a doctor, nurse or pharmacist regularly while you are having this treatment. Always tell them about any side effects you have. They can give you drugs to help control most side effects. They can also offer advice to help you cope.
Most side effects can be managed. But sometimes side effects are harder to control. It is important not to stop taking hormonal therapy without telling your doctor. If side effects cannot be managed, your doctor may suggest you take a different type of hormonal therapy.
Serious and life-threatening side effects
Some cancer treatments can cause severe side effects. Rarely, these may be life-threatening. Your cancer doctor or nurse can explain the risk of these side effects to you.
Contact the hospital
Your nurse will give you telephone numbers for the hospital. If you feel unwell or need advice, you can call them at any time of the day or night. Save these numbers in your phone or keep them somewhere safe.
More information
We cannot list every side effect for this treatment. There are some rare side effects that are not listed. You can visit the electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) for more detailed information.
Hot flushes are a common side effect of this treatment. During a flush, your neck and face may feel warm and look red. Flushes may last from a few seconds up to 10 minutes. You may have sweats and then feel cold and clammy. Some people feel anxious or irritable during a hot flush.
There are things you can do to try to reduce flushes:
Wear clothes made from natural fabrics, such as cotton.
Wear layers of clothes that you can remove if you feel hot.
Use cotton bed sheets and have layers of bedding that you can remove if you feel hot.
Keep room temperatures cool or use a fan.
Have cold drinks rather than hot ones. Try to avoid drinks with caffeine in them.
You may have fewer hot flushes and sweats as your body adjusts to hormonal treatment. Or your doctor can prescribe drugs to help. Flushes and sweats usually stop a few months after treatment finishes, but some people continue to have them.
This treatment may cause swelling and tenderness of your breast tissue. This is called gynaecomastia. Your doctor can give you advice on preventing and treating this.
Sexual effects
Most men lose their sex drive and have erection problems during hormonal therapy. Things often return to normal after you stop taking the drug. But some men continue to have problems after treatment is over. Your doctor can prescribe treatments to help with erection problems. But these treatments will not increase your sex drive.
Tiredness
Feeling tired is a common side effect. Try to pace yourself and plan your day so you have time to rest. Gentle exercise, like short walks, can give you more energy. If you feel sleepy, do not drive or operate machinery.
Anaemia (low number of red blood cells)
This treatment can reduce the number of red blood cells in your blood. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. If the number of red blood cells is low, this is called anaemia. You may have symptoms such as:
pale skin
lack of energy
feeling breathless
feeling dizzy and light-headed.
Tell your doctor or nurse if you have these symptoms.
If you are very anaemic, you may need a drip to give you extra red blood cells. This is called a blood transfusion.
Skin changes
This treatment may affect your skin. It may cause a rash, which might be itchy. Your doctor or nurse can tell you what to expect. If your skin feels dry, try using an unperfumed moisturising cream every day.
Always tell your doctor or nurse about any changes to your skin. They can give you advice and may prescribe creams or medicines to help. Skin changes usually improve when treatment finishes.
Some people are more sensitive to the sun during treatment and need to take extra precautions to protect their skin.
Weight gain and loss of muscle strength
You may put on weight when you are having this treatment. This will often be around your waist. You may also lose some muscle strength. Eating healthily and being active can help you keep to a healthy weight. Your doctor, nurse or a dietitian can give you more advice.
Feeling sick
You may feel sick when you are having this treatment. This is usually mild. If you feel sick, your doctor can give you tablets to help. It may also help to take your bicalutamide tablets with food.
Loss of appetite
This treatment can affect your appetite. Do not worry if you do not eat much for a day or two. But if your appetite does not come back after a few days, tell your nurse or dietitian. They will give you advice. They may give you food or drink supplements.
Constipation
This treatment can cause constipation. Constipation means that you are not able to pass stools (poo) as often as you normally do. It can become difficult or painful. Here are some tips that may help:
Drink at least 2 litres (3½ pints) of fluids each day.
Eat high-fibre foods, such as fruit, vegetables and wholemeal bread.
Do regular gentle exercise, like going for short walks.
If you have constipation, contact the hospital for advice. Your doctor can give you drugs called laxatives to help.
Tummy pain
You may get pain or discomfort in your tummy area (abdomen). You may also feel bloated or have indigestion or wind. Peppermint capsules, mint tea or charcoal tablets may help with indigestion or wind. Tell your doctor if your symptoms do not improve or if they get worse. They can give you drugs to help.
Dizziness or drowsiness
Tell your doctor or nurse if you have either of these symptoms. It’s important not to drive or operate machinery if you feel this way.
Hair changes
Your hair may become thinner when you are taking this treatment. This is usually mild. Ask your nurse for advice if you are worried about this.
Some men notice their hair gets thicker during treatment.
Mood changes
You may have some mood changes during this treatment. You may feel low or depressed. Let your doctor or nurse know if you notice any changes.
Blood in your urine
You may have blood in your urine while taking bicalutamide. Tell your doctor or nurse if you notice this.
Effects on the liver
Treatment may affect how your liver works. This is usually mild. You will have blood tests to check how well your liver is working. Tell your doctor if you notice any yellowing of your skin or eyes.
Effects on the heart
This treatment can affect the way your heart works. Your doctor may do tests to see how well your heart is working. You may have these tests before, during, and sometimes after treatment.
Contact a doctor straight away if you:
have pain or tightness in your chest
feel breathless or dizzy
feel your heart is beating too fast or too slowly.
Other conditions can cause these symptoms. But it is important to get them checked by a doctor.
In essence I am going to have a second chemical trying to block testosterone reaching my cancer. This drug is usually given as a precursor to the degralex that I had initially. Because of my circumstances it appears that I missed this stage out and now the strategy seems to be to put that step back in. The side affect list is as awesomely inclusive as ever, that’s part of the risk but I will be lucky to get away with out any at all.
I ring my sister on her landline. She had rung just as we were waiting for the hospital so it was not possible to talk. We chat and I am relieved that the engineer turned up and was able to sort out the line fault. While there he also checked the broad band speed and found it barely functioning so sorted that out as well. So a very good outcome. I had not long finished my call with my sister when my youngest daughter arrived bringing her washing and Christmas presents. I get on the internet and sort out a pantomime ticket for her adn in due course we all pile into a car and drive into Leicester and the De Montfort Hall. We pull into an almost empty car park, have our COVID status checked and have a coffee. We go into the hall and find our seats. Then the fun begins. There is nothing like a pantomime and it was clear the kids loved it all.
I am glad I decided to do this on oncology day, it is the ideal antidote to all the crap that cancer plants in my head. We go home, order an Indian takeaway and eat around the table. A strange serial is on TV but I get on with writing the blog. Tomorrow I will drive over to the hospital and collect my drugs and start my new drugs, a kind of Christmas present to myself. Time to buckle down to training and new treatment regime. I hope my hair does not fallout again. Tomorrow I need to decide if this is still as good as it gets or whether my blog needs a new heading.
Monday, its Santa run day, which means toast, coffee and car juggling on the drive. This time it also means checking to see if my missing blood results are in. They are not. It pisses me off but it is what it is, time to go to London to do the Santa drop to my sister. I drive off with my eldest daughter beside me into the still murky dark morning. Its a route I ‘ve done many times before, M1, M25, M4 and jiggly bit at the end and there I am. About two hours give or take depending on how many miles of road works there are and restricted speed limits.
The journey goes okay, and we arrive about 10:45. We sit in and chat for a while. I have a look at the landline phone as it appears not to be working but cannot see anything obviously wrong apart from the lack of a dialling tone, one of the more crucial elements of a working phone. I contact the BT help bot and get it to test the landline. Within 15 minutes it comes back saying it has tested the line and found a fault so it wants to send an engineer. I reply indicating “soon as” and in thirty minutes it it comes back with an appointment time for the next morning. I rely the information to my sister so she can be in just in case they need to come onto the property. I ring her mobile and find it is not charged and goes straight to voice mail so we put it on charge, set the time and date display and then everything is hunky dory. So with luck by Tuesday afternoon everything will be sorted and my sister can give us a ring on the landline. We stay till early afternoon, exchange presents and then head back to the motorway.
The drive back goes better than the drive down and even with a quick comfort break we arrive back just as it is getting dark. A cup of coffee and I settle into the evening, doing a crossword, putting the decoration storage boxes back in the loft and stringing the Christmas cards in the lounge. I watch a film and write the blog and what I am really doing is passing time to midnight. Its the last time that my missing bloods can turn up. Tomorrows oncology review is going to be a farce without the PSA result so if its not available I foresee weeks of pissing around ahead. Still perhaps there will be a midnight miracle or the oncologist will have the results.
STOP PRESS 12:30 THE RESULTS ARE IN:
Creatine, Alb and Potassium have all slipped out of the normal range this time, Urea has slipped further out of range in an upward direction, eGFR (kidney function) has slipped a bit more below 60, the norm. The biggest issue is the 0.9 rise in my PSA level. That’s almost double the rise in the same length of time from last time. So that’s an increasing rate. My guess is that on this alone they will give me more scans and if they are the same suggest I start new chemo. It is what I expected. Hoped for better but the logic in the biochemistry is relentless and undeniable. So review with the oncologist tomorrow and then Christmas, after that a new year and new challenges. I’m off to bed, perchance to dream.
Sunday and I wake quite late, which is unusual as the symptoms of my prostate cancer gets me up several times a night. The consequences of this is that I never wake up feeling refreshed or with a sense of having slept. Its such a change from the days when I would got to bed and just “die” and wake up the following morning feeling refreshed and renewed. Anyway I wake up and take a shower, a coffee and my morning drugs. I check the “patient view” app but there is still no sign of my missing blood results. I try to be cool about it but at root I am anxious. My bet is that I will have to wait till at least gone midnight tonight for the next data download. I pondered over what I was going to wear, which was complicated by the arrival of my impulse buy Christmas jumper. In the end I went for smart casual, which I think I rock pretty well, judge for yourself.
Smart Casual my way.
We drive to our friends golf club to join them for a Christmas lunch. It is a real pleasure to spend time eating and chatting with friends. Much of the conversation was about COVID and what effect it will have on Christmas and the New Year. I think we shared the expectation that there are more restrictions to come. We enjoy our time and then exchange presents before driving home through the misty gloom of the afternoon. Once home I shed the smart casual and switch in to trying on my new Christmas jumper, which I definitely like and can feel myself wearing it a lot. I think it makes an interesting comparison to the smart casual.
I like this.
Having had my vanity moment I settle down to wrap more presents and to tag a lot that had already been done. Its getting to be that time of year when finding hiding place for parcels and packages becomes tricky. As the evening approaches its time for a snack and then I get sofa bound to watch the Sports Personality of The Year. By a third of the way through I am already bored and start to write the blog in preparation for my dashing to bed at midnight once I’ve checked for my blood results. Tomorrow is the London Santa run.
Saturday, and my first thought is the rest of my blood results. I check my phone App. Still not complete, and it stays that way all day. So I shall be sitting up till past midnight again to see if they get posted at that time. Of course I will be writing the blog and watching American football while I wait.
The day continues with breakfast and then we take a trip to the garden centre to top up with food and back up presents. Having secured these its time to go to our local Wickes to raid their shelves for yet more Christmas gifts. Then its home and time to start doing the Christmas decorations. At this time I get a delivery from a supplier who should have sent it to someone else, so irritating. I take a break to readdress the package and get it over to the post office. It wont get collected till Monday and delivered on Tuesday, but it will arrive pre Christmas. First step is to get the tree in the holder and then get up into the loft to get the decoration boxes. After that it hours of wrangling the lights, hanging the baubles and spreading the tinsel. The result is the transformation of a bare tree to a Christmas miracle.
From this to …
This!
As I am engrossed in the transformation process our friends ring to tell us that tomorrows cancelled Christmas meal is back on at a different venue. So I have a Christmas dinner to look forward to tomorrow lunchtime and the opportunity to spend exchange presents and Christmas stories. The transformation is complete just as dinner is ready in preparation for the grand final of “Strictly”. Of course the family is glued to the final and we all vote for Rose, which we are convinced swing it in her favour. The right result. This is followed by a film, but I am preoccupied really by wondering if my remaining blood results will be available. So I end my evening writing the blog and waiting for midnight. Midnight comes and I check my “patient view” app for the results. Its 12:11 but no more blood results. Experience tells me there is no point in waiting any long so I take myself to bed wondering if the system is just slow or one of my bloods has gone missing.
Friday, bloods day. I am up and ready, I get to the GP, sit in the reception area. I am uncomfortable and then realise that I have not got my blood form. I go home and get it adn then dash back to the GP surgery. All good for my step count for the day. I get called in to find the nurse was delayed anyway as she had had to do an emergency ECG, which explained why a receptionist was standing outside with a couple waiting for an ambulance. I get my blood taken and go home to breakfast and coffee.
The day is a blur with highlights, buying a Christmas tree, taking my eldest daughter to have her booster jab and a call from a friend. There was a spider man film and some TV dross till it gets to midnight and some of my blood results come in, but not the crucial PSA result. My white blood cell count is up, good, my platelet count is up and normal, good. My haemoglobin level is up and in the normal range. So far so good. Its 00:41 and the rest of my results still have not been posted. I watch mixed martial arts fights and wait. Its 1 am, I go to bed none the wiser on the important markers.
