Half way through AC

Chemo cycle 2 is officially over - and is both longer and less unpleasant than the first cycle.

The first three days are almost completely side-effect free (apart from the whole hair thing, which I have droned on about enough) which is fantastic. Of course I don't appreciate it, because I am too busy getting used to being bald, but I feel normal and at any stage during this first week, normal is A Very Good Thing. So much of my hair has come out by this stage - in massive chunks - that I decide that the time has come to do a Britney and shave it off.

The only weapon I have at my disposal is my Epilady with shaving attachment, so I hand it over to the kids and ask them to do their worst. J jr can't bring himself to be involved and goes to kill people on COD instead, while Tiny Tim puts unmentionable rapper style zig-zags across my head. Thankfully she can't manage a Nike tick. Then J finishes off and I look like GI Jane without the muscles - but I am pleased to see that I do have rather an elegant head shape and long neck.........

The next two days are, frankly, grim. I have two states of play, "grotty" (sick, headache, tired, grumpy) and "asleep" which I can chose between - the pills switch me immediately from "grotty" to "asleep" for 3 hours, but I can only take them 3 times a day. I take a different set of pills to knock myself out at night too, and so the two days goes by. I suspect I'm not much fun during this time, but happily I use it to avoid having to see the cinema magic which is "Thor" - J takes the children on his own. I am planning on missing "Pirates of the Caribbean 25" in the same way next cycle.

The final two days are like being post-flu - I feel like I am walking through treacle - but there is no headache and no sickness, and each hour I feel a little bit better. I watch Tenko, Grays Anatomy and Heroes and love it all - a sure sign that my brain has, in fact, turned to mush..........

During this stage, I also develop The Hunger. I know I often surprise people with the amount I can put away at a normal meal time, but this is something else - in these two days, I just can't seem to get enough to eat. I am permanently with my head in the fridge, or making a marmite sandwich (lovely, lovely marmite), or fighting for scraps from the children's plates. We go out for a delicious family lunch and I eat everyones leftovers - normally J's job, but he doesn't get a look in. We go to the Polo club with the Gareth Edwards's for drinks and snacks, and I gobble everything in sight - huge shared plates of Satay GONE! Bruschettas GONE! Calamari NOT A HOPE!

And then suddenly - eight days after it started, I am completely back to normal again.

The fantastic thing is that I am now halfway through the AC cycles - these are the horrible ones - only two more to go. Then it's onto the weekly ones for 12 weeks, but the Smurfs promise that they will be a walk in the park, comparatively. They are known liars though, so we'll see........

As zen-like and serene as ever, J xx