And... go.

The first time around, I had these gangly tubes sticking out of the inside of my left arm that waggled all over the place and made dressing and undressing an acrobatic activity. The next time, they moved the venous access more centrally, and I sprouted tubes out of my chest. While I could finally take a shower without wrapping my arm in an elephant condom, it was still stressful to try to keep it clean and dry. This time, I have finally achieved a true man-machine hybrid state: this morning, a port was installed. A chamber 2cm in diameter bulges out from under the skin on my chest, and is connected to my heart via a tube that loops over my clavicle and down through my jugular vein. When they want to inject anything or draw a blood sample, a needle pierces a thin layer of skin and enters into the chamber. Way less stress and maintenance. And completely badass.

I sit writing this the night before I start my third chemotherapy regimen. I am feeling strangely... good. All of the stress associated with figuring out what to do is in the past. Now all there is to do is live. Tomorrow I will go to the hospital. It will mostly be boring. Some of it will probably be uncomfortable. Then the infusion will be over, and I will go home. I'll probably feel bad for a while. I'll probably sleep some. After a while, I'll feel better, and we'll go from there. It's very simple, really.