Firstly today I would like to start by wishing happy fourth year wedding anniversary to my beautiful wife, Jen. Thousand of miles apart and unable to share our day together unfortunately. Though she still made sure I had a card to open too. She’s the best!

All going well with the stem cell extraction on Tuesday, providing a whole 3 million of the troopers, I was rewarded with a day of rest ahead of the four days chemotherapy I’m about to undertake.

Though it did begin by waking me up to take the line out from my neck, quite pleased about that. Though just a day after it going in, I kind of stopped noticing it was really there. In came a nurse, she had a way with pretty Russian words that made the experience of having a neck de-tubing as pleasant as it could reasonably be. She offered to show me the plastic taken, ignorance can be bliss sometimes – I politely declined.

Then I was swiftly moved into another room, and told to lie flat on the bed. No faffing in this room, she may have asked how my hamster was but it really didn’t sound like it. She covered my neck over and started to prod for the best way in, for someone so merciless I was surprised she found it tricky, and instead chose a lower vein below my collar bone. For all the jokes, I think I prefer much that, it hides below my t-shirt and I’m back to full neck movements again. No more sleeping like Tutankhamun.

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 not antisocial). It was only around 6pm, but thinking about it, this was probably my first day this week without any steroids. So I guess I should have expected this lull coming at some point.

I headed back, put on a film and just slept. Sparko! Next thing I know it’s 11pm, wow where did that time go? Clearly needing the sleep a little more than first thought. Got a couple of phone call’s in, then wondered how easy I was going to return back to sleep again.

[Like a bolt to the head – out!]

Knock knock! In walks the clatter of my Chemotherapy breakfast. It’s 9.30am – I’ve slept almost comatose for 15 hours. And to think that I stopped taking the sleeping pills a couple of nights ago!

Still feeling snug to the comforts around me, I roll over a touch and show off my new Chemo line in. I’m asked how I am? Checked for blood pressures, all good. So let’s proceed!

Day 1 – Chemotherapy
Bring out the guns, the sloth-like MS won’t know what’s hit it!!

Three hours came and went very smoothly indeed. Other than the occasional loo interruptions. Seeing myself pushing a drip towards the sanctuary was certainly something I’d have rather waited to see in my geri’ days.

I’ve done a little video blog. Though I have since worked out that it’s the lack of the steroid I had been living on, that might be why I’m now so tired (my sleepy/slow brain). …oh and now the chemotherapy, and now that noise! (it’s on the video)

So, it’s been a day of action depending which way you’re looking at it. If you’re an MS-dwelling, good for nothing T-cell – you’ve just got a bit of a taste of the Pain Train that’s about to arrive!! Platform ‘get out the bloody way’.

Or you’ve just slowly watched me get a little more sleepy, letting the good stuff do it’s job.

Thank you for everyones fantastic messages today, sadly with everything setting in, I am beginning to feel really sleepy now and will try to get around to them as soon as I can.

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