8 to go....

When Agastya and Utpal, my two boys were home this summer, Utpal, who is quite a skating star, participated in a skating race and his pal and bro Agastya went to cheer him and root for him. This picture was taken just before the race and both boys are in deep concentration, just like any athlete and his loudest supporter. Utpal won the race and got his gold, Agastya clapped the loudest. But this is not the point of this post! The race was organised by a small club and the MC was a funny man with sort of orange hair and a sing song way of speaking. The track being small, the contestants had a certain amount of rounds to take, that varied according to the age. The funny MC use to shout or rather sing these numbers that could go from 7 to go to none to go. Both the boys found that very amusing and for the remaining days of their stay with me used the 4 to go with glee for almost anything they did.

I find myself in a similar position though I am totally at sea about the number of rounds I need to take before I can hear the one to go or better the none to go. And I do not how many falls I will have before the last round of this race which is actually very close to a roller skate race as you need to be a master in balance to survive! If we go by the oncologist then we have 8 to go as of today and 7 to go after tomorrow's chemo! I must admit that the last 4 have been long haul and just the thought of two times that is nothing short of daunting. But does one have a choice?

After chemo 6 there will a PET Scan to assess how well it has all gone.

Today's news is another side effect: nails! Ranjan's are turning blue. A quick search on the net said it was 'normal'. Nails may not only change colour but become brittle and can also become a source of the much dreaded infections. The only solution offered is something called 'cooling gloves' but I cannot find any in India so maybe will carry a few bags of frozen peas in an ice box and put them on his hand during chemo. I do not care about his nails becoming blue or red or whatever colour, but the infection is a no no. The last time I made him such on ice throughout the chemo and he did not get any blisters or mouth sores. So let us hope the frozen peas helps with the nails.

Gosh I hate chemo. I hate the idea of a poison been poured legally into a human body. I hate the idea of having to kill good cells to be able to destroy the cancer ones. The scan better show me some darned good results to make me accept its terrible side effects. Apologies to all those who swear by chemo but the intense research I have done on line has revealed many options that have proved to be successful. In Ranjan's case the decision was difficult as everyone, even my Tibetan doc, approved of chemo for Hodgkin's. But if I were ever to contract this disease I would stay away from all this poison and go for alternative therapy. And I would be as stubborn as Ma!

But I am playing the game by the rules for Ranjan. And it d***** well work or there will be hell to pay!