On Monday I had my first appointment at the Marsden. I met my consultant, a Doctor Ethel, who was a very nice chap... he confirmed my diagnosis, and talked me through everything again - of course, Doctors don't speak in absolutes, but nonetheless he seemed confident and was a reassuring presence. I also met Nurse Karen who will deal with my day-to-day care, and was also a thoroughly nice person. I was given loads more booklets and leaflets and stuff, and had a bloodtest (soon to be a very frequent part of my life) - and that was prettymuch it for my Monday. Oh yea, appointments were made for next Monday (blood tests & consent forms) and Wednesday (start of the chemo)... also I should be having a PET scan sometime between now and then, which is just a better form of CT scan (flashy new machine, fun).
WARNING: The next paragraph falls into the category of "stuff you may not want to know", but I said I wouldn't shirk from the realities, and I have no intention of doing so. Saying that, if you don't want to know about my fertility, skip the next paragraph, and if you do read, please don't feel the need to mention it to me in person. Ever! ;-)
So, Tuesday was different... One of the possible side effects of my treatment is infertility. It's by no means guarenteed, but it's possible, and I was strongly advised to insure myself against the possibility, so to speak. So it was off up to Hammersmith Hospital (the nearest place that provides this particular service), to get my 'troops' frozen for use in possible future 'action'. Gotta say, it was not a fun experience. You sit in a waiting room with several other thoroughly miserable looking fellas before being sent to what could be the most depressing motel room ever to do your thing. There's a little pine bedside cabinet with 3 drawers full of well used porn (and another with just one drawer, but I didn't want to look in there in case it was the gay stuff! That would be just what you don't need to see in that situation!), and a bed covered in plastic. Unpleasant. Afterward there was a 2 1/2 hour wait for an interview, which I used to go and mope around the giant Westfield shopping centre which was a 10min bus ride away. My mood wasn't good. The interview picked me up a bit (high count and good motility! Woo for me and my manhood!), but then there was over an hour of filling out and signing forms - the legal implications of the whole thing are frankly mind-boggleing. But eventually it was done... except I've gotta go back a couple more times for maximum insurance. Woo... hoo... Oh well, apparently it's easier 2nd time round. And I won't dwell on the others in the blog!
And that gets us all the way to today... which wasn't very exciting. Just went to work, did very little, and by about 1 o'clock felt like I'd ran a marathon. Ah well, at least the tiredness from the chemo will only be replacing the tiredness from the symptoms. And then I came home, and then I had a snooze for a few hours, and then I wrote this. And this. And this... Ok you get the point - we're up to date.
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