February 17th 2011

I had another session of chemo yesterday. When I woke up today I was actually feeling much better; not really feeling sick at all.  I was a bit tired as we had to get up earlier for a Skype chat from Spain so I had a rest later in the morning which made me feel much better.  I was awake for an hour or so in the middle of the night; which does seem to be a factor for the first couple of days after my chemo session.  The other good thing is that I can actually taste my food which I hadn’t been able to the last couple of times.

During the night my mind is very active; I almost feel I could write a book for all the things that I am thinking about but they wouldn’t make sense in the light of the day. 

Going back to my “chemo day”, it didn’t start well.  I arrived at the station at 7:45 for the 7:49 train which failed to arrive.  I worked out there was one at 7:09 which would still get me to the hospital for the 8:00 appointment; although they do ask you to be there half an hour early.  Needless to say this didn’t turn up either.  I later found out that CP (Portugal trains) was on strike.  Unfortunately we do not watch Portuguese news so I had no idea.  I rushed back to the house, jumped into the car, and arrived at 7:40 at the hospital.  To add insult to injury the automatic machine that takes the car parking direct from the bank wasn’t working so I had to take a ticket.  At the end of the chemo I pushed the ticket into the pay machine only to be told that the payment was €240. Julie; my chemo buddy;  took the ticket to the ticket office and got a slightly better bill of €1.90. 

A couple of days ago I finally put the shampoo and conditioner that I use back in the cupboard.  It seems a small thing to do but I felt it was important.  It was like one more acceptance that you have cancer; have no hair: and you won’t be needing things like for a while.  Looking on the bright side my showers are much quicker, which means I can have that extra time in bed; always a bonus.

Well next week I should hopefully find out about my radiotherapy which follows my chemo.  I also want to ask what stage they think they found the cancer at.  The problem is that unless you ask here in Portugal they assume that you don’t want to know, not so in my case.  Part of me wants to know the other part doesn’t.  Let’s see how it goes.