Round #3 is nearing its conclusion

A rainy Tuesday morning and I am sitting here after a long shower. Have read all of your recent messages, as it has been a while since I have been online, and am smiling at your news, your photos, your good wishes. Lindsay, your girls are BEAUTIFUL, Julie your wedding plans are so EXCITING, Alexis your ski trip looks FABULOUS, Giovanna your messages have been so CHEERING, Lisa C. your quote was MOVING, Mary that painting was really TOUCHING, and Chris' photo from up a mast was BREATH-TAKING... well I would say that that's not a bad start to the day, eh? Beautiful, exciting, fabulous, moving, touching, cheering, and breath-taking...!
When I last posted, I was feeling "pretty good" - so much so that I called the hospital to check that they had given me the correct dosage of medication (typical me, I know, control, control...). They informed me that "Yes, you've had the same kind and dosage as you've had the other two rounds", and I hung up the phone thinking "Great!".... and then Friday night arrived, and I realised that Round #3 was really only just beginning. Still better than Round #2, don't get me wrong, but the chemo patrol managed to hit me with a left hook and then a right upper cut, and I spent the weekend in bed feeling miserable admittedly, and requiring an added dose of Chiara's pep talks. When asked what chemo feels like, the image that comes to mind (aside from the awful nausea) is feeling that I am a bug that has been sprayed and that both inside and out my body and wings are wanting to shut down - heavy, achy, feeling literally poisoned, feeling "wrong". I can taste and feel the heat of the chemo on my breath, and you can smell it on my skin. It is powerful stuff, no doubt about it, but then, powerful medicine is the name of the game... and speaking of games... following the left hook and right upper cut, I feigned being knocked out, only to get up again yesterday and deliver one or two blows myself. As the bell is about to ring in a day or so to end this round and give me a tired breather of some days of low cell counts but nothing more, although a breather nonetheless, I'm saying the the bookies are still weighing very heavily in my favour..... Love to you all!