Friday..

I had every intention of posting something yesterday but I just couldn't find the energy to drag my laptop out of it's bag and write. It was a big day.
Sarah and I arrived bright and early at 7:45am and met with Kate who is filling in for Catherine the Bone Marrow Transplant coordinator while she is away. I asked if she had the results from my CT and GFR (kidney) scans. She did.

My kidneys are in great shape and despite all the previous chemo are functioning within the normal range.
The CT scan shows what I was expecting. Almost all previous areas of involvement have resolved. There is no sign of the nodes that were affecting my lungs (hence the absence of that cough) and the nodes behind my heart also are no longer visible on CT. There is just one small lymph node that is 6-8mm in size in my lower throat region. This is not large enough to be of any concern.

This is great news as it means that there is very little work for the high dose chemo to do. Most of my cancer seems to have been wiped out by the preconditioning chemo of last month. No wonder I have been feeling so good these last couple of weeks!

One of the first things to happen yesterday was the insertion of a PICC line into my right arm. This is a long hollow wire that is placed on the inside of the bicep and runs via a vein towards my heart finishing in one of the main arteries. The line is 38cm long and despite being only about 1mm in diameter it is a duel filament that can flow chemo on one side and be used to take blood from the other simultaneously. It's a lot better than having those IV cannula's placed into my ever shrinking veins and blood tests are a breeze now, rather than a challenge.

As for the actual chemo, I had Carmustine yesterday along with 5 litres of saline to flush my kidneys. Two litres before and three after. Today I had Etoposide followed by Cytarabine all washed down with a side order of Dexamethasone, Metoclopramide and Tropisitron. The latter three being a steroid and two anti-emetics designed to stop me from throwing up. So far they appear to be working as I feel reasonably well despite the chemical cocktail.

I've now been un-hooked from the IV pump and have the rest of the day to myself. There's not anywhere I can go though as I have no transport, So will probably just go for a walk around the hospital. Kurt tells me that one of the hoists at the workshop needs urgent servicing.. It's both frustrating and typical that it happens when I'm not there to sort it out.

Anyway it's good that I'm still feeling OK after the first 24 hours of chemo, another four days to go.. finger firmly crossed.