R-Chop 3

Well, as the weekend draws to a slightly sticky-warm ending, I find myself three days into my third R-Chop session.

It's been even more gentle on me than ever. In fact, I've probably taken only half the amount of antiemetics that I normally take. The chemo has, however, managed to cement my insides together and I'm running on a 50:1 input-to-output ratio again. Something must give at some point. If you see me running, do not follow.

I had a rather underwhelming appointment with the surgeon before my R-Chop treatment. It turned out that I just met his assistant - someone I had met before - a nice guy, but still a middle-man. We had a chat about these adhesions, which he seemed to be in agreement about but, as expected, there was little to do now, except take on his worldly advise of "try not to get constipated" and meet again in three months once the chemo sessions are over and we know where we stand. I didn't really expect much could be done at this stage ... at least it is logged and recorded as an ongoing concern. I am still trying to fathom out exactly how not to get constipated. Stop giving me fucking chemo would seem to be the obvious answer.

But apart from that, treatment-wise, it is, as our American friends say, "all good".

In fact, despite the fact that I know I'm looking at a huge drop-off around Wednesday, when the steriods finish, the stomach pain kicks-in and I will return to being a moaning bastard, overall I'm getting optimistically excited as after my next chemo session, we get to 'stop and scan' - meaning we'll take another CT-Scan to see what lies insides.

I know I'm winning this battle. My highs continue to get higher and my fitness, 'looks' and health are returning. I'm able to work longer, rest less and really enjoy my weekends and free-time, finding excitement in life again.

And that's saying something from this miserable bastard.

Whilst I don't *really* expect an end to this R-Chop this time around, I am optimistic that by the end of this year, I will be getting a break from the ongoing poison-recover-poison routine.

As they say in certain rooms that I used to frequent ... "a day at a time - more will be revealed".