Wednesday 25th March 2009

Quite an eventful day so far today!

My nurse specialist has called me back, but unfortunately my phone was on silent so I missed her call. She has some news for me apparently, and has promised to call me first thing in the morning, so I should definitely get an update on the oncologist front tomorrow.

This afternoon I have been to see my GP, as the Metroclopramide anti-nausea tablets haven't really been working too well. She has given me some new ones to try. First some Cyclizine, to have alongside the others (the Metroclopramide also provide an additional benefit of speeding up the emptying of the stomach, so they want to keep me on those even if they don't help the nausea too much), and secondly some more Ondansetron - the expensive ones (about £8 a pill) that I had a few of during my chemo. Again, I've only got a few of those to use if the others don't work, but my GP did promise to give me more if I needed them!

I also found out today that as from 1st April this year, cancer patients are exempt from prescription charges, which is handy! This means that going forward, all my drugs will be free. You gotta love our healthcare system, despite it's many flaws - I'm really glad I'm not going through this in the States!

Big news of the day (for me, anyway), is that I drove my car for the first time in 6 weeks today. I think that is the longest period away from driving since I first started at 17. Luckily I could remember how to do it! Everything was fine - no discomfort at all - so I've actually been out three times today. I even nipped to McDonalds to try a cheeseburger - unfortunately it made me feel sick :( However, that's real progress today, and it means that I feel more confident to get out and about a bit more which is definitely a good step forward. I'm not ready for a long journey yet, but the ability to get to the docs, the supermarket, the bank etc, at my leisure is a bonus!

What else today? Well, when we had the snow, it bent part of the house guttering out of shape - right above the conservatory, so impossible to reach with a ladder. It has meant that the gutter has been overflowing whenever it rains and pouring straight onto the conservatory roof, making an irritating racket. Today I felt so good, I was sitting on the windowsill, leaning out of the house and fixing the guttering. Not bad six weeks after major surgery! Good news is that its fixed now (hopefully), so another feeling of accomplishement today.

I've also found over the last couple of nights that I am able to lie on my left side for short periods. As I've mentioned before, I tend to sleep on my right side, but occasionally like to roll over in the night. Despite the fact that I am lying directly on the full extent of the shark bite, it has been fine. After a while I become conscious of it and tend to move back to the other side, but it is an indicator of how well things are healing.

So, all-in-all, a very good day today, despite a short period of sickness. Let's hope for some good news tomorrow morning ...

Cheers,

Colin.