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An Update

Well we're mid-way through the week and 2 days into daily visits to the hospital. Yesterday I got my PICC line installed (see site at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PICC_line which briefly explains) and my high dose chemo through my spanking new PICC line. All in all spent about 6 hours at the hospital. I'm back on anti-naseua drugs, including dexamethasone, but this drug also gives me insomnia - so I slept poorly last night - and high blood sugur - so my levels have been high since I started checking yesterday and I'm back on the sliding scale of insulin.

While Maryse and I have agreed to take a day-to-day approach to all this, we already know the long-term side-effects. Actually, the long-term begins in the short-term: the next 5-10 days. The Pharmacist at the hospital tells us that's when the fun begins: naseua (at both ends!) fatigue and perhaps infection. So there's lots of anti-naseua and anti-infection drugs and gargling 3 times a day with salt-water. Beyond 10 days, depending on how I handle all this, I may be admitted to the hospital. Beyond that, I can expect to lose 20 per cent of my body mass because I'll likely have no tastebuds for the next 2 months, resulting in a loss of appetite.

But beyond that they're taking good care of me. Aside from the Pharmacist there's a Nutritionist, a Social Worker, 2 PICC Nurses plenty of Registered Nurses and Doctors (and a partridge in a pear tree). These are just the folks in the Medical Daycare Unit on the ward. It doesn't include the team I see monthly in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. And they're all so nice! And they answer all your questions, and they explain everything they do and why. In that respect, at least, this whole procedure is great. And of course I have my Caregiver - my Maryse!

Book: French Kiss - Stephen Harper's Blind Date With Quebec by Chantal Hebert

Music: Songbird: Rare Tracks and Unforgotten Gems by EmmyLou Harris

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