Three days away, this will be along post. First an observation about chemo. It is apparently way more cumulative than I had ever thought. The longer you are in it, the more the stuff builds in your system. As a result I have noticed that the side effects I was warned about take some time to show up, but they do show up. The nausea, in about thirty different forms, sleeplessness, appetite issues, emotional issues, fatigue. All of these haunted me all of last week. Not all at once, not even reliably or noticeable at first, but eventually they got to me. I kept a log on my white board of my good days on my last 'off' week and last week, my second 'off' week. My first off week had a good evening followed by 3 or four good days, starting on Wednesday evening and going to Saturday. This time I felt good on Friday and was good for Saturday and Sunday. I expect it will get much worse in this next three week cycle. I already notice that my beard has stopped growing and I have way less energy than I have ever had. I slept a lot in the last two weeks. All that will get worse. I sort of expect a lights out situation coming up.

I had a lot of fun over the two good days i had this time. I paced myself, I took it easy and the weather was perfect. Saturday afternoon Janice and I sat in the garage with the door open and watched the rain after we potted some plants for the deck. We also put together a small herb garden. When you get old you clutter your deck with these projects. Sunday was picture perfect and I puttered around the yard and helped my neighbor some. Shot BB guns and drank beer in the backyard. Genuine nice day. And so it goes.

Thursday was sort of interesting. Met with the oncologist. He had my case documentation ready to file and he let me read it. I am now medically diagnosed as "cranky". Say what you want but I look at it as the first diagnosis I can get behind. My wife will be reminded every time I get all cranky with her, "Hey, medically diagnosed, can't help it". Yeah, that will work once, maybe twice then she'll lower the boom on me. He is scheduling the MRI for sometime in early June. I'll call and get the date tomorrow. He also cleared me to have a few beers or some wine on my off weeks. He cautioned not to get drunk. The chemo has a nasty side effect or two I guess but I am not going to push my luck. I had several beers Saturday and Sunday with no ill effects. But no more for several weeks now. I guess given the cumulative effects of the chemo I won't feel good enough to have a beer until about June 8 or 10. I have a friend coming to visit June 5-8 or so. I hope I am up enough to be more than a bump on a log. He and I go back about 35 years. We have a lot to talk about.

I finally read the wad of paper that comes with my daily chemo meds this morning. This is my third refill on the daily chemo meds and I never read it before . Who needs coffee to wake you up when you read things like "This product is used for [various cancers] when no other product shows results". So, I started out where other cancer patients go when nothing else has worked, the last ditch stuff they keep in the back just in case. Then I read that it should be taken with food lest it cause problems. I was taking it without food and never noticed a problem. Then I read that one side effect is fatigue. Damn, everything they give me to treat the cancer causes fatigue, and the cancer causes fatigue. I should just sleep the next few weeks away and see what I wake up to. Just goes to show you should read that really verbose paperwork they give at the pharmacy with your prescriptions. Intelligent people read them the first time the have the prescription filled. Not me, I wait, then I read them. Just fulfilling my life's destiny, "Don't let this happen to you".