Friday 1st March 2019
“I’m nearing the end of the road and still learning” — Mike Wallace

As always, it’s an early start to get to the hospital for around 8am. I needed to be there for my bloods at 8.40am today, but Jayne gets me there on the way to work and it was a good job. They just moved the Outpatients Department on Tuesday, to the newly refurbished one elsewhere in the hospital. I think there’s teething problems, but it’ll be worth the pain in the long run.

I wandered to the new place, checked in on the screen and it kindly told me I was too early and to go to the cafe !! The blood tests are still being done at the old place, so I went back and they had no blood forms so there were a lot of people waiting. Mostly doing the under the breath moaning to their partners, “oooh George, this isn’t any good is it,” “piss up and brewery Margaret, piss up and brewery.” It’s never dull doing some people watching. The good old British way of expressing dissatisfaction, quietly.

Eventually I got a ticket and had bloods done at about 8.45am, 5 mins late despite arriving 40mins early. Hey ho, it’s not like I didn’t have the time to waste. The nurse who took my blood clocked that I was born in ’82, and said her daughter was born the same year. I apparently look like I’m in my 20’s, and I have a baby faced thing going on 😉 I think the lack of hair makes me look like an oversized toddler, slight difference of opinion there but I took the compliment. “You’re the same age as Prince William and he looks miles older. I’ve never understood why he doesn’t just shave his hair off.” It was a fun conversation 🙂

I’d had 3 weetabix for breakfast, but I was hungry at this point. I went to the new outpatient waiting area. It’s very modern, new, quite swish, and it’s not right next to a main entrance like the last place so you don’t need a winter coat despite the rest of the hospital feeling like an Australian summer. I got there about 9am for a 9.40am appt. I got called about 10.30am, which would usually kill me waiting so long, but today I knew chemo was at 1pm so if I wasn’t sat there, I’d be sat elsewhere. Other than I was getting unusually hungry compared to recent days. Just the thought of steroids !

Nothing much to report. Last Wednesday I got discharged with 3x days of Filgrastim Injections to keep my Neutrophil count (immune system) up. The time prior, 5 days worth had pushed my numbers from I think 0.3 to over 40, when you’re looking for between 2 and 7.5. I got 3 days worth last week as 40+ was too high, but today they were 0.3 again. I’ve got another 3 days to take. A count of 0.3 puts me in the territory of absolutely not wanting to catch a bug because there’s nothing there to kill it off. I explained to the Dr and a Nurse that I’ve been wiped out this last week, and they consider it normal. Cycle 3 is an accumulation, so it’s nothing to worry about. I forgot to ask about my red blood count, I was suitably reassured.

Now very hungry, I went to to the pharmacy to order my injections, it’s always about an hour’s wait so I get in nice and early and pick them up after chemo. I was hoping I’d get called early today, so I got some lunch and a pack of mini eggs and sat in one of the many waiting areas waiting for the chemo team to call and say it was my turn. The waiting area for ‘day chemo’ was hammered today, so I didn’t expect an early call. I video called my friend Nick for a good 20 mins, it was great to catch up. Then about 12.45pm I got the call and up I went.

The nurse was a nice chap, we chatted about running and biking whilst he was setting up and putting the cannula in my arm. He asked me if I had medication to order, so I said I had ordered the injections to pick up from the pharmacy already. He asked if I inject myself, which I do, and then said you know what to do with them don’t you. Me – Yes. And to take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before you use them, he said.

Now, have you ever had one of those moments where you do an incredible amount of thinking in about 1 second flat without trying to show hesitation… this is how it went…

• Fridge ?
• 20 minutes?
• No-one’s ever mentioned that before…
• That makes sense because it’s bloody cold when it goes in…
• He’s gonna think I’m a moron if I’ve been injecting it cold…
• Need to save face here…
• Say “Yes” like you knew all along…
• Say it convincingly…
• Smile… 🙂

“Yeah yeah” I mumbled with a confident if not hesitant smile. “Cool” he said accepting my response, “unless you’re some kind of sadist who likes the extra pain of the cold.” I think I got away with that one.

So my chemo finished at 2pm, and as usual I’d done a best guess and asked Dad to pick me up at 2.15pm. I went for a pre-emptive pee so I wouldn’t get caught on the way home then raced to the pharmacy. The pharmacist got my order, but all 3 booths were full so she came out in the corridor to pass them to me. As always they ask your address, and guess what she asked…

• Have you had these before…
• (me) Yes
• Do you know how to use them…
• (me) Yes
• And you know to bleh bleh bleh… (she gets tongue-tied)
• (me, like a pro that didn’t learn this half an hour ago) Take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before? Yes 🙂
• Great !

I had about 10 minutes to kill, so I thought I’d go the charity shop which is right near the main entrance where I get picked up, and buy a teddy or a dog as a mascot of sorts for my fundraising. Just as I was about 5 metres away, someone shouted me. I’ve mentioned before I’ve bumped into another chap several times who has been on the exact same schedule to me, but has struggled really badly, and he’s always with his relative, that’s who shouted me. No sooner had we started talking, and I got a tap on the shoulder from Dave, my friend in the opposite bed from last week. He was looking much better, it was nice to see. I had a brief chat with both, then my lift arrived and I went home.

Typical chemo afternoon, drank lots of fluids and didn’t do a lot. Naomi (you’re famous again) kindly dropped the boys off for me, then we waited for Jayne to get home and had a nice meal while we watched a movie. After that, a funny half hour watching “fail army” on you tube, half the fun is seeing Luke absolutely wet his pants at some of the videos. I did a 20 minute warmed up injection, and to be honest it wasn’t really much different.

10pm bed to write my blog, and then off to sleep. It’s been a better day, I’ve not been as tired as I have been but still quite tired. I would have napped late afternoon but didn’t get the chance so I’m pretty whacked again now and looking forward to a pee-interrupted sleep.

Unfortunately, today a brother of a friend of Jayne’s has found out he has testicular cancer too, and is being sent in for the Op pretty quickly as I was. Again, only around 2000 men in the UK are unlucky enough to get the diagnosis each year, so it’s a fairly exclusive but not exactly a pleasant club to join. It’s highly curable though, and the chemo isn’t as terrifying as it sounds if you have to have it. To all those in the same boat, I hope the blog has been insightful and useful to what may lie ahead. And remember, if you get Filgrastim injections, take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before you use them 🙂