Zero Day plus six - Christmas Eve

 

Rather than a photo, I thought I would give an artistic view of how I feel today. Chatterton could take my correspondence course.

The fatigue that came in on day zero has racked up several notches, so that when I finally got out of bed I made it to the armchair and took a ten-minute breather there.  Emotionally I feel fine, but physically, my get-up-and-go has got up and went. I might as well be 85 as 65. But this too will pass.

Yesterday in the haemo unit they said everything was going as planned, that my immune system would be crashing today and tomorrow, at which time they add more drugs. They did also say that the hair does normally go, just not for another week. 

They also said that if all goes as planned, and despite its unpleasant elements, this is all 'as planned', then i might be off home on Jan 3rd, which would mean that by Christmas Day I'm halfway through, which is nice. So I can look back on the days I have already spent here and see nearly as many behind as in front of me. This cheers me. 

I finally had my meeting with the Dietician Fran today, and found out all kinds of interesting things which are inherently good to know, but more urgently so when it is your body she is talking about. So I have lost about 3Kg so far (maybe 6 pounds or so) and she is very keen for me to not lose more than 5kg over the course of the treatment, so I need to do a bit of braking on the losses by getting something into me, anything that I can stomach. There is no such thing as a 'healthy diet' at this point, just a ripcord to slow the descent. I had a bottle of Coke before the appointment and Fran said 'Oh Good! The full sugar one..,'

I also found out from her something that was to my benefit but which I didn't know. I assumed that because I had a bit of a gut built up of the second half of 2024, I would be shedding fat, or rather my digestion would be eating my fat. But no, they have done scans of patients going through the chemo, and they know that 75% of the weight loss is actually Skeletal muscle. Oops. She said it is because there is such a metabolic load on your body following chemo that you needs increase even if you are inactive, and the body needs protein, which it is currently nibbling from my calves and shanks. Don't like the sound of that, and I can see a good couple of months of recovery excercise. Luckily she said cycling is very good for this. 

So this evening when I got up from the obligatory hour sleep after haemo, I went and ate some of the lentil soup my sister had made (protein there) and some Greek yoghurt (snap) and a banana is waiting for later. I also have come back with some of the frankly loathsome diet drinks called Fortisip which Cro found so unpalatable. She was 'lucky' enough eventually to have a nasogastric tube so that she didn't taste them, but I am going to try the peg on the nose method. 

And my sister also brought along a Selection Box of chococolates for tomorrow and a small present from my Niece. 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, AND A PEACEFUL 2025