Verdict on Barry

Suddenly my blog was not loading properly. Kathryn was the first to mention it. She could only get the frame to load, but none of the posts.

Then others began to have the same problem, even going to Linda's blog to let her know they were having trouble.

I was having no trouble with Firefox but when I tried accessing the page with Internet Explorer I had the same problem as everyone else. So I tried fiddling with elements within the posts, deleting some of the larger pictures but that resolved nothing. The page still wouldn't download properly.

In the end I switched to a new template and gave myself a whole new look. One that downloads fast no matter which browser I use. So I think I solved the problem, but please let me know it you're still having trouble.

And I hope you like the new look.

Meanwhile, back in the world of reality, yesterday was judgment day for me. It was the day my various oncologists put their collective heads together, reviewed the battery of tests they had ordered, in order to determine if I was fit to withstand the battering I was about to receive during the final week of treatment.

The dreaded fifth week of combined chemo and radiation. Not everyone can tolerate the fifth week, but survival rates go up significantly for those who can.

So I wanted to be in their number. No matter how ill the treatment made me.

And the first week of combined chemo/radiation had made me very ill indeed.

Fortunately all the test results came back negative. Which is a good thing. Positive means they had positively found a problem, but they hadn't

Although my white cell count was a near thing. My immune system has taken a battering by four weeks of daily radiation. A normal healthy white cell rating is 3. The lowest white cell rating they will consider for the fifth week is 1.5

Mine was 1.6.

So I have to become "bubble boy" for a couple of weeks because the fifth week is going to knock me well below 1.5 before its done. I won't have much resistance to disease by the time this is all over.

And of course my oldest daughter has a cold, so I'll only be talking to her by phone.

In the meantime, I have recovered from Thursdays downturn and am eating and feeling quite well again and have the weekend to get myself as strong as I can before Monday when I strap on the dread 5FU pack for 24 hour chemo.

This time next week, of course, it will all be over but for the surgery. And I get a month or two off to rebuild before that happens.