Le premier traitement

Got out of bed after a satisfying 4-hour night's sleep, and spent about an hour trying to wake up. The final sperm banking this morning, less painful than last week.

And now the main attraction:
8:30 - I am admitted into room 818 at the Kellogg Cancer Center. It has a bed, a closet, a private washroom and several chairs. There is a TV/VCR that appears to be roughly as old as I am. Shall have to acquire a portable DVD player.

Nora Koenig, my nurse, hooks me up to an IV of saline, to prime my system or something. Making sure I have enough liquid in me. I don't have much to do (I brought the Kill Bill DVDs, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, and a GBA with Final Fantasy I/II, and ultimately opt for the video game).

For several hours, I sit in the chair (which reclines, thank god) playing my Game Boy, with roughly hourly punctuations as Nora changes my IV (the concatenation: saline -> other, better saline-like substance -> Cisplatin (chemo drug!) -> a very effective diuretic -> Etoposide (chemo!). A brief bit of fun after the diuretic: I managed to bump the IV lose (then in my right hand), and it had to be transferred to my arm.

I have as yet suffered no ill effects.