One last reprieve

Me and mum headed in to the hospital this morning for my blood count, and got a bit of a scare when one of the nurses mentioned in passing that the plan was for me to stay in the hospital that day. Luckily, nobody could suggest any real reason why I should stay other than that it wasn't the weekend; my neutrophils are still climbing, and my platelets still aren't high enough to start the next treatment. Thus, we managed to wrangle one more day on the outside. We headed home via the supermarket, where we picked up some food; we'd invited Gran down for dinner.

I made myself some nachos for lunch, then Gran McKernan and my Aunt Jean came for a wee visit. They were both pretty happy to see me after such a long time, gran especially; I think she's been a bit worried that the strict limitations on visitors would be kept up even while I was home. We had some tea, but they eventually left before dinner itself; I went upstairs and had a little nap before dinnertime.

Mum made a really nice macaroni cheese with roast potatoes and parsnips, and some Brussels sprouts. I think I ticked sprouts on the menu at the hospital, as well, when it looked like I might be in for Monday Supper; I'm glad I got the ones at home instead, and I don't even like sprouts. After dinner, we participated in the great family activity of watching television for an hour or two; I got a little tired, eventually, so I headed upstairs and had a rest before organising some files and CDs and stuff to take back into the hospital with me tomorrow. I've got enough now by way of games and so on that I should be able to survive the next phase of treatment.

Speaking of treatment, one of the things about being home is that I've had to self-administer, and therefore pay attention to, my medicines; normally I just get a little cup of pills each morning/lunchtime/dinnertime/bedtime, and knock these back without thinking too much about what's in them. Here's a roll-call of what I've been on since I got home — bear in mind that these are just my normal everyday meds, nothing special or chemotherapy-ish: Domperidone, the Champagne of antiemetics, four times a day; Omeprazole, further anti-sickness, in the morning; Fluconazole, prophylaxis against fungal infection, mornings; Aciclovir, prophylaxis against viral infection, mornings and night; Co-trimoxazole, prophylaxis against bacterial infection, Monday morning; Dexamethasone, steroids, mornings; Laculose and senna, laxatives, morning and night. Phew.

Tomorrow sounds like it's the start of phase two of my treatment, the consolidation stage. Stay tuned for word of all the exciting chemotherapies I'll be getting over the next five weeks!