Monday 18th February 2019
“You usually have to wait for that which is worth waiting for” — Craig Bruce

Well today started with a bang ! Up at 6.30am, and needing to be out of the house for 7.10am or so. I didn’t clock it really, but nobody in the house had any urgency to get ready, not like usual. Then just a before 7am, the doorbell rang ?! Who the heck rings your doorbell before 7am ?

I rushed downstairs, opened the door, and to my utter surprise there stood before me my Best Man, Marcus. I’ve not seen him in the flesh for a few years, he now lives in New Zealand, so to be at my door early doors on the morning when I’m getting ready to go to hospital, it was one of those time slows down, am I processing this right (?) moments. Taxi for Evans ! Well done and thanks to Jayne for being the inside woman, and keeping it a surprise 🙂

Once I realised what was going on, we had a brew, chatted, and then he took me to the hospital in the fastest car in the world – his hire car. We chatted the whole way, parked up, checked in and then went for some breakfast. He stayed til around 11am, then went off to visit some more friends whilst he’s over here. It was brilliant to have some good company, spending a good few hours catching up.

I was hoping that getting in earlier than my appointment time would help me get to a bed quicker again today, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. I bumped into another person on the same schedule as me who has been struggling a lot more than me, his brother wheeled him in sat in a wheelchair. We caught up, then he went and found a reclining chair to relax in. I’m shocked it’s hit him so hard and he’s shocked I’ve been working and gardening. When I caught his brother a few hours later, he said they’d been told it may be 5pm before a bed was ready for him.

What was nice today, was that there was a chap called Gary in the waiting room who was there for the first time with his wife. As good as the care at the hospital is, they are not always great at explaining to you what will happen. So when you end up in a waiting room for hours and didn’t expect it, it can be a lot more frustrating than if you were expecting it. This is particularly annoying if you are a first timer. The majority of patients are doing things for the second, third or twelfth time as a lot of treatments or scans are repeated a lot, so they know the drill. Just like me, today starting it all for the third time. It was good to be able to share with them what the sequence is, what to expect, etc etc, and make things a little more understandable. You feel part of the community.

Anyhow, it was about 6.50pm when I got called to say my bed was ready. I’d seen the Dr at 9.30am and got the go-ahead to start the chemo, so that was just over a 9 hour wait 😦 I’d already missed lunch so bought some from the shop, and now I’d missed the evening meal too. The nurse found me a sandwich and a yogurt on the way, then organised some beans on toast too.

The great news was though, I am in bed 19, ward 11 again, the same bed as Cycle 2, and opposite the bed from Cycle 1. It might not seem a big deal, but the familiarity of it is great. It’s out of the way, close to the loo, I’m next to a window with a decent view and I know where everything is. I realise had a bed come up sooner, it would likely have been elsewhere, so on reflection I don’t mind the wait as much. More great news, one of the nurses from Cycle 1, Andy, was looking after me albeit briefly when I arrived and will be here tomorrow. All the nurses are good, Andy is the best so far and a good guy to have around.

They hadn’t put a cannula in this morning either, much to the annoyance of the nurse looking after me once Andy went home, and it was 3 attempts today to get one in. Apparently your veins start to take a hit from all the prodding and the chemo, which makes sense because early on it was always done on the 1st attempt. That was about 8.15pm. I had my pre-meds around 8.45pm, and then started the chemo about 9.25pm.

If you flick back to Cycle 2, Day 1 you’ll see the breakdown of drugs, I’ll not repeat it. But suffice to say it’s 4 litres of fluid over 9 hours (not including changeovers, so more like 10 hours.) The downside here is that the steroids will keep me awake having taken them so late, even though I’m knackered. I’ll also be peeing every hour or so again due to the fluid intake and the extra water I am encouraged to drink, so by 7am tomorrow I’ll be a train wreck.

On the plus side, I got up here in time to watch the football, another win for Ole. I got chatting with Roy and his wife opposite me, who is here for treatment that will relieve his pain. Despite that, he’s good company, along with Dave next to him who is great for a conversation. Dave’s football stream was 30 seconds ahead of mine so I knew when to pay attention to the game from the commentary I could hear.

Just one thing though, if you’ve followed the blog, you’ll be familiar with “Bob.” That’s the nickname I give to the IV Pump I have to wheel around everywhere including the many trips to the toilet. If you are superstitious, look away now. I just saw what number has been allocated to today’s Bob…

Luckily, I am not 🙂