Day three. Up and down.

Gosh where do I start? Today's another big IV push day. Have had five small IV's already and I have three liters of saline waiting to flush it all out over the next 8 hours or so.
The last of the Cytarabine went in last night, and tomorrow see's the last of the Dexamethasone.
It's the Dex that has the most affect on how I feel. It's an industrial strength steroid. One minute I'm up and feeling like I can do anything and the next, like now, I feel flat.

Guess what! There's no sign of the Neumega.. just as I predicted. I'm not too concerned as this gives me an excellent opportunity to do a direct comparison of blood counts, without Goji, versus with Goji. My nadir is still about seven days away so we can compare the counts as they drop over the coming days and if it's looking like it's going to bottom out like last time we can still take action with platelet transfusions etc.. perhaps Neumega will magically appear.. who knows.

I had a massage after lunch from Bela, and from there I popped down to the gym and did a few basic exercises to build up my arms and shoulders as they have lost a lot of condition. Felt good too! I'll try and get down there everyday if only for twenty minutes or so.
Another bit of good news is my weight, it's up to 75kg's. This means that it's no longer being held back by Hodgkin's, so another positive sign. Those of you that saw me looking gaunt and sickly after radiation treatment, and may well be expecting to see me in a few weeks looking hairless and thin are in for a surprise.. I've gained weight and lost none of my hair.. in fact it's growing quite well now . I'll be returning looking a lot healthier than when I left!

Talking about healthy things.. I've been looking on Google Earth for the nearest McDonalds, and I've found one in Bad Tolz! It's in the new part of the town, a place I have so far not ventured to.
Yeah I know I shouldn't.. but heck It will be sooo good to taste familiar food again.. a Big Mac and a choc shake... hmmm... just hope there's no salt or ham anywhere near it!
I've also raided the DVD selection that they have here, I've seen almost all of them, but have 'backed up' a couple of them to watch again on my DVR or Laptop over the next few days.

I met some new people this morning at breakfast, Rhonda is here supporting her 34 y/o son Ryan. She joined me at my table so we didn't have to shout across the restaurant. I gave her a brief version of my case history (That's still a twenty minute monologue) and then we were joined by Eleanor. She's back for more treatment. I was on a steroid high at about that time of the morning and it's amazing how sharp your mind becomes. The complete opposite of the 'chemo-brain' that follows treatment and can last for months. Anyway both of them started asking me questions about drugs, treatments.. all sorts of things.. and you know what? I had all the answers! They just poured out of me.. all those hundreds of hours of reading that I thought I'd forgotten, all there. Amazing!. such a shame that once off the steroids life becomes hell for a couple of days as I go cold Turkey.
The other people I met was Emilio and his wife, also Americans. I have yet to have a decent conversation with them, but I'm sure that will occur in time. We just introduced ourselves briefly as our paths crossed leaving the restaurant.

I had my daily meeting with Dr D, that went well as I was still on the steroid high, I pretty much told him what we should do from here. I asked him for calcium to offset the bone loss from the Dexamethasone, a couple of things for my digestive system, which has yet again shut down.
I said I was not too concerned about the Neumega and explained why. I said I'd like to review where we were at blood count-wise on Sunday. If the counts are still heading down then we shall look at GCSF and Neumega. I wonder what it's like for them having a patient that can talk on their level. It must be good in that they don't have to dumb everything down, but then they also know that they have to get their facts right or risk being caught out. I remember there were mentions of this on my file back in Wgtn. They probably think I'm a pain in the neck :) Good!

Oh one thing that did get me worried.. not treatment related.. was Dr D asked about how I found my time in the thermotherapy chamber yesterday. He then started to say something along the lines of enjoying my time with Dr G.. but stopped. I'm starting to think maybe he's read my blog! All those posts about "hot dates"... maybe my humour was lost in translation ...maybe he thinks I enjoy it ...maybe I'm paranoid...