Oncology-schmology. The best laid plans, and all that.

So here was the plan: Canterbury hospital at 12.45 Thursday, review treatment going forward, grab some lunch, and drive to Cornwall for a few days with mum and sister. Simples! Errrrrr nope!

For a couple of weeks before this appointment my hand had been swelling and the moment we walked into the oncologist's consultation his eyes went to the hand and he was focused on that. "We need to do a doppler scan to see if the cause of the swelling is some kind of blockage. We can do that straight away. Nurse will arrange that"

This is now 1pm and she comes back: earliest doppler was 3pm. So that was a wasted 2 hours at the start of the afternoon. We eat lunch, and wander down to the Deep Vein Thrombosis department to get the doppler sorted, which involves booking in here, then somewhere else, then back to the original place etc etc but finally the doppler gets done and they decide that there's a partial blockage way up at the top of the arm near the collar bone which may be causing reduced blood flow down the arm and hand resulting in the swelling. Because of this they can't let me go!

Now they must do a blood test, and wait for results!

We wait, and potassium is low, haemoglobin is low, white count is high, and the blockage needs addressing. None of these will wait, and Cornwall looks like it may be receding into the distance. Upshot is we have to start taking Clexane. Clexane thins the blood allowing better flow, and is self-administered via an injection in the fatty part of the tummy which nurse duly shows me how to do, and that's all good.

We depart Canterbury around 6pm for Cornwall and of course it's all stress and getting tired, bank holiday weekend, crap traffic on the M25 and M4. No chance of getting to mum's that evening we book into a Travel Lodge at Reading (Jen is more than relieved by that idea because driving like that was not a good plan)

Friday morning we drive West and get to mum's late afternoon, with me totally knackered having run the gauntlet of hospital, tiredness, stress, holiday traffic, bad weather and more. I have to admit I cannot do the "jump in the car and drive to Cornwall" thing any more. That will need to be planned in advance for sure!

Plans are being made for the return on Thursday as I have to attend hospital Friday and Monday for further tests. Oncology are wanting to see me in 8 weeks, and we have decided that we will push these people in a more forecful and pro-active way to ensure that all the issues that keep coming up are not glossed over "till next time"

Up and Down

Seems that while I sleep and my arm remains motionless it swells. That means waking up two or three times a night in pain. Once i get up and start moving,have a shower etc within an hour or two the soreness subsides. So it's a bit of a catch22. Jens regime to keep the baseline of pain relief set is working well so thats good.  By spreading out the tabs better it seems to have stopped a lot of the profuse sweating that was a real nuisance. She is very good at coming up with plans like that and doesn't often get them wrong so I am grateful to her.

As mentioned before the next big date is 23rd August when we see the oncology consultant again to review whats going on and see where we go moving forward.

More of that when its done.