Week 7 – Wednesday and Thursday – Back to Ward 7B

Wednesday was D-Day for the CT Scan of my chest to check how the lung infection was progressing (or not as I’d hoped!).  The appointment was for 2.30pm but I was asked by Hospital in the Home to go to their office/rooms prior to that for the daily routine of changing the drip – saving money I guess as the nurses don’t have to spend time out and pay for parking etc etc!

So the 1.00pm appointment immediately turned into ‘ hospital time’ (I’d almost forgotten about it having been at home for 10 days or so) and I was eventually seen at 1.45pm.  This was OK but I was nervous about missing my 2.30pm appointment.

They finished what they needed to do at 2.30pm and that meant by the time I arrived at Radiology for the next appointment things moved along reasonably quickly (about an hour or so!)

I was hoping to get the results of the CT Scan that day but that was not to be.  We ran into one of the ‘Heam Team’, Suzi on the way to the Scan and she explained that they would review the material ASAP and probably give me a call Thursday morning.

Thursday morning arrived and I felt very well.  I’d managed to drop all the pain killers for the lung infection (a reasonable indication that things were OK) but I was sweating on the call from the hospital which came at around 9.30am – requesting that I come in ASAP for more Chemo – however as the HITH team were on their way to do the Ambisome IV changeover I had to wait for that first.

Once the HITH team arrived (around 11.00) and changed the IV drip it was almost lunchtime so Jan and I decided to have one last home-cooked meal (ham and pea soup this time) prior to heading back to the hospital.

I was holding back getting ready which Jan immediately picked up on and I explained that it was the same feeling as leaving home to go back to boarding school – just a moment of angst and sadness before arriving back where everything slotted into place.

We were back in the hospital by around 1.00pm to be surprised by the news that I had been allocated room 15 – the second best room on the Ward, in terms of views.  Previously Chrisitian Lealliifano had sent me a message saying Room 16 was the pick – as it has a lovely view down Royal Parade and Elizabeth and Gratton Steets.

Well room 15 is pretty good and I was happy to unpack there.  Funnily enough Bev and Andy Irvine had sent me a lovely book which I received on Wednesday titled “Windows of the World” – a collection of short stories by writers describing their view from the ‘work office and window’ together with lovely drawings of the same by the author/presenter.  Bev told me she spied the book in a shop and immediately thought it would be perfect for me, given my last window views – what a nice thought.

So here I am back in Ward 7B re-joining the same routine for the ‘Consolidation’ round of Chemotherapy.

In a strange way it seem sort of comforting!

And as a special bonus I got a surprise visit from an old friend, David Sackett.  It was good to catch up on his news.