Today is scheduled as my fourth dose of chemo - the two-thirds mark - but on Wednesday my neutrophil levels were too low (something that happens to lots of people) so I have a retest at 9a.m. Here's hoping it's OK as the implication of a week's slippage would mean a floppy birthday a month today (to the date not the day) :-(

It's a drug change too - so last night and this morning I have swallowed large quantities of steroids which means if it stands still I might be tempted to eat it!  Evidently the new drug is derived from yew tree bark, which feels perversely apt for a 'vicar' who for almost six years had a Baptist graveyard on her patch and who as a young child used climb the yew tree in our garden (to the disquiet of my parents!).  This drug has slightly different side effects including the possibilities of bone/joint pain, peripheral neuropathy, plamar-plantar and of course falling off nails... sounds like the hill just got a bit steeper.  Last night I painted my nails blue to match my jumper and this morning discovered I could plait a cartoon fatness plait in my biggest headscarf!  What I look like I dread to think, but hey...

Enough of me, what about the New Zealand miners... will they be as fortunate as the Chilean ones?  I think of their families waiting anxiously for news and hoping against hope.

And it's Children in Need day.  Specifically I am thinking of children and teenagers with cancer today; some are treated in other parts of the hospital I'll be at today and some of them will be very, very sick.  I think of their families for whom  today has extra poignancy.  And children's and young people's hospices, offering respite and comfort for families where life-limiting and life-threatening conditions are part of daily life.

So, all being well by this afternoon I'll be round the bend... but if I'm not I have the gift of a 'false plateau' week with good energy levels in which to prepare for the start of Advent.  Seems like 'heads I win and tails I don't lose after all.'