Second chemo begins

I have been having a good time at home waiting for my counts to come up so I can begin my second chemo course. I got to see aeroplanes, helicopters, trains and double-decker buses among other goodies.

My Neutrophils count has been up and down, but based on my blood test on Thursday morning, it is 0.86 which is close enough to the bottom of the normal range (1.00) that I can start my second round of chemo on Saturday morning. It will be the same course as last time minus 2 days, plus one extra drug to protect my heart from one of the chemo drugs. Some people told me the second round is worse because my reserves are already knocked out by the first round, while others say the body gets adjusted so it is not as bad as the first. I wonder which it will be for me.

On Thursday, I had a scan of my heart to see how it is coping after the first round, and it seems not too badly so far (but the effect of the offending drug is cumulative and not always immediate). Due to the possible damage to my heart, the doctors are preparing for a bone marrow transplant instead of the last two rounds of chemo, but that depends on the results of my bone marrow test on Monday, how my heart copes with the next round, and whether they can find a very good match. Anyway, I don't need to decide until towards the end of this round, so I will try not to think about what it will involve for the moment.

Thank you for all your well wishes and new toys. I like doodling on the Magna Doodle Uncle Alvin and Aunty Peiqi bought me (along with lots of other things). It keeps me really busy drawing and then erasing my works of art again and again!

Thanks g.a. Margaret and g.u. Bob for the cassette tape of nursery rhymes. Unfortunately, I don't have a cassette player and my portable DVD player doesn't have a tape deck. I wonder if it is possible to convert a cassette tape to a CD/MP3/DVD format so I can listen to it since I do love nursery rhymes. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying throwing the cover onto the floor cos it's great to hear the sound it makes when it comes apart!

I like your drawings of the friendly ghosts, Niklas. But I think ghosts can't be that friendly cos they are supposed to spook people! Uli and Jeanette, thanks for the toy dog and many Danish lollies. I have 12 teeth already and so will put them to use on those soft mushroom lollies (if Mummy and Daddy haven't devoured them already). Hmmm ...