I now await what I hope will be my final weekend infusion of arsenic trioxide. Tomorrow I have no chemo, and I visit the doc to get results of my recent molecular blood test. Hoping for 0.00% diseased cells this time around. If we get all those zeroes then all my future infusions will happen on weekdays.

Hopefully, all my side-effects will subside quickly after the infusions stop. In particular I am quite tired of the dryness and itching that I feel in lots and lots of places lately. Part of that is driven by the dry mucus membranes (eyes, nose, lips, etc), and part of it seems related to my newfound allergy to several types of skin adhesives. Either way I have had several places in recent days where I have to consciously stop myself from scratching the skin raw, and that is no fun at all.

Also high on my list of hope-this-ceases-quickly is the numbness in my feet (that’s Peripheral Neuropathy for you STEM-oriented types). I will pay close attention to that one, as it is known to sometimes become permanent.

This weekend I am super-sad to be missing the Great Boston Double-Header of the Agile Games Conference and the Mob Programming Conference. I attended and greatly enjoyed both of them last year. Shout-out to all my peeps who are enjoying them right now! #agilegames #mobprogconf

Also this weekend I am super-glad to have lovely spring weather in Minnespolis. Yesterday the whole family took a walk along Lake Harriet, and spent an hour at the completely-awesome playground uphill from the bandshell.

Here comes the arsenic. Perfect excuse to close out this post. Good cheer to all!

-Markus

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Cross-posted to FB: https://www.facebook.com/markus.silpala/posts/10212753762145631