Friday 26 February 2016

Chemo number 3 of 6....... delayed by a day and whisper it quietly.......2 more books!

One of the things we have discovered on this coping with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma "Journey" (sorry, hate that word used in this context but couldn't think of another) is that things rarely go to plan and they get changed at short notice.

Colin rang yesterday morning to check they had a bed for his 3rd Chemo session, -  they hadn't, but we had to trek to hospital anyway for  9am appointment for his scan in the frighteningly named Nuclear Medicine Centre! (They weren't able to do this Wednesday so we could have organised some more help with packing after all - Bother) He popped into the ward just to check they hadn't suddenly found a bed for him - No. The consultant was on the ward so Col asked him about the X Ray results from the other day, all was OK but they are concerned at his lack of energy and shortness of breath. They really need him to have the Rituximab which helps the other chemotherapys to work but that was the one he had a bad reaction to and they had to stop it quickly. They plan to try it again with this 3rd session. The nurses on the ward said ring at 7pm and if they had a bed he could come in. So he did and they had and another trip to Ipswich. Two 50 mile round trips in one day and my driving is improving all the time!
 All these changes play havoc with meal planning - will there be 2 people here for dinner or just me? Do I need to get more bread out of the freezer on not? Do I need to buy milk or will I be on my own for a few days and not use it? The only thing to do is just to go with the flow.

As I write, this afternoon, he has had the first lot of chemo and has just texted to say the nasty stuff has been going for 20 minutes and all is OK this time............Phew!. I won't go up today but hopefully will be able to pick him up tomorrow. 

I went down to Leiston this morning....... paying a bill, a few bits from Co-op, picking up tablets from the doctors and taking the last bag of unwanted items to the charity shop. Of course while in the charity shop I Had to look at the books and spotted the book on the left "Letters from an Airfield"
Subtitled - The True story of a GI Bride of The Mighty Eighth. It was the mention of The 8th Air force which made me look again as of course our son- the archaeologist - is working on documenting the buildings of the 8th USAF, and I wondered if it had any information that might be useful for him. When I got home and had a look it turns out to be even more interesting as it's about a girl from Knodishall! What the connection is between Jack Rosenthal - well known playwright who died a few years ago, and a girl from Knodishall I shall have to read and find out.
Then I noticed the second book " Lake in the Clouds"  by Sara Donati. It is set in the newly independent American States and has over 600 pages and a huge list of characters - according to the first pages- a bit daunting. It might be a good read ........one day. I forked out £1 each for these two.

Now, in reply to lots of lovely comments from the last two posts............

My friend Mary in Bath reminded me that our Penny Pincher Paper Penfriend group has also been writing letters for 15 years. We take it in turns so only one letter every few months and I really look forward to receiving and writing. Our numbers started at 7 dropped to 6, went back to 7 then 8 but now the two newest people aren't writing so we may be back to 6 again, I have to admit that I'm not keen on sending letters to people who don't take a turn to write.

Vintage Singer at Mendingmakingcrafting said that I always sound so calm with all that's going on at the moment and do I ever go "arghhh!". I think I'm past the stage of getting in a panic! I like to think I'm quite organised - helped by all the years of being a Cub Scout leader when being un-organised meant 30 boys in  a Scout hut running riot!

Gill asked if my penfriend W from the windy Scottish island and I have ever met up, and no not yet.

Hello and thank you to Donna who said she is enjoying reading the blog

That's my lot for today except there is a new follower BUT when I clicked to see who it was a warning came up that the blog contained Adult Content - Oh dear, not the sort of follower I wanted to attract at all! how can I get rid of this person? any ideas?

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Sue

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