Here I go again...

So now I have the 80’s classic ‘Here I go again on my own’ by Whitesnake going through my head (awesome track).

Anyway back to the reason I am here! I now have a bed, my own room, ensuite, fridge, wardrobe, etc, etc… a bit like being at home so I wont bore you too much with the finer detail - I will need something to talk about in a weeks time? I have been checked in by the duty doctor and met both the nurse that will be looking after me throughout the journey and the pharmacist. Normal bloods, urine, temperature and swabs (nice?) have been taken.

Now here is where it begins to get a little serious? My transplant clinical nurse specialist paid me a visit to talk through the chemo process again and to make sure I was still ok and happy to proceed with the transplant – of which I am obviously. So we talked through the side effects and potential risks that the next week will have such as:

• Fluid overload from the Mesna – anything up to 11kg

• Swelling of the body

• Infection from the reducing white blood cells

• Mucositis – mouth and tongue ulceration

• Nausea and vomiting and weight lose - not a bad thing in my case

• Platelet transplant

Once we had finished our little chat'et I turned to look at the wall of photos I had created of my family to remind me exactly why I was doing this?

So anyway, as I am writing todays post I am connect to my first dose of Cyclophosphamide and Mesna and have been loaded up with anti sickness medication and on day -5 of the treatment. So fingers crossed and I hope to be able to post something different tomorrow?

Just because I can and because it is one of my all time favourite tracks, I will leave you with this little number…

Mark x