Today has been the Roland MOT day. It started with an early visit to the GP to get my 28 day injection. It went smoothly, but always does, until later on when it gets progressively sorer and persists for a few days. Back home for breakfast and to write my invoice for the Royal College of Psychiatrists. By the time I had finished the task it was time to walk down the road to the dentist. This was to be a check-up and an assessment of how my mouth had survived chemotherapy. My dentist is a star and spent time asking me how chemo had gone and how I am now. She checked my teeth and gums and we discussed what she had found. Thankfully there is nothing urgent and things that need attention can wait till I have spoken to my oncologist on March the 24^th. So the outcome from my point of view was a satisfactory one. I made another routine appointment for six months’ time, if there is a need I can return before this. Home again and more organising for tomorrow by buying my train tickets. Once again it was time to get on the way to the hospital for my CT scan.

Mercifully the drive was easy until we got to the car park. As usual we had to queue to get in, thankfully not for long. We arrived in the x-ray department early for my appointment. My partner and I sat and read until a small nurse called us into the inner area of the ward. I was shown into the small cannulisation room where the same small nurse attempted to put a cannula into my now predictable wiggly” vein. True to history it wiggled and the nurse had to patch me up and had to have a go at the vein next door. Success. So I sit in the waiting area drinking water and trying not to dislodge my cannula. A spritely young man appeared and asked for me to accompany him into the scan room. He checked my name and birthday and then explained what would happen. So I sat on the bench, dropped my trousers and laid on my back while the spritely young man hooked me up to the machine that was going to pump a dye into my blood stream. He tested it with saline and then we got on with it. We had a couple of practice breaths and a bit of sliding up and down and then the dye was injected into me and we did the sliding back and forward for real. There is a momentary side effect of feeling you want to pass water and a slight metallic taste in the mouth, in me it manifested as a distinctly warm arse effect with no metal mouth effect. I was done very quickly and had to wait in the waiting room for 15 minutes to make sure I did not keel over. After my quarantine was up the small nurse reappeared and beckoned me into the de cannulation room. The cannula came out a lot easier than it went in and I was sent on my way with a small pad taped to my arm.

We drove home and I headed for the bath to ease the soreness of this morning’s injection. I, shed my clothes, threw in a sparkly bath bomb, selected a book, got a non-alcoholic beer out of the fridge and added my phone to the little fold away table next to the bath, I was about to hop in when the phone rings and my partner answers it, my daughter is ill at work. I swear quite a lot as I drag on clothes and grab my car keys. My partner and I drive to the college where my partner goes and retrieves our poorly daughter.

Home and poorly daughter retreats to bed and I strip again and get into my bath. I text a lot and message several people to say that the civil partnership photos are now viewable on the photographers website. I start to get cold and top up the bath. In doing this I discover I can block the over flow with my feet or a wet flannel so as the bath warms up again the water level rises and I feel the warmth immerse me. I become aware that I have to move to turn the hot tap off. By this time the Archimedes principal is kicking in and as I move my bulk I create a Tsunami. Splash and splosh there is a flood over the rim and the floor is awash. I pull the plug and wait till levels are safe and then gingerly get myself out and onto the duck board, from there a spare towel gets foot shuffled around the flor to soak up the flood. Success, all there is left is a couple of wet towels to deal with. I notice as I prepare to leave that the floor is now very golden sparkly due to the bath bomb. Far more sparkly than I am I notice.

Tea time and I settle down in front of the TV not feeling very clever and slightly chilled. I have watch some quiz shows, mainly Only Connect as it features the very witty and bright woman who is also an ace poker player who on her time has walked away with over two million in prize money. So all that remains now is to organise for tomorrows one to one with my project manage at the RCP, so it’s an early start for me and a ride on the iron horse to London.