Third round of treatment

Monday 12 August.  My next round of chemotherapy is due on Wednesday this week and as Wendy is helping at Messy Church tomorrow I thought it would be a good time to prepare for a couple of jobs. First to repair a clothes storage drawer and secondly to replace a rotten wooden base board under a fence panel.We had a trip into Wickes to buy a concrete base board and materials to mend the drawer. On return we removed the panel fitted the concrete base board and put in a panel that Wendy had refurbished. Still feeling quite well and pleased to be able to do these little jobs.

Tuesday 13 August. As Wendy was at Messy Church I spent most of the morning fixing up the drawer runners replacing the broken plastic runner with a 15 mm square wooden runner which I screwed and glued into place (belt and braces approach). In the afternoon I went into Kingston Hospital to have blood samples for testing taken. Unfortunately I had left a little late for my appointment and to make things worse the train I intended to catch was cancelled (no replacement) so I went by bus and had to cope with traffic delays in Kingston due to replacement of sewer pipes on the main road into Kingston. Hopefully the bloods would get to the analysis laboratories in time for the results to be ready for Wednesday morning.

Wednesday 14 August. Due for my third round of Chemotherapy. Woke up this morning at 2.45 am to go to the toilet and to empty my bag which seemed to be fairly full. Oh no!! I had diarrhoea!! just as well I had a drainable bag on, I was able to flush it all down the toilet and go back to bed. At 6.00 am I awoke and the bag was full to bursting and I had to spend the next hour cleaning up after a bad session of diarrhoea. I guessed the implications of this regarding further treatment today was not good.
Wendy and I got to the Hospital by buses, to early to use our Freedom passes on the train, and arrived 15 minutes early. We heard someone in the office talking about blood test data and the fact that the blood analysis data was incomplete and they needed the missing data to be sent over quickly. Very soon after that I was called in to see the doctor and she immediately latched onto the fact that I had had 3 or 4 instances of diarrhoea over the past 2 weeks and that I had just experienced another bout. She said this is one of the side effects of this particular combination of drugs and it would be safer not have any Chemotherapy today and we could try again on Tuesday week. In the meantime I have to log my bowel movements on a daily basis and bring the results in with me next Tuesday.
Wendy and I then went into Kingston and did a bit of shopping and had tea and scones in "A Place To Eat" in the John Lewis store. Over lunch I suddenly realised that I had to go back to the Hospital to have my PICC line cleaned and dressed. So  I went back to Hospital and Wendy went home. When I got into the clinic I found Chris and John from the URC were there and Chris was just finishing her treatment for breast cancer they offered me a lift home which I accepted and we spent some time comparing notes on our treatments.
Felt a bit lost during the rest of the day not really knowing what to do. Just as well then that the England v Scotland friendly football match was on TV live.