What do I have in common with professional cyclists from the 1990s?

 Well it isn't the ability to cycle 150 miles and race up a 1-in-10 climb to the Col de Gibier, I give you. But there is one area where there may be some overlap, as I am taking massive quantities of steroids as part of my chemotherapy.

I am on what the call the standard 4-drug therapy which uses the effects of a combination of drugs to give the malignant plasma cells a good kicking. The drugs are Velcade (Bortezomib), Daratumumab (which sounds like Warcraft villain), Thalidomide (yes) and good old Dexamethasone, which is steroids. There are 10 2mg tablets in that dish, same as I took yesterday. That is a lot of steroids. I have to carry a card.

The steroids can have different effects on different people. Some people sadly get hamster-face because it makes you retain water, but I haven't had that (no comments that I already had it). It can also give you heartburn and that is well-controlled. 

I do notice that I can cycle up the Ipswich road more easily than before but I don't think I am going to be challenging for the Maillot Jaune any time soon. But I do find that it affects my mood and sleep. After steroids I can sleep for as little as three hours and wake up alert and ready at two o'clock in the morning. This morning I have made breakfast, done a sheets wash, cleaned the kitchen, sent a couple of mails and started writing this. It is 5:25.

So alertness and very long waking days is my steroid story. I can't say that I dislike it, because I am getting an awful lot done. But my sister is convinced that long-term sleeplessness will give me brain damage and maybe she is right. But I only have about ten more weeks of this and then maybe they will let me be Rip Van Winkle in hospital. But then I have to do eight more weeks of it when I come out. I will be insufferable. 

So if you are concerned that my early hours are signs of stress and worry, do not be alarmed. I am as composed as I ever was, I am just in thrall to that good old friend of the dishonest athlete and the gymbro: Dexamethasone.