Thurs. 12th Mar. 2009 'A Grand Day Out'

Still not feeling good this morning and once out of bed was aware of a tight feeling in my windpipe when breathing, so I decided to ring the unit and was advised I needed to go in for tests.

We arrived at 10a.m. and I was seen fairly quickly. Yet another cannula was inserted, which is now quite a painful procedure as the veins in my right arm are a bit like old knicker elastic. The bloods go off and we sit for a couple of hours waiting for the results and getting very hungry. Initially it was felt that they were 'not too bad', but it was decided that I should wait and see the Doctor.

Another hour later (not that I mind waiting) a rather young female Doctor takes a full history, does the necessary physical checks and then decides to take some arterial blood, which is slightly more difficult as the artery in the wrist is small. First attempt fails, so she goes for the other wrist and sweet though she was, it became obvious to me that she was quite new and rather inexperienced, especially when she performed a movement straight out of 'Twister' trying to reach a piece of gauze from the trolley while holding the needle in place. Suffice to say the needle dropped out of my wrist and I think she narrowly avoided a 'needle stick injury'.

The above was followed by an ECG, and a trip to the X ray department for a chest X ray. We returned around 2.30p.m. with a much needed sandwich and waited to see whether I had to stay in hospital. Finally at 3p.m. the Senior Oncology Nurse told me that my white cells were going down and that would require antibiotic cover and monitoring, but they couldn't find any reason for my aching bones, fluctuating temperature and 'winded' feeling, so I can go home.

One last wait in pharmacy - wondering why it takes 20 minutes to put 14 tablets in a box and then we're finally on our way home - A Grand Day Out Grommet!