Chemo II - inbetweeen third and fourth cycles - 17.10.2020

 On Guest@UCLH again while I wait for CT scan. Waiting of course involves that drink of 1L of strange-tasting light-clear but radio-opaque fluid. Quite a big ask.

I had to rearrange the original appointment so that we could still go to Devon for a few days before the  next chemo - Tier 2 still says YES! The appointment I got was 9:30 which  meant a 6am breakfast which was another big ask but achieved. Suspected the whole scan business would go badly without morning sustenance - porridge with hazelnuts and raisins, honey and milk. Wonder what that'll look like to X-rays...

It's been a bit of a gruelling 2 weeks since the last chemo. Three domperidone before meals in the day, then an ondansetron when I wake up feeling sick in the middle of the night, coupled with more frequent eating sessions got me through the first five days, albeit with a pretty constant, underlying nausea. But this regime seems to come with a longer-lasting nausea linked to being tired or not having something in stomach. And the whole lot together really buggers my digestive system each time. 

So first week, largely banjaxed; second week a curate's egg - better in parts. At this point, two and a half weeks on, I still have a sore mouth and an uncomfortable throat but the corners of my mouth haven't (yet) cracked. I've tried to pace myself and see energy as coming in quanta to be replenishe from a charger connection somewhere on the sofa. But it's not always easy to recognise when I'm out of charge and a sofa session is needed. In the last week I managed three days of gradually increasing morning cycle rides that exceeded one block and incorporated at least one little hill - yay! I felt ill after the first one, managed two little hills after the 20-minute second one even though it felt like my lungs weren't connected to my legs - if your legs are giving out, you expect your lungs to get the message to breathe harder, but no. On the third day I went a little further in the same time and felt like legs and lungs were behaving more connectedly. But then on the fourth day, cycling shorts and shoes on, I realised It would do me in to even swing my leg over the saddle. Demoralising.

Still, I've motored through three of J K Rowling's Robert Galbraith detective stories - please, no more! I think they'd all benefit from editing and I found the third one proper nasty. I almost stopped halfway but still had to see what happened. Wouldn't urge anyone to read any of them. Just reread Joseph O'Connnor's Star of the Sea as I heard them doing it on Bookclub and realised I didn't remember the story - hmmm. Finished listening to second part of  A S Byatt's Frederica Quartet and have started listening to Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping as starter for her quartet. Just started reading Bernardine Everisto's Girl, Woman, Other. Wonder which will be most forgettable of this batch.

Scan done now, made it home in time for another version of upset digestion. At least this time the radiographer seemed to recognise urgent squits as a known consequence. Don't know what people do who come from a longer distance...