"Hive" is what sprang to mind on entering the Chemo day centre at Shrewsbury... it consists of 24? cubicles with Layzee-boy style chairs, along with a drip, table, plug sockets and optional visitor chair - which are laid out around a central nursing and admin desk. There are little trolleys of things which get wheeled about and magically filled up - along with mobile pc workstations....
It is a very well oiled machine indeed - I had a bag of fluids for 2 hours followed by some anti sickness - plus 3 hours of Cisplatin - plus around an hour of fluids and was finally fitted with a 7 day pump to finish off.... I was also given some anti sickness drugs and a form to get a blood test prior to the next cycle and that's it.
So here's the thing - though you're attached to the drip, they're quite happy for you to wander round the corridors with it if you want to stretch - which is good... the chair is very comfortable and reclines - if you fancy a bit of a kip..... there is quite serviceable wifi available so if you want to bring in some work then that's fine - or stream movies - or look up side effects of cancer drugs - or my latest word - emetic...
It is very easy to pass an entire day in a comfy chair watching movies in my opinion - I was just missing some popcorn - which I couldn't manage anyway with my esophagus... decent coffee - which I will take in next time... and some esophagus friendly food (I'm not really enjoying eating anything much at the moment so that's probably a red herring....
Think along the lines of a trans atlantic flight in cattle class (the air con is a bit off and I don't mean to sound ungrateful - the food isn't great) but having a business class seat and you're not far off - if you can manage that - then this is a doddle......
If you're inclined to think that the whole experience is rather miserable - in comparison to the chemo that I had in 1976 where the anti sickness drugs weren't available and every 4 days out of 3 weeks was a 96 hour brutal gut wrenching regime in a lumpy bed with a few vomit splattered Winnie the Pooh books to read - this is rather like a having a villa overlooking the Bay of Naples, with an inifity pool and your own private orchestra.
My last hint is to take some noise cancelling headphones if you really want to get the best out of those cinematic moments - or ZZ Top for that matter... there's a lot of hubbub otherwise.
I'm writing this the day after and so far so good - I don't feel like doing much - so I'm not doing much and doing very nicely on it thankyou!
I've had a slight metallic edge to the back of my throat which I can tell is something to do with the emetic! property of cisplatin but other than that, and being a little strung out... so far so good.... excuse the hair here - it went rawther static!
