Here's the rub

We journeyed through the maze of the Royal Adelaide Hospital this morning to attend the cancer clinic on level 7 of the East Wing. The doctor was a lady a little bit shorter than me and a little bit older than me (I'm guessing about the age). She had all my results - my heart function is fine, my lungs are what they would expect (a bit below average due to the low haemaglobin) and my bone marrow is okay. All of this was good to hear.

Not so good was the list of all the nodes highlighted by the PET scan. There's quite a number - in my neck, across my shoulders, in my chest, around my heart and a couple have snuck down to the groin. This all means I am classed as having Stage 3 Hodgkin's. I was expecting Stage 2 so the upgrade was an unpleasant bonus.

My new friend then launched into the impending regime. She wanted to start it this week but I requested a few days grace so that I can see Maesie through her dance concert. It would have been the perfect excuse to skip out of the concert, and I was tempted, but I thought it best I see dance through to the end.

Starting some time next week I will head to the RAH every day for 8 days to be dosed up with a cocktail of poisons; some featuring only on one day, others get a guernsey everyday. I will then have 13 days to recover before repeating the process. The first set will have 6 rounds. In addition to these I will have to take a drug to help my body process all the cellular junk that will be left in the wake of the cell-destroyers. My two little kidneys weren't made to process all of that....

Then there's a couple of other tablets I'm supposed to take twice a day for the whole time (I can't quite remember what these were - I will fill this gap later) and blood tests twice a week. I need to have a thermometer at home and if I feel a bit unwell and my temperature is above 38 oC then I need to go straight to emergency. If it isn't above 38 then just to the GP for antibiotics. No worries. I love the doctor. I love taking tablets. I love hospitals.