Cycle 3 starts

I arrived back on the ward early yesterday evening to be greeted by the usual friendly faces
My nurse this morning was greeted by something other than a friendly face, she had the misfortune to enter my room right at the moment that I had chosen to stretch over from my bed to the window to open the blinds, in doing so I exposed my near naked butt to the door my nurse had just walked through, leading to a different type blinding. "Nevermind" she squeaked as she shielded her eyes, "I have seen it all before", then she walked over sculled my coffee, which was international roast, and ran out the door.

I'm not sure if it was dry retching or laughter that I could hear later on, maybe the nurses here are mere mortals after all, who woulda thunk it? Nonetheless, she soon composed herself to ensure that my first dose of chemo for this cycle ran smoothly and on time, which is proof that they are the most godlike mortals currently walking our humble realm. However, anyone who can scull international roast must be a god...hmm, confusing.
By the way here are the taste receptors for international roast:

It's a bit scary how many friendly faces and names I know here these days. In the 6 years I have been coming here I think I have now spent time in every one of the patient areas of the hospital except for the radiation therapy bunkers, I'm quite happy to give those a miss.
The chemo regime for this cycle is exactly the same as for the preceding two, so I won't bore you with the details again except to say that things are going well. If you are interested then the details are in a previous post.
In the last couple of days prior to this last cycle of chemo I started to feel a bit blasé about the whole about the whole high dose chemo thing, possibly because it is the last cycle, possibly because the previous two cycles went pretty well, and possibly because I am living in the glow of the good news about my tumour markers. While it is good to bask in the sunshine of some good news I need to refocus on this cycle of treatment as to do otherwise could lead to a lack of vigilance on my part, it is good to have a positive outlook, it is dumb to assume that the third cycle will go well just because the first two cycles did. The third cycle is more risky simply because it is the third cycle and my body is much weaker than it was three months ago. I got through the first two cycles fairly well because I was focused, vigilant and worked hard, it's time to do all that again for about 20 days, then I will celebrate!
Cheers, Pete

Wow.

I had one of my key appointments today to review where things are at and to plan the third and final cycle of high dose chemo. The first bit of news is that I am being re-admitted to hospital for chemo on Sunday.
The other bit of news is truly extraordinary, my main tumour marker (betaHCG) was measured as less than 1, any value below 4 is considered to be normal. The test was done on the 23rd of April, which was probably before the second dose of high dose chemo had time to take full effect, so to have such a great result so early in the process is so good that it is overwhelming.This final cycle of chemo should truly kick some cancer butt, and I now have a great deal of confidence that we have beaten it for the third time.
High dose chemo has a lot of of inherent risk associated with it, which is why it is only used when absolutely necessary, the flipside of that is that when it works it usually works very well, there are no guarantees that I am cured for good, but the evidence suggests that I can look to the future with a great deal of hope that we have won.
When I first got the news I was ecstatic, but as we walked home I struggled to believe it was true, I had heard the words from the consultants lips and had seen the numbers on the screen but I was just stunned at my good fortune, when I got home I had to keep checking the printout of the results...not many people get this lucky. I feel stunned, overjoyed, humbled and oh so grateful.

Walked to the hospital via the gardens today and yesterday, it is only about 1.5k each way but I was worn out by the time I got home, it's not the first time I have felt knackered after a trip to the hospital... When walking through the gardens it was strangely comforting to be greeted by the roar of chainsaws as a couple of trees were removed... it reminded me so much of Tassie, where no tranquil moment can go unshattered by some clown with a chainsaw, the only difference between here and Tassie is that instead of echoing around the hills the sound was echoing off the buildings. I've been told that I won't be a proper taswegian until I own a chainsaw of my own.
Leafblower people were also busily making a racket as they went about the futile task of clearing the paths of leaves at a rate slower than that which the trees drop their golden rain. I hear it is difficult to get an appointment with a psychologist this time of year as they are booked out by leáfblower people whose spirit has finally been broken by the realisation that no matter how high tech their leafblower gets, they just aren't going to win:

Besides, if you look closely at an autumn leaf these days you will discover that they have evolved a new strategy to combat the leaf blower, they now simply stay aloft long enough to ensure the operator gets bored and moves on, then the leaf gently glides back to the precise location it was blown from:

We were also interested to see a plane sky writing the words "Lara marry me" above us as we walked, we were surprised too see a second plane join the first to write a very large "NO" in the sky before the first plane had even finished... (ok now I am just making stuff up, there was a second plane, but it flew right on by).
Cheers, Pete.

Happy Easter?

It's Orthodox Easter! Or was, I think it's all over now.
Turns out that the apartments we are staying in are next door to a Greek Orthodox church, We only discovered this on Friday evening when I was on the phone to from hospital to Robyn and I could hear singing and chanting in the background. Ah Hah, so this is what Robyn does while I am in hospital, how dare she invite over her hippy friends for a love in while I am stuck in hospital!! Turns out I was wrong. Again. Truth is that the congregation from next door were carrying an image of Christ through the streets, singing as they went. There was another event at the church at midnight on Saturday, and there was more singing coming from next door on Sunday morning. Unlike a lot of church congregations I have heard, this one is quite tuneful, so it's all very pleasant.
For those who don't know, Melbourne has a huge Greek community, at one time time it had the second largest Greek speaking population of any city in the world behind Athens (and that may still be true).
The Greeks are just one of a huge number of ethnic communities that make up this city, all of whom have contributed far more to this country than they have ever taken (except for the first of the English arrivals, they took an entire continent in exchange for planting a flag... but that's another story).

As for me, things are very good, it is very nice to be home (or at least back at the apartment that passes for home at the moment). I am eating and sleeping well and I have more energy than I have had for weeks, it still does not take much to wear me out but I am getting better each day and I am looking forward to getting out and about and generally romping about in the autumn leaves during the sunny autumn weather that is predicted for this week. All in all I should be in pretty good shape by the time the third and last cycle of high dose chemo comes around on the 13th.
Cheers, Pete

 

 

Polly waffle

I have been noticing some changes in polly of late, I'm not sure if I should be concerned. She has gone from looking like this:

 To this:

 

I'm not sure what it means. Has she just stacked on a few kilos? I never see her eat (although she drinks too much), and the rest of her is as painfully skinny as ever:

Maybe she is just very pleased with herself and she has grow a fat head. It could not possibly be the case that she is pregnant with twins because I swear that nothing has ever happened between us on those oh so long, cold, lonely nights in hospital... Sure my judgement may have been impaired by my medications from time to time, but seriously people, look at her, it's not even physically possible. Not that I have even tried!

I dunno, maybe it is just new hairdo. Yep, that must be it.

Cheers, Pete.

Breaking News!!!

I'm excited to let you know that I am being discharged today, that is four full days ahead of schedule. It would be a massive understatement to say I am happy about that. At this stage readmission for the third and last cycle of chemo is planned for Monday the thirteenth of May, that gives a me a much longer break between cycles than last time and it gives me plenty of time to prepare for cycle three.
Can't wait to get some fresh air, then good hot bath is in order for as soon as I get home to help my weary muscles and bones. Ahhh feels good already.