Thursday morning came and back to the hospital for the next cycle of chemo, today the plan is to see the doc, get bendamustine and obinutuzumab, but this wasn’t the case as per. They took me into the blood room after waiting around the normal time that they would get the bloods taken although I’d mine taken yesterday. Didn’t really seem to matter as they seemed to add extra checks seemingly to waste time then out to the waiting area again and waiting again the normal time to see the doc and then they order the drugs and so the whole point of getting the bloods the day before was pretty much wasted, not wasted but there was no real purpose as such.
I had a few hours to kill before the chemo would be ready so I went looking to go for a fry somewhere, the last time I was on chemo I always went for a fry between hospital and chemo, I thought I’d do the same again. I went to Deanes but they didn’t do frys and I ended up having a sausage bap I think it was called something else though and a coffee. It was before lunch and so was nice and quiet. I was listening to World War Z still and having a coffee, it was really nice so much so I had another coffee just sitting there watching the world go by listening to my book. I’ll remember this for a long time.
I went back to the hospital and the drugs weren’t ready yet, I’d expected this anyway and I didn’t think they’d have time for the long infusion, this just means I’ll have to get it tomorrow instead but I’m up again to get the Bendamustine again and not really an issue. As far as I remember it was all pretty uneventful, they kept referring to this being cycle 4 which I guess it is as the first was a half cycle but I was assuming they were counting it as a cycle but now I’m not sure if I have one or two cycles to go, I guess I would prefer the two to make sure that I was getting it done properly and will be more likely to have worked.
The Friday morning was an awkward one, I had an appointment with respiratory at 9.30 but shouldn’t have been an issue. I went to the treatment room to get my pre-meds, but I don’t exactly know why but took them an hour before they even started to give me them (I got there at 8) and they had to phone respiratory to tell them I’d be a bit later. Finally got all the pre-meds and down to respiratory. I bumped into the main consultant on the way there and had a brief discussion about the CT results then went on into the actual appointment.
My lung capacity and strength are all within the normal range which I’m pleased about, but I didn’t see the main consultant and was with one I hadn’t met before, she was happy and wasn’t concerned about the pains still being there. Scan result showed that the lungs have cleared up considerably and they would be happy to discharge me but they thought it might be a good idea to keep me on the books and come back in 6 months just in case anything was to happen.
Back to the treatment room and more waiting around for a drug that was supposed to have arrived the day before and finally a go. No issues and went through ok. My doc came round later to speak to me about the CT result which she was very happy with and said after the treatment she thinks the lymphoma should be in recession, obviously a good thing and asked about siblings bringing up the bone marrow transplant again. She isn’t directly involved in this and will be another doctor taking the lead, so from what I’ve gathered this will be going ahead but I don’t really know any more than it might be.
Friday was the first day the Covid-19 thing really seemed to be a thing, the hospital were being extra careful with coughing and what you touched making sure that everything was wiped down after especially in the respiratory appointment, completely understandable as everyone there and at the treatment room are all high risk. On the way home I got a call about tablets that had just arrived and I'd need to pick up, organised to do this on the Monday just and get home to relax.
Another lazy weekend staying in the house, the following week I did a lot of reading I got onto a roll of completing a book each day for a total of 9 days in a row, admittedly not big books and most of them were Shakespear plays but still it was a book a day for 9 days. The 10th day was interrupted with having to chase up Universal Credit as they had lost forms I’d sent in over two weeks before and told me that I shouldn’t have even go those forms to complete, but of course, it was my fault and I should have known this. I was very unhappy at all the time wasted, blood was boiling.
I did have a wee day out in Bangor on the following Monday or at least on the outskirts of Bangor, I went to get the windows tinted and had 3 hours to kill so walked to Bloomfield which I’d never actually been to before, smaller than I was expecting but took my time going around. I got a new bag in the Trespass store. I still had a lot of time to kill so went in for a coffee and sat and read, after being there for an hour I decided to head in the direction to pick up the car, there was a wooded area which seemed to have a nice walk around it so aimed for there.
Unbeknown to me it was pretty miserable outside and was raining constantly, but I had a good coat but my trousers got wet enough but weren’t so bad that it was uncomfortable. Had a walk around the wooded area, it was called Balloo Woodland. The gate was in the middle of a lake(puddle) so had to climb to get around it and didn’t go back out that way. Got a call to say the car would be ready in about half an hour so took my time and headed over, it was a little longer but I was chatting to the guy while he was finishing up, turns out he lives quite close to me. Pleased with the car, I think the tint goes well with the black.
I think I’ll continue on to another page for the next week with covid-19 taking a grip on everything.
And so I dunno if I’m cycle 4 or 5 or if I’ll be getting the bone marrow transplant and that was before coronavirus had any grip so now I really don’t know what’s happening.