Sunday 7 August 2011

Greifswald (Cycle I, Episode III)

Currently sitting in our room as I begin this post, trying to decide what to do with the afternoon whilst waiting for Adam to finish eating his lunch. Adam's plan for us to go to the beach this weekend may have fallen foul of the weather. The heat and sunshine that welcomed us this week has been replaced by cloud-filled skies.

Yesterday we had trips to town, and an out-of-town shopping centre, to stock up on supplies, as nothing here is open on a Sunday. We also took a drive out to a camping and caravan park, although the reality wasn’t quite as appealing as the photos on the website had made out. Maybe it was the decades old permanent caravans that featured heavily in the first couple of hundred yards that got things off to a bad start.

Adam steadily improved over the weekend following his fifth IL-2 shot on Friday morning. Although he was sick once during the course of the day that was the extent of it. I'm pretty sure it was brought on by a combination of getting up too quickly, followed by a bout of coughing. Adam told me he hadn’t felt sick until he stood up.

There were no fevers at all during the weekend, and Adam’s appetite and general demeanour were almost back to pre-treatment levels. All ready to get knocked back again, but that's fine - we'd rather be heading into week two on the back of a good weekend.

His legs have been giving him some trouble. The areas around the five injection sites started to bruise, and he complained of aching and discomfort when walking. Full of sympathy I told him numerous times to man-up, and stop shuffling around like an old man. I even resorted to giving him the odd piggyback, though with hindsight we should have brought the buggy we were given by CLIC Sargent in lieu of a wheelchair early on during treatment, but which we haven’t needed to use since Adam’s recovery from high-dose chemo. Come Sunday morning, however, he left our bedroom and sprinted down the corridor, before stopping and turning to ask me “Dad, can you tell what’s different today?”

As it turned out the weather perked up sufficiently for us to take Adam to the beach after all. He didn’t play with his new beach ball, but he did head straight into the water and have a good old paddle around, before heading back up the beach where he played happily for a good hour or two. It did him the world of good, getting out in the fresh air. He ate well that night, and slept well too. All ready for what was to face  him on Monday, when IL-2 injections were to continue, and 14.18 antibody infusion begin …

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