chemo 12

Chemo 13
Chemo 11
27 Sep, Tue - Last week Tuesday was the last "normal" day and on Wednesday morning I left early for Wilgers Hospital to draw blood for a white blood cell count. The count was good and chemo was started. The pattern is predictable. Wednesday I am OK. Thursday I start to feel groggy and by Thursday evening the foul taste and smell is back and.the funny feeling on the tummy area is starting to become more pronounced. The Pretty One fetched me and we were home before 22:00. Friday I was very groggy and spent the day in front of DSTV on the couch. Saturday morning I took things easy and by 15:00 I was feeling better. My daughter turned 25 on Sunday and they had a big party planned for Saturday evening. So we were kindly requested to evacuate so that the next generation could do there thing. We went to a friend (Johan Barkhuizen) and had a great kuier and slept over at his place. After a very substantial breakfast we braved the return to home to see how big the damage was. It was actually not as bad as anticipated. Yesterday I gave birth (the constipation is also by now a standard symptom) and by last night a bit of normality returned to the digestive track. I hope to start riding again tonight.
30 Sep, Fri - Another month is done and dusted. Time really flies when you have lots to do. On Tuesday afternoon we went for a short ride. Wednesday was somehow filled with delivering stuff all over. I even took a drive out to Hartebeespoortdam on the far western side of Pretoria. I arrived back in time for a ride, but could not tear The Pretty One away from her desk and promptly got some urgent design work to do. So the ride never happened. Thursday I started building a new shelve system in my workshop and by 16:00 I was in no condition to get on a mountain bike and ride. I was in a couch hugging condition. I will leave shortly to draw blood for a white blood cell count. If it is too low then it becomes easy to pick up all sorts of infections.

The clean wall

The back of the shelves taking shape

Chemo 11

Chemo 12
Chemo 10
12 Sep 2011, Mon - Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go... So does another week start. The Pretty One is pretty motivated to shake off the winter fluff and we went for a ride in the afternoon. Did nearly 30km's, slowly, but it was good. The shoulder is OK, the tiredness is not unbearable as long as I sit in the office behind a computer, so this week is a good week. If all goes well then we start session 4 next week Tuesday, and so the cycle repeats. In the mean time I will ride my bicycle and enjoy the good days double.
13, 14 Sep, Tue, Wed - Tuesday was a quiet day with no complains. Wednesday I did a quick delivery trip and in the afternoon me and The Pretty One went for a slow ride on the mountain bikes. I managed 26km in just about 2 hours. This is not slow, it is painfully slow - but I am riding and the shoulder is feeling quite reasonable. When I started Chemo I weighed 84kg, and now I am struggling to keep the weight under 88kg. So fortunately in the eating department all goes well.
19 Sep, Monday - On Thursday it was life as usual with no complains, Friday afternoon I went for a windy but flat 30km ride and Saturday morning The Pretty One joined me for a slow and hilly 25km ride through the Buffelsdrift smallholdings. Yesterday we slept late and in the afternoon we had a lovely braai at Abrie and Petro, The Pretty One's oldest brother and his wife. TODAY is significant as it is my sister's 51st birthday, but it is also my 3rd anniversary of discovering cancer. I saw 3 doctors that day in quick succession and they all got big eyes and said something like: "Mmm... this does not look good..." Now it is three years later and I am still here and fighting. I must go and draw some blood just now to see if the red and white blood cells are enough for another bout of chemo starting tomorrow. This afternoon I will go for another ride and then I will see if I feel like riding again by about Saturday or Sunday. Time to go...

Chemo 10

Chemo 11
Chemo 9
6 Sep 2011, Tues - Back in front of the plough, but the day turned out fine. I did not get around to do a cycle, but I got a lot of other chores done!
7 Sep 2011, Wed - We had a restless night with the cats discovering bugs. They then jump on the windowsill and in doing so they trigger the alarm. This actually means that spring has sprung and it is time to get down to some serious cycling to get rid of all this winter fluff around the mid section... I am also tasked with the job of getting the garage cleaned out so that The Pretty One's Daughter can use it to have a 25th birthday party in there. I will post before and after photos. My shoulder is not well, so I will keep an eye on that one as well.
8 Sep 2011, Thu - My baby is turning 23 today. How time flies! I started feeling progressively worse through the day and by 13:00 I was down and out. Fever, no sore throat or any other flew symptoms, just fever. I had a restless night with bouts of heavy sweating and freezing, all while lying under the thick winter duvet.
9 Sep 2011, Fri - I got up feeling a bit better, but it is now 10:30 and I think it is time to hit the couch and snuggle up under a blankie. The garage is only receiving only brain attention for now.
10 Sep 2011, Sat - I had a good rest yesterday and woke up feeling a lot better. In fact, I felt so good I went for a short cycle with The Pretty One. We did about 23km at a very slow pace. The pace was sos slow that She actually rode ahead on all the slight inclines and then turned around on top and came back down to come and fetch me. I was really tired after all that and took a good rest the rest of the day.
11 Sep 2011, Sun - A quiet night and a late snooze later I was suddenly in the dust and dirt of seven years of garage stuff that needed sorting and putting away. It happened so fast I did not even have a chance to take a photo! But a few hours later we had most of the useful stuff packed in crates and the rest bagged and ready for a waste removal effort of sorts. The Pretty One know of a guy with a small truck that does this sort of thing so we will get him to come and remove all the junk. This was a very tiring experience, but fortunately by 13:30 we were just about done and I could retire to the comfort of the lounge and watch some F1. The shoulder is not doing to badly and I can live with it for now. The digestive system seem to be back to normal