Round one. Done.

Today was the third and final day of my first cycle of chemotherapy. Overall the whole course went reasonably well although I fear that the worst is yet to come over the next two and a half weeks. But, never one to be deterred I am not planning on being too sick and am sure there is a degree of mind over matter to all of this.

The day began with a bonus in the form of Mr Man taking an impromptu day of holiday. I'd like to say this was motivated by a desire to spend some time with me, but it quickly became apparent that the key reasons were more closely linked to the family of hamsters who had moved into his mouth overnight and quickly laid down lots of carpet, and the little men with hammers who were digging for long lost treasure via his scalp. In short, he had a hangover. A bad one.  So, obviously he wanted to spend part of his day traipsing up to Harley Street and sitting for two and a half hours on a visitors chair, almost as much as I wanted to be spending my day in the same place being stabbed like a pin cushion while no less than three nurses tried to get a cannula into my veins. Nevertheless this is what we did. 

It took them an hour and a half and five attempts to get the needle and tubes into my hand to administer the necessary drugs.  Due to the discomfort of being on the receiving end of a needle, I find it very useful to squeeze the hand of the nearest available visitor. Yesterday, Little Sis smiled politely whilst I crushed her fingers, today I think Mr Man would have taken back the little men with hammers as I squeezed his hand to share the pain. Sorry about that.

Given the number of times I've had drips and blood tests recently, it's unsurprising that my veins are shot to pieces. There is however a solution. It's called a port and it like a plug socket which will sit just under the skin, and will allow the nurses to literally plug me in each time and get on with the main event. Initially I was sceptical to this squeamish concept, but after three days of cannula insertion and I'm almost sold. I met another patient who has one and she seemed perfectly happy with it so maybe it's not a bad idea. 

So, after two and a half hours we were able to leave and despite my lack of appetite I had suggested lunch to Mr Man and so we found ourselves in the John Lewis cafe on Oxford street where I managed a pitiful amount of lasagne and Mr Man ate his and some of mine for good measure once more. He really is a saint....  And then to celebrate the end of round one Mr Man treated me to a fabulous iPad so that I can load it with tv shows, and films in advance of the next cycle to keep me occupied. Once again, Mr Man surpassed himself. So despite the discomfort today's highs have more than outweighed the lows; a bonus day with Mr Man, an option to make the next cycle less uncomfortable and a super new present to play with. Plus of course we have completed round one. Roll on round two on the 26 October.