The Day After
September 15, 2011 § 1 Comment
Actually, it’s the day after the day after, but who’s counting. Tuesday saw the first of my chemo rounds. Strange combination of the mundane and the odd. Sitting in a dentist-type chair, opposite another row of people in dentist-type chairs, feeling a bit like one of the fat people in WALL-E. Lovely nurses, plugging me into hugely toxic chemicals. Volunteers and orderlies offering me magazines, cups of tea and sandwiches, repeating my name many times to check that I was getting the right hugely toxic chemicals. Lovely friend to chat to, and husband dropping by with cups of coffee. No pain. Nurse running off (again) the alarming list of “things to look out for”, while doling out some drugs to help deal with said “things to look out for.”
So, general thumbs up to Barts. Only blip was an incredible woman accompanying her friend who was receiving chemo. Large lady, who had gone blind in one eye on Monday – “I was seeing six Ant and Decs” – who insisted on talking loudly to anyone and everyone about a long list of people she knew who’ve had cancer, who have suffered in most of the hospitals around London, not to mention the clearly not great state of her partner, who sat in silence throughout. This is not what you want to hear while screwed into the chemicals. Annoying and depressing, (although actually my friend and I got dreadful giggles, particularly when we got to the sister who’d been married nine times – “and they all died.”)
I was cross but then thought about all the support and help I have received since this kicked off; from family, from old friends and some new ones, from the hospital, from people I’m paying and from volunteers from cancer organisations, from work, and even from my great hair dresser. If I didn’t have all these people maybe I’d be talking to anyone and everyone in the middle of a chemo ward.
Best not to judge.
anneiskeepingbusy 
Excellent to see some configuration of #keepingbusy is up and running. Looking forward to reading all the details, good and bad, as you work your way through this. Maybe ear plugs next time in case large lady is back at the same time.