No.5

Not Chanel, although she does like it but Chemo. Chemo No.5!! It doesn't come in a fancy bottle rather in pills, needles, IVs.

Hard to believe she's bin at this for fifteen weeks now.....about five months since she was diagnosed.

I think her body must be getting used to medication flowing through it. In the beginning it took ages to get the concoctions into her and in the beginning her body reacted in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways. Hardly surprising for someone that hardly ever took a pill of any sort! Now. more than anything, she gets very tired, very quickly.
Thursday last was even quicker than the previous treatment. We were a little late getting started but she was home by 2.30!! A record! Not that it's something to be jumping up and down about.

So now there is one more to go.......November 18th......Chemo #6. After that, about three weeks later, we go in for a battery of tests including the bone marrow biopsy which she really likes then hopefully we get a really good Christmas present.......a box of remission all wrapped up with a big bow.

Pam went with Hil for her bloodwork on Wednesday. I'm not sure if Hil drives there and Pam drives back.......but that's another story. LOL.

On Thursday, although I took her to the hospital, Sharon arrived about 9.30, stayed with her the rest of the day and brought her home. I blew the joint about 11.30. The previous Monday Kay and Steph visited together with Maureen McMaster who I personally haven't seen for over twenty years.....she hasn't changed much. Friends continue to be super-supportive and we are forever grateful.

Thursday's are always very quiet in chemo at York Central for some reason, that's why Hil chose it but there is always something to see.

A young oncologist attempting to explain the treatment to an oriental lady ( I think we're supposed to say "Asian" now) who didn't understand a word he was saying. He certainly was imaginative with his sign language.

The rather round, pompous looking man, just twenty feet away, undergoing his first treatment, spending the first couple of hours on his cell phone and getting irritated with the nurse for interrupting his conversation. She eventually told him, in "nursetalk," to put his phone in a warm, dark place!!

So, as we keep saying, life goes on. Our "built in suspension" carries us over the bumps in life constantly re-discovering what is important in life or perhaps simply discovering for those that haven't figured it out yet.
Birthdays come and go. Mine was a couple of weeks ago and Hilary's is next Thursday.....Nov 4th......Mischievious Night in the North of England.....the night before Guy Fawkes......now there was a lad!!

Nothing but Good News.

Chemo yesterday......quick and eventless......she went swimming this morning. Would you believe it!!!! Tired this afternoon but it's hardly surprising. Usually, after chemo,she's a basket case for at least a week. Tough ol' broad!

She had some tests earlier this week....scans of one sort or another but the prognosis is great. The oncologist inferred that if things continue this way over the next nine weeks she could well be in remission by Christmas. Now that's a real Christmas Present!!!

She's going to get on the bike a bit and she just bought one of those elasticy band thingies for exercising her arms so as she can start hitting some tennis balls again. Her spleen is down even further although still not normal.....not dangerous now though.

We're going to have a really quiet Thanksgiving.....just the two of us. You never really know what the side effects are like until each morning arrives. Better to be a little circumspect.

Again thanks to everyone for their ongoing support and a heartfelt "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone.