Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Real time, almost

Well the idea for the last two weeks was to get this blog up to date so that it works at real time. I have a good day or something interesting happens and I'll post it that day. Well due to one thing or another, being tired mostly, it's only just happening!

I've just been to clinic this afternoon to make sure my blood is healthy enough for another bombardment from the chemo drugs. Good news, it's all go for tomorrow so bring it on. I saw one of the people I got chatting to last chemo and they're going to be there tomorrow which is nice in a way. So many friendships are built during difficult periods of life and Western Park is testament to this, not only friendships with other patients but with the staff too.

Well nothing particularly interesting has happened over the last couple of weeks other than Wendy's sister and family coming up for the weekend which was brilliant. It coincided with me feeling the most energetic since starting chemo and we went out for a meal at Aagrah which was superb. Not just the food but the company and the feeling of being normal, well as normal as I get! Another normal thing was driving the car, I haven't had much of an attention span recently so I decided to give it a miss, the doctors have said I could but I'd rather have my full faculties available to me!

Oh my hair started falling out, why I'm not sure but it started in the trouser department! Forgive me if I offend but popping to the loo and seeing fur falling out of your fly is quite disconcerting! I ran my hand through my hair and nothing happened so I naively thought it may just be body hair that falls out.
Three days later my hair was coming out in chunks, quite amusing when you can offer friends and family a whole locket full of hair and it doesn't hurt in the slightest. According to Wendy I was starting to look very moth eaten from the rear, as this was rubbing on pillows and the sofa it was starting to wear out quicker than the front. As we don't have hair clippers it was the beard trimmer which were drafted into use. For my chin they do a great job, for my head not so great, especially when the battery is only half charged! Wend did the honours out in the back garden, the birds would use the hair for bedding, possibly. Problem was I looked like an escapee from a psychiatric unit, all I needed to do was rock backwards and forwards to complete the look.

Off down Hillsborough I went to get it finished off. First port of call, five minutes walk from our house was fella's, sat down read the prices and up and out I went. 15 pounds 50 pence for a flipping hair cut, what are they thinking? Mind you they had a cue and they're always busy so perhaps it's me that's out of touch. Ten minutes up the road is a more traditional barber with more traditional prices! Three quid later and the job was done!

The problem now is that the hairs that are left don't have follicals and so the dig back into my head when I lay down or rest my head on something they dig back in like thousands of little needles. This is where my family come into it, a roll of masking tape and Wendy and my nephew Jacob start playing naughts and crosses on the top of my head! It started out as I was messing around, as you do, trying to pull out the little hairs. Jake found the best technique, he put the tape on and then dragged in the direction of growth. This left any hairs which were still growing in place but pulled off the the loose ones. I slept much more soundly that night.

Jake had had a busy day, considering he was only stopping with us for a couple of days and was only meant to be shopping and helping out here. That morning he'd gone into town for some trainers and come back having been the witness at a wedding in the town hall! Then that evening he spent half an hour removing his uncles hair! For a lad from deepest darkest wet welsh Wales it was a bit different to the norm.

My beard is still coming out as is other hair but it's not as spectacular nor does the bedding need hoovering in the morning!

So chemo tomorrow, I'm a bit nervous as this is stepping up of drugs in my body. Each dose lasts six weeks so as I'm three weeks in I will effectively have one and a half lots in me. Does this mean I'll have one and half lots of side effects or be one and a half times as tired. I don't know and I won't know until the start of next week when the next load of steroids will drop off.

I feel incredibly lucky. I have a really good chance of beating this little f****r and the best of British medical knowledge are fighting for me. My family are amazing and are a wonderful support, my friends are great and keep my up to date with the world outside and are constantly offering help and lifts. Some of the texts and the messages I have received have touched me and have left me smiling and feeling blessed to know some amazing people.

I have a couple of stories about people who are vital to my life and some anecdotes but other than these it will be how the treatment goes and how I feel and my progress so I'm sorry if updates are less frequent but I don't want the blog to be boring!

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