No, no, no.
On Friday 9th July I had bloods taken and by 5pm I had a phone call from the doctor's to tell me that I was neutropenic and to be careful as regards infection and to wash my hands often etc. This is particularly important because I recently spent 10 days in hospital with a chest infection. I spent those 10 days receiving strong antibiotics 4 times a day. I was also asked to have the same blood test repeated the following Friday 16th of July.
So on 16th July I had bloods taken and by the end of the day I didn't have a phone call telling me I was neutropenic. That was great because on Monday 12th of July I was to go to my daughter's in Cambridgeshire. Therefore on the 12th of July Mrs Tvman and I went to the airport and flew to Stansted airport and got the train to Peterborough.
In Northern Ireland the 12th and 13th of July are bank holidays because they're the two biggest days of the marching season. On Wednesday 14th July late afternoon my phone rang and it was my doctor's receptionist. She delivered the news I did not want and had I been told the figures that I was being given, I probably wouldn't have made the journey because they were bad, very bad. My neutrophils count was 0.79 and my haemaglobin was 89. Both those figures are the second worst I have ever had. In fact, the time my haemaglobin was 82 I collapsed and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital.
Right now, what to do? I rang the emergency number of the cancer unit of the Ulster hospital where I attend. A nurse answered and I explained the situation. Unfortunately for me, the doctors had all finished at 5pm and it was 5.15pm. She kept me on hold while she searched for help. She returned to the phone and said that she would ring tomorrow after speaking with a doctor. That's today, Wednesday. The problem is that I have bone marrow cancer and my bone marrow now seems to be failing. I was told by a doctor before that I wouldn't be offered a bone marrow transplant because the operation would kill me. Is this the beginning of the end?
Has anyone ever phoned the helpline number just to talk to someone? A member of the community team has told me that it would be a help to talk to someone. I think I will but firstly I will wait for the phone call from the nurse.
Take care and stay safe everyone
Tvman xx
