Wednesday 13th February 2019
“Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They’re about to announce the lottery numbers.” — Homer Simpson

Today was almost a carbon copy of yesterday really. 6.30am get up, at work for 7.40ish. Another productive and enjoyable day in work, left around 3.30pm and went home to get the kids. Parker’s tablet broke yesterday so I took him to the shop down the road to get it looked at under warranty, despite feeling a bit knackered and ready for my afternoon nap. He loves the thing though, so off we went, got a refund and a new one is on order for him already.

When I got home, I sat chatting to Jayne for a little while, but the familiar sensation of my eyes wanting to close on me was apparent, and around 6pm I went upstairs for the usual nap, just an hour today. All good, the routine works and at 7pm after 5 minutes to come back to life, I was back in the land of the living and have enjoyed a few hours of downtime before bedtime.

That sense of excitement remains, that it’s 1 day of work, then off to the hospital on Friday for the usual Friday routine, and we start cycle 3 on Monday. It’s getting closer. They are some really uplifting milestones to hit, as by this time next week all I will have left to face is hitting the rock bottom point of Cycle 3 around Sunday/Monday, then 2x Friday top-ups on the 1st and 8th of March.

In terms of symptoms, I’d just note that the vaseline for the inside of the nose remedy, has done wonders so far. It’s no longer sore and it appears to be healing. It also takes away the temptation to shove tissue up there to poke around, which just does more damage. Hopefully in a day or two it’ll be back to normal.

Appetite has been lower than usual today again, a flapjack for breakfast, I only managed half of my lunch, and then I had a ready meal after my nap followed by a few squares of Dairy Milk. That’s really not a lot compared to usual. I started this journey at 14 stone. This morning I was 14 stone 11 lbs. I have never, ever seen the scales say 15 stone in my life, and I’ll try desperately to make sure I don’t in the next 3 weeks.

On days like today it’s hard to find a quote that fits the day, as from the point of writing an interesting chemo-blog it’s been a pretty average day, and I picked an unusual quote today. One of my all time favourite quotes comes from the great Homer Simpson – “We all make mistakes, that’s why they put erasers on pencils.” When I came across the one at the top of the page, it made me reflect a little. I really enjoy work, and I enjoy working hard and seeing the fruits of your labour, I wouldn’t change that. But, there also happens to be a £141M jackpot on Friday, and I may have bought a good few tickets for it.

Only around 2,200 people get diagnosed with Testicular Cancer in the UK each year, in some way I beat some pretty long odds to end up with the disease itself. They are not quite lottery winning odds, but it’s still one of those things you never expect to happen to you. So here’s hoping for another long shot to come in. I always find it interesting daydreaming what I’d spend some money on. I’d just like a warehouse full of cars of all shapes and sizes, and I’d be a happy bunny. Maybe a racetrack too, maybe.

And if my blog prompted you to buy the winning £141M ticket, just remember who reminded you 😉 Just a single Lamborghini would do…