Misson control is go!

I have made it into my National Health Service luxury hotel for my months holiday at the governments expense, actually its pretty nice. I get my own room with en suite bathroom, TV, fridge, and a view with opening windows! I have a nice nurse called Gillian today, each nurse has only a few of us to look after so that they are the only staff that actually come into the room and we are not seeing to many different nurses to minimise infection contact points. I brought with me all my techo gadgets like computer with web cam and Internet access, Ipod, speakers and phone which are now all set up and tested so the radio is playing in the background as I type into the blog.

We have clarified the visiting rules which are less severe than I thought, although I am in whats called "protective isolation" I am allowed adult visitors, who are not ill, when I feel up to it although hands will need to be sterilised and hugging and kissing are not advised. The nurse told me that a lot of folk find the isolation very difficult to handle so the balance of overall good health, including mental health, suggests that some visitors are helpful and properly cautioned are not a high risk. It seems like latent bugs which I have in my system are the real danger to me rather than what I can catch from the occasional careful visitor.

Humiliation city has started in earnest since I arrived, every few minutes the nurse comes in with a more advanced sample requirement. The normal blood samples were just a starter, extra blood from a new needle in the arm was needed then multiple urine and all other possible samples you can think of including swabbing inside of all body openings - now that can bring a tear to your eye, trust me. Essentially anything which is on me or in me will go wild once the immune system is knocked out, so they culture and grow all these samples and try to anticipate what is going to happen and target the treatment specifically at the bugs they find. All I can do is keep up good hygiene bodily and specially dentally and wait and see what pops up.

Just had a nice chat with the doctor Rob, who filled me in on the treatment and what to expect, his main concern is the discomfort from ulcers and loss of lining in the mouth and throat, nearly everyone gets this, and for about five days I may need to take oral morphine and will not be able to eat or swallow so they may feed me intravenously to get me through that bit, not sounding like fun, but I expected that. So on the official clock we are on day -7 and counting down to stem cell introduction on day 0, chemo will be given for five days from now a different agent every day. The doctor confirmed that the chemo, as before, is cumulative, and the depth of the side effects will occur about day -2 to day 10 before the stem cells start to kick in and create protection for me.

However for now tucked up with my Moondust book, talking books and DVD's in reserve, nice view to look at, and the radio in the background I am in good shape and ready to take on the treatment. My fighting head is on now I am in the hospital helped by good music and meditation tapes, the good news is this is the treatment which should "cure" me finally, it should be all recovery from here on once we get those stem cells in.

Cheers

Gerry