Wednesday 22nd July 2009

Chemo Cycle 2 Day 3

Boy am I getting bad with these posts!

All going ok with the second cycle so far. I think I am a little more affected by the drugs this time - I've been a little "pale" and lacking in energy for the last couple of days, but I think I'm a bit better today. I'm not as conscious of the steroids kicking in yet, but hopefully I'll be a bit more up for it over the next couple of days.

Because I tolerated the first cycle so well, my oncologist has upped the dose of one of my three chemo drugs - I now have to take double the Etoposide tablets every other day. I've not yet had the results of my chest X-Ray to see if the first cycle has had any noticeable effect, so I'm not sure if the upped dose will make any difference, but we'll see.

Apparently the last cycle will be a good indication of what to expect from this one too, so no mouth ulcers (good thing), but aching leg joints probably starting tonight or tomorrow (bad thing). Doc prescribed me some Tramadol, so she's happy that if it worked last time its fine to use this time, so that means I can start taking it the minute I get the symptoms instead of two or three days in like last time, so hopefully it won't affect my sleep so much this time round.

Good to see Dave W last night on his way back to Edinburgh, but a shame I couldn't join in on the traditional drinking session that his visits usually call for. However, I feel somewhat better than I usually would this morning, so probably no bad thing. I did find out one crap thing last night though - my stomach capacity now means that I can't order enough food from Dominos Pizza to qualify for delivery any more! A small pizza is £5.49 and minimum delivery charge is £7.99. Even with a bottle and a can of coke for Vanda that is still only £7.98 and their systems are not flexible enough to accept that which is irritating! Grrr - Angry from Halifax!

Nice to get a blog comment from another Colin Robb last night - there are not many of us about! I work for a company with nearly half a million employees and I am still the only Colin Robb there, which is great when it comes to finding me in the email list. The number of times I get returned emails from people like "David Smith" with "wrong David Smith" in the title is beyond amusing!

I did come across another Colin Robb once - he was head of one of the Scottish Councils we were selling to several years ago. I hoped that it would mean that we automatically got the business, but they didn't have any money to spend so we were wasting our time. I never actually met the guy but it was nice to know that I wasn't the only one in the world.

There appear to be a couple of others on the net too, but not many, so good to hear from you Col - shame not under better circumstances, we could have met up and had a "Colin Robb party" - a bit sad and lonely with only two of us, but it could have led to gradual world domination! :)

Nothing much but a supermarket trip to look forward to between now and the weekend, but a supermarket trip is a supermarket trip and shouldn't be underestimated! :) First gig with the new band on Saturday - just guesting at a friend's 40th birthday party which I was going to anyway, but a great opportunity to try out the songs we have been learning and see if everyone else likes our choices as much as we do, in case we have to have a rethink - and Fred, the first live outing for the Rick since who knows when! Looking forward to it, although it is going to be outside and the weather is really dodgy at the moment - hopefully we'll get a reprise for the weekend so that July isn't a complete washout - where's this bloody "Barbeque Summer" they promised us??

Enough rambling for now - see you on the other side,

Col.