Here I go again...

We are in our "Cottage" which is the motel we rent in Christchurch when we come for Chemotherapy treatment. We drove part of the way here yesterday and completed the trip this morning to get here in time for a blood test to be taken at St George's hospital. We are to have an appointment with the oncologist tomorrow and he will tell me if the blood test is OK whether I will continue to have the chemotherapy/immunotherapy scheduled for Thursday. We will travel home on Friday. I need to confess to feeling a bit negative about the whole process. In my reading about mesothelioma it seems that even if you hit it with pretty rugged treatment it does not improve the prognosis much at all. I have been having one week of travel and treatment, one week of feeling sick, and one OK week. Then the cycle is repeated again. I am to have four sessions of treatment so that is twelve weeks of my life that will have been mostly all taken up with the process. That is three months when I have not been able to work much. The stuff I need to do around our house and acre before my death has been delayed. Chaplaincy and worship leadership has been disrupted. As well as that the treatment costs a lot of money! But will the treatment give me three months more of life? To quote the oncologist, "There are no guarantees." So I get a bit negative. I am here. If I get the treatment I'll go home to a miserable week next week. I guess it is a calculated risk. Wish me luck! I guess it is right to do my best to be around as long as possible.