I'm alive. Barely.

"But the world had other ways of breaking men. They were already familiar with the smell. Sicksweet. Like old roses on a breeze." 

(Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things)

BEAM chemotherapy regimen. What can I say? Maybe not too much, but this site might give you some insight: cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/cancer-drugs/beam

So far I've only had the B and the E of the aforementioned acronym, but I'm telling you, this stuff is NO JOKE. 

The timetable for my stem cell transplant (SCT) is as follows:

Wed 24 -DAY -7 chemo

Thu 25 - DAY -6 chemo

Fri 26 - DAY -5 chemo

Sat 27 - DAY -4 chemo

Sun 28 - DAY -3 chemo

Mon 29 - DAY -2 Rest (!!!)

Tue 30 - DAY -1 Rest (!!!)

Wed 31 - DAY 0  SCT aka REBIRTH

From day 0 it takes roughly two weeks for my stem cells to find their way back home to the bone marrow and start producing new cells. The isolation period with zero immunity is most likely between days 0 and +14.

Lots of love to you all. I can feel your positive energy flying in through my open hospital window.


P.S. I've got yet another tube installed in my chest. This one isn't as bad though. It'll hardly leave a scar. And even if it did, scars are cooler than tattoos. They tell far more interesting stories.