Radiotherapy underway, day 2/33
Similar process to 1/33 but arrived slightly late, 55 minutes before the appointment instead of one hour. Called straight in, and rushed to do the bowel prep. Before the enema had started working, I was told to start drinking my cups of water. Drank three, then rushed off to the toilet. Explained what had happened to one of the radiographers and was asked to drink another three cups. As my hormone tablets were due, took those at the same time. One of the other guys arriving for treatment introduced himself (Dennis) and was clearly known to some of the others. My forty minutes wait became fifty minutes and I was starting to feel the pressure on my bladder.
When I was called, I explained that I was ‘bursting’, so they did the x-rays and R/T but skipped the scan, leaving it until the next day. Had to rush to the toilet twice, to empty my bladder, I guess it was more than full that day. When I got home, I was feeling slightly sick and had a small pain in my belly. Went to bed and rested for an hour.
Radiotherapy underway, day 3/33
This time, arrived a good hour before and immediately took the enema. When I came back to reception, my name had been called so I went through and waited for it to work. One of the assistants asked if I had done this but I explained that it was ‘underway’. She said once I had completed this part of the process, she would give me the nod when to start drinking water. She must have forgotten, so when the radiographer called me, I explained I hadn’t drunk the water. She told me to start immediately and I had to wait for nearly forty minutes before being called in. This time was like a repeat of 1/33. The radiographer hadn’t checked if my bladder was full enough but said that the ‘set-up’ had been spot on. Feeling a little tired, I went off to the hospital restaurant with May, then home from Euston Square to Harrow.
