A & E Tour 2008

For the Easter bank hols we decided to get away from it all a bit and shoot off to Devon. No problem there. The kids were excited about going to the seaside and so was I. We got there okay (3 hour drive, but traffic was ok) and our hotel was alright (appart from being really cold). We went out for some dinner to a restaurant called the Pier Point, which is on the sea front.
It was a nice evening and my son Harry was reasonably well behaved and was happy to crash out in his buggy for the walk back to the hotel. All good.

Now, Saturday, I started to feel rough again. I hadn't been feeling 100% anyway, but thought I was on top of things. After lunch, I needed to go back to the room and crash. I felt my temperature rising and my head was banging. A bit less than ideal. I didn't get up again until Sunday. Sam took the kids out and then nipped for a quick drink in the bar while I slept on. I woke up several times and just felt bad. In the morning I gave in and rang the unit back home and they told me to go straight to hospital as I could be suffering from Neutropenic Sepsis. Lovely. My wife drove me over to Torbay hospital A&E, where we queued up for a surprisingly short time (the queue beating power of being a chemo patient). We then were sat in a little examination room for a while until a doctor came along, asked the same old question, stuck a line in my arm and then shot off again. After a while, I suggested that Sam and the kids carried on with what we were originally going to do today, which was go to "The Living Coast". Looking at the picture below, you can see the netting above it. One reason its good fun for the kids is that they have penguins and other birds running around amongst you as you walk around, which is quite amusing.

Anyway, they left and I was meant to ring them as soon as I was leaving, so I could catch up with them if possible. It wasn't until the next doctor arrived and informed me that they wanted me to have IV anti-biotics and to stay in under observation for a couple of days, that I realised my holiday may have come to an abrupt end. I rang Sam and told her the news, she couldn't believe it and I think she realised that I hadn't just been whinging about headaches and things for attention!

Next, I received two different anti-biotics by IV. These were described as being Demesdos strength, by the doctor, which was a comfort!

Then I played the waiting game, interrupted only by several different people popping their head round the door to tell me someone would be taking me to the ward soon.

Instead, I ended up getting a chest x-ray first. The radiologist (quite a jolly chap) informed me that I have "long lungs" and if I have any x-rays in future, letting the radiologists know will make their day (not sure if I believe him, but I'll remember).

Finally, someone came to get me. I was taken to the ward by wheelchair, as for some reason you're not allowed to walk by yourself. Seemed a bit bizarre, but hey, chaffeur driven is cool.

I had my own room, in the Turner ward. It was quite nice, as wards go and the nurses were all friendly. In fact as soon as I got there, I was brought lots of food (always good).

My stay was pretty uneventful. I got anti-biotics and blood tests and then on monday they released me back into the wild (wahoo!). On the plus side, I saw from my discharge notes that the x-ray showed a mass of 5cm, whereas the original mass was nearer 10cm, so that looked pretty good to me. I'll see what my consultant dude says about that on Friday (chemo cycle #3, blimey, doesn't time fly)