Free

That's how it feels to be out of hospital. I'm no longer having my blood, temperature, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, beats per minute, urine and no. 2's checked on a regular basis. I can enjoy a normal mattress and my mum's food is galaxies better than the NHS menu.

The NHS otherwise did itself proud.
I felt so well looked after during my time in hospital. The staff were fantastic, caring and encouraged me with every mini-milestone of my recovery - from bed-ridden agony to tentative walking up and down the ward.
It is a major blessing to have a health service like this in our country.
For all the pressures on its finances and services, it was there for me when i most needed it. I'm just glad i don't have to wear those surgical stockings anymore!

Anyway, the sense of release is quite extra-ordinary. In one sense my stay in hospital seemed like an eternity. However my 20 days enabled me to see Darren's plight from a new perspective and my respect for him has mushroomed. He has been receiving hospital treatment since before my 1st chemo round began, and he still has a long way to go. How he copes I DO NOT KNOW! I spoke with him today and he is in a surprisingly good place emotionally. His update i promised is long overdue..

As far as i'm doing.. i'm still losing weight quite rapidly. I've lost another 1.5kg in the past few days (9.5kg in all), but i'm hoping that this will slow down soon.
I'm trying to establish a rhythm of eating little and often. This effectively means 6mini-meals a day. Its quite a strange regime to get used to and i've no idea how this will impact on my daily pattern once i'm back at work. I guess i will become a champion "grazer".