Will you still love me to-marrow - John Mycroft and Multiple Myeloma

End of Part 1 Today was Memorial Day, just one of many days in the US when you can buy cheap furniture and other stuff.  We usually go to an outdoor concert of patriotic and other music but we decided to stay home today as I go to cancer care tomorrow to provide a load of samples.  Among those will be a 24 hour urine collection and I really didn't fancy wandering around Pack Place with a bright orange gallon urine sample bottle.  I haven't quite filled it, not that this was part of the challenge. Tomorrow will be 3 months, give or take a day or two, since I found out I have multiple myeloma and the folks at Cancer Care will take an armful of blood to go with the urine to find out how I'm doing. I'm not sure what all the options are after that - either another 3 months the same as the last 3 (which wasn't too bad except for the month with the hefty doses of steroids which had me alternately hyperactive and zomboid), or the good news that I'm all better now (w...

Finally finished the steps! This has been a long and sordid tale - when we moved into the house 13 years ago, there was no patio at the top of the yard, just a muddy patch of vaguely dead grass. I was the only person who ever went up to the patio from the bottom of the yard so I was happy to strap on hiking boots and ropes. Then we had the patio put in and needed some better way of getting up and down, especially as we had one wall of the kitchen replaced with a ranch slid er to give us easier access to the patio. And some nutjob (me) had the deck extended so that the deck was on the same level as the  patio. So I sunk some spare pavers into the slope and put them back every year or so when the snow, ice and my big feet dislodged them. Finally, the doc told me I needed exercise so I built some proper steps. Why are they a bit uneven and all kinds of different sizes? Pay attention - we live on the side of a mountain so there are rocks under there the size of refrigerators and I wa...

I am often asked... I am sometimes asked... Somebody asked me once *... "What is chemotherapy like?"  I'm sure a lot of people put off finding out if they have cancer, often worrying unnecessarily because they haven't, because they have unpleasant images of what it's all about.  My incredibly supportive wife, Susan, and my somewhat more reluctant son, Sam, have both accompanied me to chemo sessions to provide support, learn what it's all about and to write down all the instructions and answers to questions I get.  So here's what a typical chemo session looks like for me at Cancer Care of WNC. My appointments are usually at 8 a.m. or 8.30 a.m. every Tuesday as this is a convenient time for me - as I work part-time, it sometimes means I miss work and sometimes I don't.  I find it easier than trying to figure out what day in my 7 day work cycle the next 3 Tuesdays are only to find out I have ignored some vital event that renders a work day a non-wo...

Not working proper sometimes The chemo (or is it the handful of steroids?) continue to play daft games with my brain.  March's chemo regime has mercifully come to an end - I was taking a big dose of steroids 4 days in a row which gave me one perfectly pleasant sleepless night (wide awake and ready to roll so why not?), one slightly dopey night and two days of feeling like crap.  April had only one day per week of steroids (Tuesday) so Tuesday night was a short one, Wednesday night was largely spent peeing and Thursday night was back to normal. The effect on my brain, upon which I rely for a living, has been odd.  I find that my problem solving skills are better than ever but my memory for names and things I have to do is completely shot.  I have taken to writing "socks" on a piece of paper before going into the bedroom for socks so that I don't get in there and wonder what I am doing.  Asking me to run errands is generally a waste of breath but both Susan a...

Thoughts on alcohol-free beer So, why do I insist on drinking alcohol-free beer when Coke and things are a third of the price?  Simple answer is that I don't like them and I also want to hang on to my few remaining teeth.  It is also fiendishly hard to get alcohol-free beer in Asheville, aka Beer City, USA.  I have managed to get my hands on six and here's my personal assessment. O'Doulls - bloody awful.  Tastes like the water someone has washed a pub floor with.  Also the most widely available Kaliber - made by Guinness so you'd think it would be decent but it is sweet and generally unpleasant. Buckler - Dutch, I think.  Also sweet and not at all pleasant.  Has an aroma I can't place and for that I am grateful Becks - make sure it is really cold and this is pretty decent, a bit like Steinlager. Clausthaler Premium - my favourite.  Again, has to be cold but doesn't taste offensive if you accidentally grab a warmish one. Erdinger - t...