Eight...

Leaving home just five minutes later this morning made a vast difference to traffic volume! I was sure I would be late for my appointment.

Of course, everything was delayed in any case; this seems to be typical when you're in a hurry! After the long delays of last week, whenever there's more than ten minutes' delay now, I start to imagine the machine's broken down again! Luckily, all was well, and we were just running a little late. This time, I was asked to give my birth date for the first time in three days - and I thought we might have given up on that procedure! X-rays again - apparently they're done in a series of three, if they have to be repeated.

As far as side-effects are concerned, my right hip joint aches a little at the moment, but paracetemol deals with that. I'm a bit tired, though that's possibly due to having to leave home early and fight my way through traffic. And I do have the occasional stomach cramp and, as nurse puts it, "loose motion", but the medication they've given me sorts that out really quickly. I'm hoping the side effects won't get worse - I'm told they could. However, I was talking to a woman this morning who's about three days behind me in terms of treatment sessions, and she said that she is suffering terribly with diarrhoea already, so it's possible that I might be lucky! And, as I think I've already said, if you've ever been anaemic, the tiredness that comes with radiotherapy is absolutely nothing compared to the exhaustion of anaemia!

Tomorrow, I see the nurse to report on my state of health. I assume this will happen after the treatment session, since I don't think the clinic opens until 09:00.

Eight more sessions... and counting...