The fact that the second chemo cycle wouldn't have started until the the arm was healed properly and the clips (40 odd I think) are taken out means that we have had to slightly change the rest of the programme but as of now the pre chemo blood test is set for 11th April, and the 2nd chemo cycle is 13th.
The orthopaedic guy asked my GP to arrange a nurse appointment to remove the clips; 2 weeks after the op would have taken us to Thursday 5th April, a week before the chemo restarted, so I called the GP, they had the letter, and promptly told me they didn't have a single nurse appointment for at least 2 weeks from now. What a waste of time!
I called the Spencer wing. They said "What date is 2 weeks after the op?" "5th April" I said. "11 o'clock on the 5th then". Sorted . That is the difference between NHS and private. Now I would never say that the NHS shouldn't be there because as a system it is fantastic, but its unfortunate that over the years it's become such a lumbering great beast that nowadays its often difficult to serve the needs of the patients effectively due to lack of resource, top heavy bureaucracy and systems that often don't work correctly or fail on a regular basis. A good friend of ours who has worked most of her life as a health professional told us the other day that for "major" illness such as stroke and cancer the overall care given by the NHS is hardly different to that of private medicine but for things like the pinning procedure I have just had there is a massive difference, and I am happy to have the option of the choice between one and the other. My eternal thanks again to Addison Lee for providing the BUPA cover as part of my employment and for their continued support.
The sudden realisation that you have cancer hits you like a sledgehammer. On 9th February after 2 months of tests and all sorts thats what they told me. In more ways than one it's a life-changing moment and your mind goes into overdrive thinking all kinds of worst case scenarios.
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