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Tumour diary: Waking up from the chemo sleep

BBC News Online science and technology writer Ivan Noble was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in August 2002.

Since his diagnosis, he has been sharing his experiences in an online diary.

This is the first time I have written in several weeks.

I have been spending a lot of time asleep.

The reason I think is that the side effects of my chemotherapy have finally kicked in in a big way.

The first cycle of treatment, which ended well over a month ago, was pretty much unnoticeable until the very end.

But this second cycle has been exactly as predicted, with my hyperactivity giving way to serious lethargy ten days after I took the tablets.

Lethargic is the way I have stayed.

'Sliding by'

Before I was waking between 4 and 6 am with my mind racing, often having finished everything I wanted to write before anyone else in my time-zone was awake.

Now, I am waking about 7.30, downing the coffee and sweet porridge which I am often delighted to find by my bedside, then falling asleep again before 9am despite the best efforts of the Today programme (I should turn it up again after 'Thought for the Day').

Actual dressing rarely happens before lunch and sometimes not at all.

The good side of all this has to be that rest must be doing me good. I feel well and everyone else, when they catch me awake, seems to think I look OK.

The downside is that the days are just sliding by, with nothing to distinguish one from the next.

It really is the case that drama and crisis cause time to slow down, while peace, quiet, rest and lack of calamities make the time go by faster.

Today at least I have moved locations, back to Scotland again, albeit Edinburgh instead of the highlands.

I am setting in to a long weekend of relaxation and good company here.

I had half a mind to apologise for this report being so short.

But I am not going to. I am really glad that nothing bar a couple of minor headaches have happened to me since I last wrote and that I am living the quiet life. It is good for me. Drama will return in its own good time.

Posted by thinkum at May 10, 2004 01:36 PM