18/03/20

The taxi came on time at 06:30 and I arrived at 20 Devonshire Place just before 08:30 for the first of my seven appointments for the day at 09:00. Of course there was plenty of paperwork to get through, and some confusion between one of my pills which I wasn't supposed to have taken beforehand and one which I was (for an unpleasant moment it looked as if the test would have to be cancelled meaning yet another London trip, but we got that straightened out). Even with that spare half hour we were ten minutes late for the first stage. So one slightly radioactive injection, over to 22 Devonshire Place immediately  on the other side of the road for repeat virology tests, back again at 11:00 for the first of three kidney blood tests, got some lunch in the surprisingly small and limited cafe at the clinic, kidney test #2 at 1:00 followed by a walk down Devonshire Place and Wimpole Street to Oxford Street and back for kidneys#3. This is a photo of my elbows after all that:

The bruise on my left arm is the remains of the beauty I got when the radioactive tracer for the PET scan a week or so ago went in... Then down the road to 5 Devonshire Place for a heart echogram and ECG, and some lung function tests with some rather interesting computer graphics. Quite a tiring day for me, and at the end I asked reception if they new of a good minicab firm who would be prepared to venture out beyond the M25 to Chelmsford. In a couple of minutes they found me one that could be at the door in ten minutes, at a price £20 below the one we'd paid in the morning. The driver told me the most pointed coronavirus fact of the day - he'd been "working" since 09:00 - same time as  my first appointment, and driving me home was his first job of the day. At 03:00! That's a measure of how hard this is hitting London.

As the day went on  I was continuing some overnight thoughts about the impact of COVID-19 both on my transplant and recovery process, and on Sue in total self-isolation at home. I decided I had to at least talk about the possibility of postponing transplant and going back to more cycles of chemo for at least twelve weeks or until we are clearly coming out of The Day of the Virus. So I had a meeting with the Ward Manager we met when I was in for harvesting (we had fixed a time, and then we chanced to pass in a corridor). She actually suggested the idea before I mentioned it, and I explained I hadn't said anything to anybody - not to Sue, not the doctors, not my insurers, beforehand. She was open to the idea, and said she'd phone me for a longer discussion later.

When I got home I raised it with Sue and between us we decided against and to stick with the plan no matter what. I then phoned the Ward Manager back and we had a longer conversation which sorted out a few practical problems if Sue is unable to visit very often, and during that she said she'd raised the point with Prof. Gribben who said OK to postpone for up to three months - roughly the twelve weeks of the government's current social distancing / self-isolation plans. There seemed no point in asking what would happen after that.

So there we are. It's definitely going to be the 25th - unless the virus finds a way to throw a mighty spanner into the works before then. But I'm glad I got the postponement issue raised and out of the way today, otherwise I'd have had a nagging doubt all the time as to whether it might have been a better idea. However, alea jacta est. No turning back or revisionism now!