Tuesday 22 September 2009

Hiccups Cycle 4, Day 1

It's been a day of hiccups:
  • Steve couldn't find his keys (car, house, garage, cases et al) this morning, even after a quick look round the house - luckily we have spares, so could drive to the hospital for the long chemo day
  • We started out later than planned and were then caught up in horrendous traffic congestion on the way to the hospital, arriving about half an hour late (found out later the eastern ring road had been closed due to an accident which took out the traffic lights - everything was diverted through town, which was why all the radial roads were chockablock)
  • Others were late arriving at hospital, including the receptionist who inadvertently booked Steve in as a "visitor from abroad" in her rush to catch up (later picked up and corrected)
  • The catering order for lunch and tea had already been filled in by someone else by the time we arrived, so Steve had no idea what he would be eating later in the day..not quite what he would have chosen...
  • A small cannula was used rather than the larger one usually inserted, so the first dose of saline was set up at half speed and took two hours to be delivered rather the usual one hour (consequently we were getting twitchy about the Velcade going past its sell by date....)
  • The last dose of saline was also set up for two hours instead of one (but that was changed quickly, once we pointed it out to the nurses)
  • The final dose of glucose went through at the specified speed, but the pump kept playing up as it was too much for a small cannula to handle (we ended up re-setting the machine ourselves, rather than calling for the nurse to do it every few minutes - otherwise we would still be there....)
  • The car parking ticket was faulty and wouldn't let us pay to get out of the hospital car park
Nothing major, but a severe dose of small hiccups today, as you can see...


On the bright side, all the tests were clear, so Steve is still on track with his treatment, and his weight is slowly going up, which is good (probably something to do with Colin's lovely meals over the weekend). The attendant let us out of the hospital car park without paying when he heard about the faulty ticket. There was one space left to park on street when we arrived home - a miracle! We found the missing bunch of car/house keys in the recycling bin (don't ask how/why....)


So, it's been quite an obstacle course, one way or another.....but we finally managed to get through the dreaded long chemo day in one piece.  Four long chemo days down.  Two to go.  Got to be good news...

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