I can only describe Friday as a day of irritability. It started off OK. Slept badly again but had a shower, made the bed, and loaded the washing machine. It felt good to do something normal like the laundry again, and it'll be less for my husband to do when he comes home from work.
Then the petty irritations started. First there was the feeding tube. There are days when I hate that thing and this was one of them. It started with a blockage which needed clearing, and I ended up soaking myself with water. Then I realised that the stopper was almost broken off the end of the tube. So some phone calls to sort that out. The nurse can't come round till next week, so I am being sent some emergency repair kit in the post and we will just have to hope it holds out till then. The nurse asks how my regranulation (growing of new tissue in wrong place) is. I tell her I am using the steroid cream as instructed but it is getting worse. She will inspect it next week but apparently the cream can't be used for much longer, so she may be bringing some sort of dressings and new instructions for me. It keeps healing but then starting up again, and perhaps my body is now resistant to the cream. Something else to deal with.
Then the post arrives. Two letters from the hospital. One is my expected appointment with the Consultant at the end of August. No problem. The other is an appointment with my Oncologist for next Tuesday! So I assume the system has messed up somewhere. Ring the hospital to find that yes I am wanted next Tuesday for a routine check. I try to explain as best I can, with my mouth full of gunk and my increasingly croaky voice, that I am supposed to be resting for 7-10 days as this is when my radiation side effects are expected to peak. But it's no good, I am definitely required, and I suspect it is only because the Oncologist was on holiday at the last Tuesday clinic. I don't have the energy or the voice to argue further. What has infuriated me is that the letter is dated a week ago, and postmarked Monday, sent second class. I was at the hospital for my last 3 radiotherapy treatments, and my exit reviews, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Nobody thought to mention it to me then. Probably knew that I would have something to say about it!
