Anniversary from Afar

First things first – I want to wish a happy fourth wedding anniversary to my beautiful wife, Jen. Thousands of miles apart and unable to spend the day together, unfortunately. But she still made sure I had a card to open. She’s the best!

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A Well-Earned Rest (Sort Of)

After a successful stem cell extraction on Tuesday – delivering a solid 3 million troopers – I was rewarded with a day of rest before diving into four days of chemotherapy.

Though it did begin with me being woken up to have the line removed from my neck – not that I’m complaining! Funny thing is, after just a day, I’d kind of stopped noticing it was even there.

In came a nurse, speaking in pretty Russian words that somehow made the whole neck de-tubing experience as pleasant as it could reasonably be. She offered to show me the plastic tubing she’d removed… but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I politely declined.

Then, I was swiftly moved into another room and told to lie flat on the bed. No faffing about here, she was talking as she went, all in Russian. She covered my neck and started prodding around for the best way in.

For someone so efficient and direct, I was surprised she struggled to find a good spot – so instead, she chose a lower vein below my collarbone. Honestly, I much prefer that. It hides below my t-shirt, and I’ve got full neck movement again.

No more sleeping flat Tutankhamun-esque.

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A Birthday Worth Celebrating

Yesterday was Linda’s stem cell birthday – Congratulations!! I’m so pleased for her and her lovely fiancé, Christian. Good times ahead.

We chatted, ate cake – and then I hit the wall (figuratively speaking – I’m no thug). It was only around 6 pm, but thinking about it, this was probably my first day without steroids this week. I should have expected this crash at some point.

I headed back, put on a film, and just slept. Sparko.

Next thing I know, it’s 11 pm. Wow – where did that time go?! Clearly, I needed the sleep more than I thought. I squeezed in a couple of phone calls, then wondered how easy it would be to get back to sleep again.

[Like a bolt to the head – out!]

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And So It Begins…

Knock, knock!

In walks the clatter of my Chemotherapy breakfast. It’s 9:30 am – I’ve slept almost comatose for 15 hours. And to think I stopped taking sleeping pills a couple of nights ago!

Still feeling snug in my surroundings, I roll over slightly and show off my new chemo line.

“How are you?” they ask.
Blood pressure – all good.

Let’s proceed!

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Day 1 – Chemotherapy

Bring out the big guns – the MS won’t know what’s hit it!!

Three hours came and went very smoothly. Other than the occasional loo break. Walking a drip stand toward the toilet and back… is probably an image I’d have preferred to save for my geriatric days.

I’ve put together a little video blog.
The chemotherapy. … and that noise. (It’s on the video.)

I’ve since realised that cutting out steroids might explain why I’m feeling so shattered (slow, sleepy brain over here).

So, depending on your perspective, it’s been a day of action.

If you’re an MS-dwelling, good-for-nothing T-cell, you’ve just had the first taste of the Pain Train that’s about to arrive!!

Or a fella chilling, slowly getting sleepier and sleepier, letting the good stuff do its job.

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Thank You

Thank you for all your fantastic messages today. With everything doing it’s job, I’m really starting to feel tired – so I’ll try to get back to everyone as soon as I can.

Thank you – I really am feeling the love, and it means the world to me. xxx