Conversatio Morum

My blood counts have recovered after my last chemotherapy treatment, so I’m no longer in imminent danger of suffocating because of anaemia, bleeding out because of thrombocytopenia, or becoming septic because of neutropenia.

I’m feeling better – tired from time to time, but better than I have been. It appears that my last admission to hospital was caused by respiratory syncytial virus. Mostly gone now – just a slight cough and a runny nose. Peter has been in Leongatha for the last few days, working and sick. He got a cold while he was over there, before my counts recovered, so took the opportunity to be in quarantine! He stayed with my Dad, who apparently found it difficult to find appropriate foods to feed him. Peter is much less fussy than I am as far as food is concerned, so it shouldn’t have been too hard!

Not much else is happening – I’m doing as I’m told by the Department of Social Security, which means filling in lots of forms.

We might go to see the new Harry Potter film today or tomorrow – probably tomorrow. That will be good. I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for Peter on Thursday – I wonder how far he’s got!

A friend is bringing over a fish today for us to bake – that will be nice!

There are apparently no beds in ward 2 at Peter Mac, so I need to wait till tomorrow to be admitted. How sad!

The ‘news’ that Australia’s military presence in Iraq is linked to securing access to oil is deeply disturbing for a number of reasons.

For a start, it makes a lie of the Howard governments continued protestations that we’re not there for such a reason. One lie among a series of lies that we’re now expected to swallow. Secondly, to put the lives of the Iraqi people, not to mention the lives of military and civilian personnel in Iraq, at risk for such a reason is incredibly cynical and mercenary. We ought to hang our heads in shame.

The weather outside is cold and wet. I had to go to hospital today for more blood (I think I’ve had about 40 units of blood, but it is hard to keep count!), and got wet walking to and from the bus.

Yesterday morning was spent being infused with rituximab and blood at the Rosebud Hospital – so much more convenient than Peter Mac. The travel is really a killer!

Tomorrow is admission day for chemo cycle 3B. I’ll be in hospital from Thursday 5th to Monday 9th, unless I metabolise the methotrexate more quickly or slowly (please, let it be more quickly!). I’m not looking to the whole thing. As usual, because I have no internet access while I’m at PMCC I’ll be writing posts but not uploading them until I’m discharged. I’ll have to organise a wireless internet connection for my stem cell transplant admission.

Peter has been at Leongatha for the past two days, as normal. He didn’t have too many clients on Tuesday, but plenty on Wednesday.

We have a mouse in the house. Biff (the dog) is sitting at the kitchen door alertly watching out for it. His hunting instincts (he’s a German Shorthaired Pointer) are quite keen, even if he is a bit fat! He’s been known to catch mice, so this one may be unlucky. More likely I’ll have to poison it.

Two items to comment on from the news:

President Bush’s use of his executive powers to commute ‘Scooter’ Libby’s jail sentence for obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury seems very much ‘on the nose’. I can understand the frustration of people in the United States. There seems to be one law (or application of the law) for those who are wealthy and well-connected, and another for the poor and obscure. No doubt this is a problem in Australia too, but I suspect it is less rampant, and is expressed more in terms of getting better outcomes at court if you have the resources to retain better legal representation.

The BBC has announced that Catherine Tate will be the Doctor’s companion for season four of Doctor Who. This is truly weird news, I reckon. While I enjoyed her portrayal of Donna in The Runaway Bride, I thought it was mostly stunt casting. I wonder how it will pan out…