Subject: chemo at last (Ed wrote this February 25) Monday, I presented myself bright and early at Sloan-Kettering Memorial for what was to be my first chemo session. Alas, a preliminary blood test showed that my hemoglobin was once again slightly lower than whale manure at the bottom of the ocean, so it was cancelled. Tuesday I spent in a hospital bed being transfused. Wednesday mornings blood test showed I was just above the magic line, so chemo prodeeded. The treatment room reminded me of a cross between a beauty salon and the bridge of a high-tech ship. Looking out over the Hudson, high backed chairs at each station are equipped with all sorts of "stuff" including intravenous pumps with blinking lights and scrolling LED signs that tell you what they're doing. After a few hours of pumping stuff into the port in my chest, I was given a "baby bottle" to take home attached to the port. The bottle itself is in a fanny pack, connected by tubing to the port. Friday, I'll return and they'll disconnect the baby bottle. Then, I get a week off and the whole cycle repeats. After a total of four cycles (eight weeks) another CT scan will reveal the status of the tumour. They seem certain the chemo will kill the cancer, but it's the side effects they worry about, and which I'm now awaiting the onset of. Chemicals used in chemo invade every cell in the body, and kill the fastest growing ones (cancer) unfortunately, it also kills some less-fast dividing cells - hair, nails, the lining fo the alimentary canal, etc. What fun!