Life after hospital

Well I certainly haven't missed my daily trips to the hospital. I have been kept busy though, which is good as it's getting me back into circulation. 

Last week I went round to a friend's house for lunch.  We had a good natter (well, she listened to my ramblings mainly) and I ended up picking the boys up late!  It's really nice to get out of the house.

I also went to the dentist.  Remember back in November when my tooth cracked?  I finally went to get it sorted.  I explained the situation to a very nice lady who I've not seen before.  She put a temporary filling in and told me to make a longer appointment for a permanent one.  Next available appointment was 22nd March (and I thought GP surgeries were bad)!  Naturally the filling had come out by the end of the next day.  Ah well, I've managed this far - as long as I don't have any problems, I'll wait.

On Friday, I had an appointment with Irene, my breast care nurse.  I haven't seen her for about 6 months, so it was nice to catch up. We talked about all sorts - gene testing, breast reconstruction (could be a major op, so some serious thinking to be done there), permanent prosthesis and of course my feelings and how I'm coping with everything.  Irene says it's still early days and I'm doing fine!

The weekend was punctuated with 6 nations rugby on TV and wandering around outdoor clothing shops looking for a 3 in 1 coat for me (can't get the ones I want as they don't do tent size!).

My darling husband surprised me by taking the day off on Monday, Valentine's Day.  I don't think he thought our evening with the CT scanner was romantic enough (can't think why).  So, we tootled off to Cirencester.  I managed to get a 3 in 1 jacket and we had a superb lunch at Made by Bob - all in all a successful day. We got home after picking the kids up and thought we'd have a bit of time relaxing before going to hospital.  I took a quick peek at the letter, just to double check the time (19:00).  It was a good job I did, as it stated that I should be there 45 minutes before the appointment, so I could drink some liquid!  Oh, bugger - we had to get our skates on then!
When we got there, the waiting room was packed.  Most people were drinking a coloured liquid and recording it on a piece of paper.  I got given a jug of water and told to drink it within the next 45 minutes.  Easy really, as I was thirsty.  I was able to go to the loo if I needed it, which was reassuring - but I didn't.
When it was my turn, I was called in by a lady who had hair missing on the top of her head but plenty round the sides.  She's an attractive lady and obviously very confident in her own skin.  I did wonder why I couldn't be like that.  I guess with me though, I still look like a cancer patient and I don't want to any more.  Anyway, back to the scan.....I've never seen a CT scanner before and didn't know what to expect.  It's not a tunnel (that's an MRI scanner), but a large ring with an inner that spins round.  As I wasn't wearing an underwired bra, I didn't have to get undressed, but I did have to pull my jeans down (metal zip) to my thighs (mmm......flattering!).  I had to lie on a couch and then they told me I'd have to have some dye injected into my veins.  Oh. My. God. Would she find any that were any good?  Well, as it happened, no - great.  A doctor had to be called to see if he could do any better.  He poked and prodded and told me that if he couldn't find any in the arm, he'd have to go in the front of the wrist and that would be painful - nice.  Luckily he he found one and put the cannula in my arm.  He gave me 2 flushes though just to make sure - I didn't feel the first one, but the second one gave me the familiar sensation of something trickling up my arm.  The dye had to be put in slowly because of the small veins, but that was ok, at least it was going in.  Now, the strange thing about this dye is the side effects.  I was told that I'd have a hot flush - I'm getting used to those now, so that wasn't too bad.  However, once this dye courses through your body, you get the feeling that you're wetting yourself!  "Don't worry" said the radiographer, "you won't be".  I wouldn't be too sure of that, I thought, I've just had a jugful of water!!
Arms above the head and I started to move through the hole.  There's a recorded voice that tells you to take a deep breath and hold.  Once you've passed through the hole and back again it tells you that you can breathe again.  Once it had scanned my chest, abdomen and pelvis, I was sent to wait outside for 10 minutes while they checked it had worked ok and that I was feeling fine.  Once the cannula had been removed, we were free to go.  I forgot to ask when the results would be available and they didn't tell me.  If I don't hear anything after a week, I'll give the oncologist's secretary a call and see if she can find out for me.

On Tuesday, I went for lunch with Susie B.  The weather wasn't brilliant (good test for my jacket), but we walked to the next village (about a mile), had a lovely lunch and a nice long chat before walking back.  Once I'd picked the kids up from school and college, I got home and was knackered.  The last 2 days had caught up with me.  An early night and a good sleep beckoned. They may have beckoned, but they didn't deliver!  Chris had been roped into ferrying Livi and a friend to a Valentine's party at college.  She assured us that she had a lift back at midnight, so we went to bed and zonked.  00:10 and the phone went - "my lift's not turned up, can you pick us up and take Hannah back home too?".  My poor man got up, dressed and dutifully pootled off.  Finally, when he arrived back at 01:00, we went to sleep!

Yesterday, I met up with Gaynor to discuss work and the options open to me when I feel ready to return.  My sick note doesn't finish until the end of March, but I'm hoping to return before then.  The last few days have made me realise though just how tired I can get.  I was texting Jemma the other day and she was also saying how quickly she gets tired.  I think I'm fine one minute and then the next I suddenly hit a wall.  I've promised to meet up with Jem for coffee after the half term and before I go back to work so we can compare hair growth!  Talking of which, routine maintenance has had to be resumed - hair growing all over the place (was nice while it lasted)!!

Chris is working from home today, so I've taken advantage and am having a lazy day.  I thought it was time to put fingers to keyboard and update everyone, so here I am........