DVT DAY 268
Tuesday and its time to get up. As soon as I realise that the decorators are not due till 9.30 I’m in the shower like a rat up a drain pipe. Such pleasure to have a morning shower in the newly decorated bathroom. So smelling fresh and feeling better today than I have been I make breakfast and check my messages. One of them brings me relief as it confirms my order for a Christmas present has been confirmed but will take longer than anticipated to be made. It might be a tight call for Christmas but there is nothing I can do about that. A friend calls and we talk about presents and general day to day stuff, which is a lift for the day. Just after she sends me a link to a genius idea for a family present. Its good to talk.
I begin to prepare for my morning meeting, checking that I have an agenda and know what I want to discuss and have the facts at hand. The decorators arrive and set to work as the rest of the household settle into their work days. My meeting gets delayed by 15 minutes so I get an extra coffee. I am just about to dial into my meeting and my oncologist rings. 45 minutes early. Last time he was 30 minutes late. Clearly has no idea of boundary issues or that other people, especially cancer patients, have other things to do adn timetables to keep. Any way he tells me what is in my blood test results. I do not indicate that I have seen them, dumbness is appreciated by the medical profession, it reinforces their mystical status and guru potential. Any way he tells me my PSA is up by 0.14, but my bloods and bone indicators are all good. Crucially I manage to tell him that I’ve been suffering increased back ache/pain over the last couple of months and I am wondering if my tumours are growing and the cancer in my spine is spreading. He immediately is reasonable and suggests that as it is almost a year since I ended chemotherapy he would order new scans for me so that the results can be available for an appointment in January. This is exactly what I wanted, in fact I thought I would have to wait until the January/February appointment for him to offer scans. So I’ve got a result. Just goes to show playing dumb can profit you sometimes. He checked I knew how to contact the McMillan nurses and said cheerio. I did not even have time to wish him merry Christmas.
I dial into my meeting and have a productive one coming away with an interesting paper to write. This is going to keep me out of trouble for a while and give me something to focus on. I have time for a bacon bagel and then its time to dial into the lecture on personality disorder being given by an old colleague of mine. I get about half way through when my partner comes in and tells me her mother has had another fall. She leaves with our daughter to go over to her mothers where she will meet her brother. I finish the lecture and set about clearing the kitchen, putting out the bins and making a curry to go in the oven to cook slowly so that there is a meal to come back to. The decorators leave saying there is just two more hours work in the back bedroom to finish it. I go and have a look at the wall paper, always a tricky moment, but this time it turns out well.
My partner and daughter return having seen her leave for A&E in the ambulance. We eat and wait. I watch football and my partner monitors her phone and tablet. Football ends and we get a message that my partners mother is still in A&E but maybe on the list to be admitted. So I write the blog and we both wait. I guess we will wait and wait till we get more information. If she is admitted we will have to plan and adapt accordingly as the days go on. Its going to be a time to juggle a lot but we will manage it between us.
We hear, its a broken femur down by the knee. She has decided to have an operation rather than prolonged traction. Today or tomorrow will be the operation. We will wait, whilst tomorrow one of my nephews gets married. Life is full at the moment.
