Another day closer to the impending doom of chemo and radio. Oh joy of joys. I have managed to get some work done today, which was nice. Some of you might consider that an odd statement, but getting some work done meant that not all of my day was taken up with things related to cancer. In other words its another step closer to what my life used to be like before the cancer. I'll take those steps however I can :-)
Thats not to say I got anything terribly meaningful done, I am attempting to learn a new development IDE, a new programming language and a completely new way of writing code. I spent rather alot of it trying to figure out why a table of figures wouldn't layout as I was expecting (programming is full of this kind of nonsense, you seem to spend more time figuring out why that damned box there doesn't line up as you'd think it would than you do actually writing any proper code), it was a nice return to the pre-cancer life.
I also had a visit from an old friend I used to train with, before life and took over and stopped me going regularly, it was good to catch up - although it felt like we spent more time talking about my cancer and operation than anything else. I haven't been training for a fair time, its one of the reasons I had three stone spare when the cancer hit - which means its one of the reasons I go into the chemo and radio carrying a healthy weight rather than being under weight - but its something I will have to pick up again when my health returns. Hell, I might not even wait that long, I always felt that good health and lots of exercise go hand in hand, the ability to do one will lead to the other and keep you that way. I used to get regular exercise every day, either by cycling or do organised training, I didn't seem to suffer from any ill health. It seems like no coincidence, now that I think about it, that I got to my most unfit and unhealthy when the cancer hit. I was rather embarrassed at the state of my blood pressure and resting heart rate in the hospital - in fact in pre-op checks my blood pressure was high enough for the nurse to query my fitness for the operation with a doctor (if only to see if they wanted me to take some blood pressure meds before the op).
I can't really do any real exercise at the moment, things are still healing up, but before long my neck will be strong enough to stand some cycling. I only have a couple of weeks left before I start treatment (pfffff, cooking and poisoning), in a act which surely proves the universe (I refuse to say god) has a sense of humour, I actually start chemo and radio on my birthday - in fact I will spend over 8 hours of the day in the hospital on my birthday. I wonder if the nurses will bring me birthday cake?
Finally, I have had another appointment through, again by phone, this time for the PEG feeding tube to be installed. Whereas I thought this was going to be a day surgery thing, I will actually be admitted overnight. On the plus side, I also thought the fitting was done under sedation and a local, but apparently not, I will in fact be having a general. So at least I don't have to worry about that procedure. What did amuse me (well, amuse might not be the right word here) was that the appointment they wanted me to make clashed with another appointment at the same hospital. Now, logically, I would have thought that this would have resolved itself. One department would talk to the other and one of the appointments would be moved to earlier in the day to save a second trip to the same hospital and keep everyone happy. Of course, this is what happened, but only because I phoned everyone and sorted it out. Me. The patient. Good grief. Perhaps I am pushing my expectations of the NHS too far with that one? One department sort out an appointment clash with another? Preposterous. What was I thinking? :-P
