First published Sunday, April 2nd, 2017

April 2: two points of interest today! First, my weight is 86 kg. My fighting weight in my hey-day was 84kg (13st 3lb) and I really wanted to make that at some point because, well, just because. That means that I’ve dropped 18 kg since the problems really started escalating in early December and I stopped the eating lark. I did need to drop quite a bit but 18 kilos are quite a hefty chunk, isn’t it? At the start of chemo 1, at the end of January, I was 98 kg, so the drop is 12 kg in 9 weeks. On the way down, 92 to 94 kg felt good. It felt comfortable, so it will be interesting to see what it feels like on the way back up again, whenever that is.

Second, today is the end of chemo cycle 3 of the six, so half-way. Time for a 15-minute break, a quarter of an orange, a swift once-over with Dettol and a wire brush, a generous swill with the magic sponge, a rub-down with The Sporting Life, and a quick pep-talk from the Gaffer, whoever that may be. Game of two halves and all that.

But first, we have a blood test before the chemo tomorrow. I have to fast before the blood test, but I keep dreaming about Y-U-G-E beef sandwiches – six or seven generously large slices of beef, liberally slathered with mustard and seasoning, on fantastic, multi-grain, farmhouse-type bread. It’s not fair because I can’t eat anything until the blood draw is over. 

Then I’ll pop into McDonald’s for a sausage-egg McMuffin or two, with hash browns - or two, and coffee - or two.

Anyway, as I say, Game of Two Halves. All downhill from here, what!