Round 15

Yep, that's 30 continuous weeks of chemo, and I'm still standing... At 11 o'clock at night!!! OK, you guessed it - it's the steroids!  None the less I'm delighted to say this is the best start to a cycle in weeks:  all because of a blood transfusion...

We've known my red cells had been "down" for a few weeks (contributing to my constant fatigue), but had agreed to try and tackle it via diet and "full nutrition" supplements. This worked, but only partially (I've put on 2 kilos!), so we decided to take Plan A and had a transfusion, which was last Tuesday (2 days ago)  And it quite obviously has done the trick.  But for a couple of days its working was masked by an ongoing bad bout of tummy trouble - which cleared this morning!

So by a matter of only a few hours I was fitter ahead of treatment than I have been for some while, which means I am now enjoying the rewards of being wide awake at 23:30!  But also I'm immediately aware of the cumulative effect of the "cold sensitivity" side effect of Oxyplatin - bare feet on a cool bedroom carpet tingle like mad.

We know this better-than-average start presages the all but certain dip, as my steroid supply runs out, but for the moment we're enjoying feeling well.

In other news... Scan confirmed for "one day next week" - in time for my next consultation with my oncologist; at which we will, I hope make some next step decisions about taking Avastin, and plans for interviews with other specialists.

Oh, and our son's camping holiday in the New Forest is going fantastically well!