Just when we were expecting the weather to warm up, we wake this morning (Friday) to find it's really cold. The car has a frozen windscreen. I've been out with the defrost spray to melt it off. We have to go out this morning, to the hospital, for 9.20, as Carol has to go to the oncology suite to have a blood test before her sixth chemotherapy cycle and then a consultant's appointment at 10 o'clock in the Macmillan unit.
When we got to the hospital carpark at around 9.15 there were plenty of spaces and the barrier was raised so we couldn't take a ticket. Whoever collects the money from the car parking must be loosing out if the barriers are raised and nobody is paying. Do I feel sorry for them? Absolutely not. I'm sure if you read these blog posts regularly you will know quite a bit about my views of hospital parking and the adventures I've had with the ticket machines in and around the Milton Keynes hospital campus.
We walked in to the Oncology Department, entering the hospital building where we usually do, at the Cardiology Department. It's actually handy, thinking about it, considering I had a heart attack and Carol needs the oncology department which is just over the corridor. I never thought of this before. On arriving in the Oncology Suite we find it virtually devoid of patients. I think there is one other person. It is also cold, which Carol mentions. The chemotherapy makes heat and cold very difficult for her to bear. We turned the heating up considerably when we left the house as a result of this fact.
We have to wait quite a while before Carol goes in to have a sample of blood taken by one of the nurses. She is gone longer than it usually takes and it turns out that the nurse was unable to take any blood through the P.I.P. line, for whatever reason. We will have to return in an hour to have another go. The line needs flushing before a sample can be taken. I'm not entirely sure of why this will not work.
We then leave the Oncology Suite and go to the restaurant to have coffee. I'm glad that it's not too far and that we can use the time in there before heading back towards the Macmillan Unit where Carol is due to be seen by one of the Oncology consultants. Not the lead doctor, Dr Saka, but another of his team. It would appear that the chemotherapy is working. We have no direct evidence of this, as we have to wait for a report on the scan Carol has to have after the next chemotherapy cycle, which begins on Monday, but the consultant we spoke to seems very positive about the treatment. Whatever the results are of this scan it will then be decided on whether to perform an operation to remove whatever cancerous growth there is that can be removed and how much more chemotherapy Carol will need. But it certainly seems a good deal more positive than it was several months ago.
We return to the Oncology suite. It's been gradually filling up with patients since we were last in there. It seems one of the regular men has missed several of his chemotherapy appointments. Carol says she overheard a conversation. To be honest, if you have something you don't want others to hear you should at least keep it private and go into a room away from the main area of the unit. It would appear that this man was more concerned with his business than his health. Which would you put first if it was a choice between the chemotherapy which would possibly help you recover or your business or work?
The taking of the blood sample was completed and so left the unit. The next chemotherapy cycle begins on Monday morning.
We left the hospital and went to Waitrose to do some shopping. It was either there or Sainsbury's but chose Waitrose for a change.
I had to go to Ashfield Medical Centre earlier in the week to get a medical certificate for Carol to give to the H.R. department at Milton Keynes Academy. I went to collect this yesterday (Thursday) and then took it in to the reception desk. But then we got a call from the H.R. department to say that the dates given on it didn't tally with the previous certificate, so we had to go in to the surgery to get a fresh one produced. So, more running about all over the place. They rang this afternoon to say it was ready to collect, but I'm leaving it to collect until Monday.
When we got to the hospital carpark at around 9.15 there were plenty of spaces and the barrier was raised so we couldn't take a ticket. Whoever collects the money from the car parking must be loosing out if the barriers are raised and nobody is paying. Do I feel sorry for them? Absolutely not. I'm sure if you read these blog posts regularly you will know quite a bit about my views of hospital parking and the adventures I've had with the ticket machines in and around the Milton Keynes hospital campus.
We walked in to the Oncology Department, entering the hospital building where we usually do, at the Cardiology Department. It's actually handy, thinking about it, considering I had a heart attack and Carol needs the oncology department which is just over the corridor. I never thought of this before. On arriving in the Oncology Suite we find it virtually devoid of patients. I think there is one other person. It is also cold, which Carol mentions. The chemotherapy makes heat and cold very difficult for her to bear. We turned the heating up considerably when we left the house as a result of this fact.
We have to wait quite a while before Carol goes in to have a sample of blood taken by one of the nurses. She is gone longer than it usually takes and it turns out that the nurse was unable to take any blood through the P.I.P. line, for whatever reason. We will have to return in an hour to have another go. The line needs flushing before a sample can be taken. I'm not entirely sure of why this will not work.
We then leave the Oncology Suite and go to the restaurant to have coffee. I'm glad that it's not too far and that we can use the time in there before heading back towards the Macmillan Unit where Carol is due to be seen by one of the Oncology consultants. Not the lead doctor, Dr Saka, but another of his team. It would appear that the chemotherapy is working. We have no direct evidence of this, as we have to wait for a report on the scan Carol has to have after the next chemotherapy cycle, which begins on Monday, but the consultant we spoke to seems very positive about the treatment. Whatever the results are of this scan it will then be decided on whether to perform an operation to remove whatever cancerous growth there is that can be removed and how much more chemotherapy Carol will need. But it certainly seems a good deal more positive than it was several months ago.
We return to the Oncology suite. It's been gradually filling up with patients since we were last in there. It seems one of the regular men has missed several of his chemotherapy appointments. Carol says she overheard a conversation. To be honest, if you have something you don't want others to hear you should at least keep it private and go into a room away from the main area of the unit. It would appear that this man was more concerned with his business than his health. Which would you put first if it was a choice between the chemotherapy which would possibly help you recover or your business or work?
The taking of the blood sample was completed and so left the unit. The next chemotherapy cycle begins on Monday morning.
We left the hospital and went to Waitrose to do some shopping. It was either there or Sainsbury's but chose Waitrose for a change.
I had to go to Ashfield Medical Centre earlier in the week to get a medical certificate for Carol to give to the H.R. department at Milton Keynes Academy. I went to collect this yesterday (Thursday) and then took it in to the reception desk. But then we got a call from the H.R. department to say that the dates given on it didn't tally with the previous certificate, so we had to go in to the surgery to get a fresh one produced. So, more running about all over the place. They rang this afternoon to say it was ready to collect, but I'm leaving it to collect until Monday.
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