Sunday 30th May

I managed to finish my course of chemo without throwing up once. That's not to say I don't feel ill, or tired, or that my lower back's not giving me grief.

I started on Tuesday moring at about 5 in the morning. The previous day's dose of Rituximab left me very tired so I went to bed when I got home from hospital. However, this meant I was awake in the small hours feeling restless. So I got up and made myself a drink and then took my first dose  of Cyclophosphamide pills, six tiny white pills. I also took an anti-nausea pill as a precaution. I have to wait an hour before I can eat anything but the time soon went by. I went back to bed and started to read but tiredness overcame me and so I slept until late in the morning. This time I got up and dressed.
My instructions are to drink plenty of fluid but this may actually increase my nausea. It certainly makes me feel hungry as my stomach contracts, so my day was interspersed with numerous snacks. I have, however, stopped eating chocolate, because I couldn't just eat a chunk ot two. I was eating the whole bar at a sitting. No problem if they're tiny snack sized bars, but people were buying me the 400g bars and I was devouring them in a day or two.
Is chocolate addictive?
My son has his own fridge next to ours and I notice that the salad tray is packed full of chocolate Easter eggs. Am I tempted to help myself?
Only when the door is open.
I have to take some more pills each lunchtime. These are called Fludarabine and I take five tiny pills each day. So down they go with some more water, followed by cups of tea.
I enjoy watching professional cycling on the TV and this week has been the final stages of the Giro D'Italia, so I set the timer for that and tried to watch it in between finishing the codeword in the paper, and dozing in the chair.
Even so, I'm ready for bed by nine or so, and I fall off to sleep...

Only to wake at about four or five the next morning. I've seen the sun come up every morning this week, and heard the dawn chorus as well.

This was my schedule all this last week.
As the week progressed I increased the dose of anti-nausea pills to the maximum and I managed to survive without being sick, and I consider that a minor triumph.

On Wednesday evening Sue and I went out for an hour down to the Cherry Tree pub in town. Chris was playing his final dress rehearsal prior to his band's appearance at the Glastonbudget festival in deepest Leicestershire and I wanted to see how they're progressing.
It's been a tough old slog for them to get the band ready, with two personnel changes in the last year and a constant refining and honing to get the sound and image right.
They sounded great, but a bit loud when I went down the front to take a picture. My ears are no longer used to the volume. I can't stand up for very long either, so we stayed less than an hour before Sue, ever mindful of the fragile state of my immune system, took me home.

So that's been my week. Chris said that his band played well and attracted a good audience, although he couldn't hear any guitar, just his drums and Iziggy's vocals. Ah, the good old days.
When I played in Left Hand Drive all I could ever hear was my guitar and a bit of drums. I could never hear the vocals and I was singing!
That might account for the tinnitis then.

So here I am on Sunday morning, looking forward to breakfast, the Formula One, the final stage of the Giro later this afternoon, and three weeks of recovery before I do it all again, hopefully for the final time.