Friday and Saturday were shockers, but come Sunday things were indeed on the improve. The lousy weather prevented doing much on the long weekend, but at least I'd stopped coughing - almost.
Today was the day for the scans to mark up the mask for my radiotherapy treatment. First good bit of news was that they decided not to do the contrast scan. Seems this is a new innovation to them, so they were more than happy not to push there luck. Appointment was 1:50pm and I dutifully took my mellow pill at 1:30. By this time I'd picked Ruth up and we were on our way to the hospital.
No mucking around - Liz came and took us through and Ruth got her first look at my nemesis. During the course of today, the mask got named as well - Hugo.
We got down to business and came awfully close to actually getting Hugo clamped down and me in a happy space - almost. The tongue depressor thing was becoming somewhat of a potential obstacle, so after consultation with Mr Wilson, two decisions were taken. Firstly, we're not going to persevere with the tongue depressor - yippee! Secondly, they decided I should take a 2nd chill pill as they were a low dose.
Dressed again, back in the waiting room for the 2nd pill to kick in and I must admit to starting to feel really quite mellow. Back into the room, a few last coughs, some interim placement of Hugo and, ladies and gentleman, we had lift-off.
(Note the blue colour under my head - that is the custom moulded pad that supports the back of my head and shoulders)
Scans were to take about 10 minutes, but didn't seem to be that long. It only seemed like a couple of minutes before I was dressed and in a room talking to Liz about things. Seems I haven't signed my informed consent yet (I jokingly asked if that meant I could sue them now?) and I needed to do that with Mr Wilson, who wasn't currently available. Also need him to do the prescription for next round of chill pills (note new scrip is for full strength, so only need 1 pill).
We agreed I'd toddle off to the Cancer Society and then come back to see if Mr Wilson was available. The visit to the cancer society was to enquire about getting a parking permit that will allow me to park in their park while I'm receiving my daily treatments. As expected, they were lovely. Now understand the process and was also given a tour of their premises to see what else they can offer.
Back at the hospital and Mr W is still not available, but I've got my prescription, so that was important.
At this stage, I'd have to say today was a good day. I've proved I can cope with Hugo, I understand the need to have someone with me in case the chill pills impair my ability to drive, but most importantly - the final pre-treatment exercise is now complete (although Liz and the team still need to map my treatment regime, etc). So all we need is a treatment start date, which is..........Monday 28th June.
That gives me three uninterrupted weeks to get as much as possible sorted at work, as well as clean up the last couple of tasks around the house. This time is going to be great.
I also now know when the 7 weeks of treatment will be over - Friday 13th August - great date. This also means that the end of July is when I should start to feel the cumulative effects of treatment.
By the way, the chill pills are meant to take the edge off for up to four hours. Allow me to assure you that as soon as I took a step out of the hospital into the "fresh" Wellington weather, I was stone cold (really bloody cold actually) back to normal.
All in all, a great day that saw lots achieved.
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