July 20th

I envy the people I see in Europe on the TV these days. There they are, playing hookey from work, soaking up the rays at a beach, frolicking in a public fountain or strolling about complaining about the heat.

A friend in England has written to comment on the heat and I have thanked her for blowing a little our way so that we no longer have -5 degrees overnight. I suspect that had it not been for her kindness we would be even colder than we are while she would have been enjoying the benefits of 41 degrees.

I have absolutely no idea why it is that the people in England complain about mere bagatelle like 36.5 degrees.

I mean this is just below normal body temperature. People go around all day every day trying to wear clothes and conserving their body temperature to maintain it at 36.6 so why complain?

There are places in Australia where that temperature would be considered cold!

Anyway enough of my commentary about the weather.

While others have been soaking up the sunshine I have been soaking up gamma rays. Friday will be the fifth day in a row for this treatment. I started to notice the rosy glow of a form of sunburn and expect that by the weekend I will have a more lobster like complexion than normal.

Had a friend who was in the neighbourhood call up and wonder whether I would be up to a visit I have to say that I was tempted but declined on the grounds that I am not sure that my immune system is up to it.

I will however confirm with the nursing staff whether my experience from the last time that I had to undergo treatement is really a useful benchmark for this round of treatment. The last time, my immune system was so compromised that I managed to get pneumonia just from going out into the backyard to feed the birds. Since the treatment regime is different this time I may be very wrong about the risk on this occasion and be in a situation where I am controlled by fears that may not be realistic.

If I find that the treatment is NOT making me vulnerable to all sorts of horrible possibilities I will let people know and apologise for being a recluse.

The treatment is progressing and is making me more tired than I seem to recall from the last time. Perhaps this is because in this current round there are no drugs given that act like speed!

I managed to get in early and came home early only to find I was so exhausted that I actually went to sleep around 2 pm and slept through to around 6:30 pm.

Amazing! I usually cannot sleep in the afternoons.