The big day today. Going to Debrecen to start my stem cell collection treatment. We had to be up early, so Katie made sure she got an early night. She made it to bed at 3:15am after painting the bathroom in knicker pink. In the morning our new shower cabin was being installed, and since the room needed a new lick of "sterilising" paint, this was the ideal time.

My first impressions of the hospital are good. The doctors and nurses are kind, speak English (and are even more kind when I speak in Hungarian), and the building and facilities are new, which is a massive improvement on the last building site of a hospital.

First up blood tests, a bone marrow aspiration from the sternum (not the huge pain-fest it had been last time around) needed for the stem cell transplant (coming later). This is a teaching hospital, so lots of students around, including a Belgian pair who will use me as their case study. I was astonished to discover both TV and wifi in my room though I couldn't get the latter to work.

I'll start my chemo treatment this evening and I'll be hooked up to a couple of drugs for 36 hours (cyclophosphamide and uromitexan). This needs a catheter in a vein in the neck. Having it "installed" was frankly awful, first an ultrasound to locate the vein, then in it went with a couple of sutures to keep it in place. My range of movement is reduced and I won't be taking the long walks into Debrecen for sightseeing that I'd optimistically fantasised about. Still, I can go outside and walk in the park, but I'll probably need to avoid jumping in puddles and cuddling any dogs. It gave me a bit of a shake though and it was good to have Katie around for a few hours whilst I came to terms with it and the starting of the treatment in general.

I have a Romanian roommate who speaks neither Hungarian, nor English. Which suits me fine. I have lots of books, audiobooks, TV series, films and Rubik cube to keep me distracted