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Hi all, this is my first ever post. I have been told its good to share and i'm going for it. A month ago my lovely wife Iryna was diagnosed with stage 4 NSCLC. She's 38, never smoked, always ate healthily, so when we went to find out what was causing her relentless cough and found a malignant 9cm by 6cm tumour in her right lung it was a massive shock.
The Surgeon and Oncologists at the Royal Marsden and Kingston Hospital have told us there is not much they expect to work. They wanted to...
After my scan I had to wait for my prescription from pharmacy. From past (bitter) experience I know that getting discharged from hospital can take hours - literally - and I decided I wasn't going to stand for that this time. For one thing I had a bag of mildly radioactive clothes I wanted to get thoroughly washed and dried before BF got home.
I have a tendency not to complain about stuff but keep everything bottled up inside until it explodes in a big messy meltdown, and I didn't want those...
Just a quick word before I pack the laptop away as I'm on batteries. A nice chap from Nuclear Medicine arrived spot on 9am to read my levels. In case I didn't explain it properly, I lay on the bed and they did it using sensors in the ceiling. Very clever.
So, my rad level was 57, which means I'm going home today. I only have to do the arm's length thing with BF for a day, and I can have contact with small children and pregnant women from tomorrow. I won't see the neighbour's children until...
Well I found out what the klaxon was. It was the emergency call button. I know because I knocked it while I was getting dressed and a male nurse charged in. My rad levels must be really good because I was still standing next to the button when he switched it off.
I just heard it again and this time it wasn't me. Someone's having a bad day. :-(
Today's scrubs are... different. The first pair of trousers they brought me were two sizes too small. These ones fit but they are snug and that's being...
Things I forgot to write here because I'd already written them on Facebook.
The first title of this blog was pretty boring. It takes me time to think of the cleverer stuff. (The Facebook page for my wildlife garden was exactly the same - it started life as "Green Haven" and now it's "50 Shades of Green".) The name came about when I mentioned that if they showed me a bacon sandwich in hospital they wouldn't have to worry about being too close to me - I'd probably be...
So much for getting a good night's sleep! I just can't seem to relax properly in a strange place. My backs of my hands are a bit rough and itchy. I've been using hand sanitiser as well as washing them so that's probably done it. I'm gong to put some bio-oil on them instead.
Nothing untoward happened in the evening. After my hypo (low blood sugar) in the afternoon the nurse asked me to keep tabs on it. It shot up to around 14 after dinner and then 18, and then it was back to 6 when...
Up at the crack of 7.00 am, on February 25th, to travel UCLH in Euston Square, for my first pre RT appointment. It was timed at 10.00am and I was seen almost immediately by Nurse Beata (I think). Had I been told the potential side effects such as diarrhoea? Yes, but I should pay close attention as she was going to explain how to minimise the risks. Did I know how to self-administer an enema? Well, she was going to tell me.
She showed me a Micolette, which is a micro enema. It consists of a plastic...
3pm
And so at lunchtime the internet died again. It's still not back and so I'm on Word writing this for later.
I missed the end of Doctors again because I was lying flat on my back while they scanned my radiation level. The news is good. It was 1164 yesterday and at 2pm it was 258, so I'm kicking it out a fair old rate. When it reaches 30 I can be around small children again, and the only ones to worry about are my neighbours' pair (cute little buttons both of them).
I could go home...
