Well, what a strange and scary week it's been.

I actually tried to sit down and write come notes yesterday and the notes look a bit like a spider with ink on its legs. Compare that to my clouded mental state and this could be a very confused post. Ah, well, here goes.

Monday 22nd May
Monday my routine started in earnest. Went into the oncology dept to start the Cisplatin cocktail. That's the one that should cause my hair to fall out and give me that babysoft look in a few weeks. Then I got hooked up to the 5FU. That goes in over a period of 96 hours. As readers will note from the forthcoming posts, this stuff is very well named. Later that afternoon, I also had the first radiation session, very anticlimactic, just 5 or ten minutes strapped to a machine that looks like something from the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

Tuesday 23rd May
Tuesday was much of the same. Didn't have to go to chemo as it is being pumped into me, but a short radiation visit. Nothing to report.

Wednesday 24th May
OK, here's where life gets really interesting. And precious I may add.
I went in for radiation as planned. Came home again. Later that day. though, I started having chest pains, tightness around the heart. I called my chemo doc and he advised a visit to the emergency room. We zoomed over to BI and reported with chest pains and shortness of breath. Let me tell you, if you ever want treatment for anything in the ER, just present with CP and SOB. They'll have you in there so fast it will make your head spin.
Anyway, scary bit now. I was shortly confronted by three or four doctors, all younger that my sons, all of whom earnestly informed me that I was having a heart attack. Ah. Really? Did I let you know that I'm not quite ready to go yet? I had the strong feeling that I might not wake up from this particular dream. Kath was there, somewhere in this mist of people and emotions. She gave me a hug and a kiss which on it's own is enough to give me the will to live.

Thursday 25th May
The heart attack turned out to be a false alarm. They put catheters in my heart arteries and declared them as some of the healthiest they had seen in years - bit of hyperbole there. It seems that the 5FU has caused my heart sac to become inflamed. A very rare side effect according to my chemo doc, but one which blows the trial that I'm on sky high. I actually had a very strange day; thoroughly confused, can't work out which day it actually is, trembling all over. I feel like I'm having a panic attack. My blood pressure is low, kidney function is suffering. Boy, what a mess.

Friday 26th
A much better day, still feeling very spaced out but a least able to hold a conversation. The dye they put into you to check your heart arteries screws up your kidneys. Is there nothing they can use to diagnose your ills whithout poisoning some other vital organs?
Anywat, chemo doc comes around today and confirms the cessation of the 5FU (Never liked it anyway) and he will work out a different regime for my chemo next week.
The highlight of my day is my Kathy laying on the bed with me watching some rubbish on the tv, but together, and then out boys turn up from the UK to come and see me. I am so proud of those young men. They brought me get well cards from James and Lucy, our grandchildren. Hand crafted. The best.

Saturday 27th
I am raring to go. I feel great, but they want my kidney numbers looking better before they let me out, probably in the morning. So I'm going to lay around here nagging prople all day until they least me go. Still, what have I got to look forward to? She'll only have me digging the yard if I do get out.