Two thirds of the way through.....
A relatively sedate pair of Jimmy Choo's and some fab socks from Jude (sorry for any offense caused) were the order of the day for those keen to know the chosen footwear for this cycle.
We set out from home in a positive frame of mind, with a first stop to drop Briony off at school. However, the world did not seem to be aware that we were in a positive frame of mind. They had shut the main road through our village, which then meant that all of the cars had to go down one narrow lane with very few passing spaces. We gave up after about 20 minutes and drove several miles in the opposite direction to try and by-pass it all. Finally we managed! There were a few frantic phone calls to both the school and the hospital to explain. But no huge drama.
The pre-chemo chat didn't take long ("What side effects have you had?" "None". Job done). Weigh in revealed that I am now back up to the weight I was at the first cycle. I should be grateful for this but there is a little bit of me hoping that maybe the side effects will kick in this cycle again as I have a couple of spa days coming up. Is that very wrong? My blood counts are also better than they were at the beginning of this whole adventure, so I'm hoping that will carry me through this cycle without any issues. Keep your fingers crossed.
Chemo itself was very uneventful and once again I was reminded that it is one of the easier parts of this. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. I also feel very well supported by the team. It does make me a little nervous of how I will feel when this piece of the treatment is over. Apparently this is completely normal as you have to try and learn to trust your body again, which is no small ask given it got me into this mess in the first place!
I'm grateful for chemo for a variety of different reasons, but one of the unexpected reasons is actually having the time to sit and properly talk to people and not feel rushed. Paul and I had quite good fun going over some fun times from our childhood - memories are wonderful things! We spent some time putting the world to rights as well.
Chemo duly dispensed and the world put to rights we headed off for what has now become the customary post-chemo lunch. My taste buds don't seem to have been as badly affected this time and my appetite certainly hasn't. I packed away a salmon terrine, venison cottage pie and an apple crumble. Yummy. OK, so I did feel a little bit sick on the way home, more than likely due to the large amount of food ingested, but obviously I blamed the chemo. The first terrine had to go back as when it arrived it had 2 large black hairs placed strategically across it. I had a head-scarf on, so did make a comment to the waiter that it wasn't my hair! He responded that it wasn't his either as he had a shaved head! Quite amusing......
I know from my obsessive diary keeping that the first 2-3 days of the cycle are pretty good, probably because the drugs I take just before chemo are still working their way out of my body. So this cycle I have taken full advantage of it and managed to meet up with some friends. I've just come back from a lovely lunch with some of the Mums from Briony's class. I am pretty tired though - this seems to be building each cycle so will head off to bed shortly.
And so on to my other obsession - keeping myself out of trouble and disinfecting everything for the next 10 days or so. Stephen, Briony, you have been warned!
Happy half term everyone.
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