Saturday 2nd February 2019
“Friends are the sunshine of life” — John Hay

Fairly brief today… woke around 9am, slept ok again but lightly. Steroids finished yesterday so hoping sleep will improve a little more the next few days. Suitably refreshed, I stayed home while Jayne took the boys for a haircut and started tidying the house, albeit that was a little tiring but necessary with guests coming over. I sure wasn’t a quivering wreck of jelly from yesterdays bike ride, no real impacts noted thankfully, no aches / pains etc.

Early afternoon our friends came over with food, Mac’n’cheese for the kids and home made chilli con carne and rice for most of the grown ups, both were lovely. I span both child and adult so had a mix of the two. Yesterday I signed off asking for my taste back, and there was mild improvement today to the point I enjoyed lunch, but it still wasn’t as flavoursome as I imagine to was for the others. I had simple sandwiches in the evening, which were better than bland again but not quite there yet.

It was nice to have some company today, have a chat and chill out at home. We watched the rugby too, which is unusual for me but it was good to watch England win somewhat unexpectedly.

Sorry to talk toilet talk again, but in cycle 1 I got a bit backed up and then decided to try laxatives, which I gambled on one too many times and spent an entire day going to the toilet. In all honesty I’d completely forgotten, and I’ve been back and re-read my own blog. I’ve reached that crossroads again today. I’ve not drunk as much again partly because of this taste thing, but I’m also a bit bloated because I’ve still been eating a lot but not going to the toilet so easily. It’s uncomfortable, and before bed tonight I’ve gambled on taking the poo pill. Fingers crossed for some relief tomorrow, but not too much relief like the last time.

So a fairly low key day today in terms of physicality. The housework tired me out briefly but was a short part of the morning, I only did 2500 steps all day, but I spent the rest of the day on my backside and I’m going to bed pretty wiped out tonight. I am starting to wonder if the proactive exercise thing is worth a go. When I laze around a lot in a day, I do seem to end the day tired.

Lastly, Jayne is coming down with some kind of cold. Luke has started coughing too. That might be tricky to avoid even with all the alcohol gel in the world, but I’m hoping the Filgrastim injections will be keeping my bloods up to the point that if (and when) it does get to me, it’s a fairly simple affair. If not, emergency hotline…