11/01/2010

Radio radio radio...not for tomorrow :-(

After hickman line cleaning at C&W Hospital I had radiotherapy appointment at Charing Cross Hospital. Not in Charing Cross, as I originally thought (thank God I checked first or would have ended up in the other side of town) but in Fulham, not far from home. The hospital is a Imperial College NHS Trust, so, full of medical students. Dr. T. welcomed me with two students. As usual they asked if the students could attend. I said of course as long as they don't ask stupid questions. You remember the last time when after 15 minutes the guy stated: 'Oh! So you know you have a cancer!!!!". They were cute and being a guinea pig can be fun. This time they even got to touch the hickman line and I entertained them while Dr. T went to get the consultant (the big brain Dr. P.). I gave a quick course on how chemo feels like!! But going back to radiotherapy. I thought I would get there and tomorrow we would start. Nope. They need to see more exams (the originals); speak to Prof B.; within 2 weeks they will get me an appointment to do the radiotherapy planning and within 8 to 10 days after we can start. Boring....I went saying we can start tomorrow. But it didn't work. This won't start before February. However, good news it won't be for 6 weeks, but only 4. More good news they are pretty confident that it will be a easy ride for me and will kill the lymphoma....bad news they will touch the left lung!!!! but just a bit...and as I don't smoke I won't risk a cancer....just a fibrosis. Nothing special they say. I just need to remember, in future, if I have a lung X-Ray to tell the radiologists that I had radiotherapy. I don't know if I should be too relieved. Also, I can forget exposure to the sun, only in the radiotherapy location, for the rest of my life (Oh My God). Otherwise, I can enlist myself to a skin cancer treatment. But with strong protection it is OK. Oh! and I will get a tattoo to mark the radiotherapy location...nothing fancy like a siren, just two tiny dots. I joked with the doctor saying I would tattoo "DON'T TAKE SUN HERE".

Fait Divers:
1 - Leaving the hospital I wondered where to have lunch when I spotted Pizza Express. You might recall how desperate I was in my last day in hospital to have a pizza romana from Pizza Express. So I went for it with a big smile and excited stomach. Made my choice, the pizza arrives and oh horror and disappointment, there were anchovies, which I hate. I asked if the menu mentioned anchovies, the waitress said yes and then in typical British client-focus she offered to take it back and do me a new one! She made my day. Pizza romana "siciliana". Delicious.
2 - I went to the Thomas Macaulay Ward to say hi to the staff and deliver a little gift to M. the Portuguese assistant. Being Portuguese she treated me better than anyone else and I thought I could give her a little something. I called her aside and asked her not to show to everyone as I was not distributing gifts (yet) to all staff. She was very happy. I then went to speak to other staff and when leaving I could see M. in the staff room opening the gift for all her colleagues to see! Some people never learn.
3- Cinema moment: "It's complicated" with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I recommend. Meryl at her best, good performances, not the typical silly comedy. Interesting cinema crowd: mostly women in their forties, fifties and sixties and middle age couples. It confirms what the critics say. Hollywood is being taken over by elder women actresses giving women movies they want to watch. Well and men as well.
4-When writing the post I had to confirm how to write "siren", but I wrote "syren" in google. Syren is a thai porn actress. Well done for you syren. Even syrens can be entertainers!!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Parece que até o tempo está do nosso lado! "Frescote" para o tratamento e logo, logo poderás apanhar uns banhos de sol (conscientes, é certo), com sereias around ... ; )

Anonymous said...

E sempre podes vir passar férias à Irlanda onde definitivamente não terás de te preocupar com o sol! :) Beijos e muita força! M.

Cão Traste said...

sereias nao existem susi :-)

pois a irlanda realmente nao parece oferecer problemas de maior.

Sinapse said...

lol! adorei a ideia do tattoo "Nao apanhar sol aqui"! looool!