Rose brings a DAB radio

I passed a restless night, hooked up to a saline drip via the cannula. I blocked the left side of the bed to make sure I got out on the right!

The phlebotomist arrived to take blood, and sadly she made a right mess of my arm:( I do not know how they are going to manage taking blood everyday if things don't improve. Still, musn't grumble eh!

Chris rang about 9, to tell me that he has a cold and would not be visiting this week. However, we had to cut short our call because the consultant arrived for his bi-weekly round, and we mostly discussed the clot and the PICC removal. He said that for this cycle we will not insert a new PICC, but most probably would for the next cycle. The cannula will be moved around to avoid stressing one vein. It will take a few days for the clot to completely go from my left arm; I wait with bated breath.

Rose arrived nice and early, armed with a gift; a remote controlled DAB radio (which I gave her for Christmas a couple of years ago). She plugged it in and we listened to Andy Murray's match against Ferrer on 5-Live. What a genius that Rose is. Well done Murray; I will be listening to the final. We also went on to finish the crossword (apart from two silly words nobody would ever had heard of).

(For my non-UK followers, Digital Audio Broadcast is UK nationwide digital radio)

Whilst Rose was here, the catering manager came in to talk along with the head chef. He had obviously been  forwarded my email from PALS, and equally obviously failed to understand my criticisms. He thought I wanted more choice, whereas it is quality of ingredients, preparation and delivery that are sadly wanting. I think I managed to explain this, and he asked me to try the main menu again as they think they made some improvements. So, tomorrow I have ordered two meals for lunch and dinner; one I expect to eat ... and an option from the main menu. Rose is going to bring the camera tomorrow so I can take some pictures, and I have the catering managers's email address. I am sure this will not end here (but you never know, maybe they have improved). As an aside, I had Kosher veggie lunch, and Halal veggie dinner. This looks like a good combination (on a number of levels I suppose). Interestingly, the Kosher portions are a bit too big for me in the state I am in!

At 2pm they came to take me for the ultrasound of my kidneys, so Rose left. This was in a different ultrasound suite to yesterday, much busier, and somewhat overrun. I was gone for almost 2 hours (in a mask of course), but the actual scan took no more than ten minutes! Fortunately, there were no problems found, so it means it is the chemotherapy that is causing the problems. Talking of which, I have just had my last (for this cycle) chemotherapy dose of Daunurubicin and Vincristine. I am currently hooked up to saline, but I think it may finish by 10pm giving me an untethered night (but this may just be wishful thinking).

As my muscle tone heads south, I have asked to see the physio, and she is supposed to come on Monday. I am not very disciplined at exercise regimes, but maybe the parlour state of my body will spur me on.

A copy of Cryptonomicon sits looking coyly at me on the windowsill. It is such a huge book! If it were an e-book it would not be quite so daunting! At some point I must pick it up, but I worry my arms are not strong enough!