17/05/21

Went to bed at 02:05, awake 6:10, got up at 07:00. Fairly normal for a dex night these days.

COVID antibody test done and waiting to be posted this afternoon along with the RUDY blood sample (that's the myeloma content  for the day). I used only one of the three lancets provided to get enough blood. It must have gone quite deep - certainly felt like it! Difficult to get all the blood into the narrow opening of the sample tube, especially while "milking" the punctured finger at the same time - I missed a couple of times.

Getting the RUDY sample done at the new Chelmsford Health Hub (just behind the bus station) wasn't as easy as it should have been. I used my Blue Badge to park on a double yellow line almost directly opposite, was met by a man with an infra-red thermometer and some hand sanitiser, and was sent straight through to a room despite being at least ten minutes early. Despite my describing what needed to be done in some detail  while booking the appointment, the nurse was clearly unhappy and after a few unsuccessful rounds of questions and answers - including the possibility of me being charged for the process (they get va £16 payment for doing it!) - she went out for a lengthy discussion with at least three other people and then came back satisfied. No charge...

All done and I put that "bio-secure" package and my COVID antibody test in the post. 

Also having a little issue with Springfield Pharmacy. Now I'm back on Zometa I should be on twice daily AdCal as well, but they didn't include it in last week's meds and I didn't think about it at the time - too much fuss going on about whether I should have steroids or not (answer:yes). I didn't realis eabout the missing AdCal until doing Pill Sorting on Saturday evening. I emailed the chemo nurses and got this reply this morning:

Dear Mr. Crisp,

Yes you will be back on Adcal once Zometa is administered, Pharmacy will give you a month supply on the day of your treatment and you can receive further supply from your GP.

Kind Regards
Xxxx Xxxxxx (Oncology Pharmacist)

Obviously he doesn't want to supply enough for the remaining three weeks of this cycle, So I wrote a letter to my GP asking for it on prescription, probably one time only, and drove off to the surgery between tea and backgammon to put it through the surgery letterbox (this is probably quicker than trying to get through on the 'phone). I got there, parked, reached for the letter which I KNOW was on the passenger seat - and it wasn't there. Or anywhere else in the car. So I drove home, presumably with the invisible letter hidden somewhere. It wasn't at home either... Final decision: ordered some online from Healthspan, will be here faster than a prescription would be filled and collected, and I'll save nearly enough in fuel costs to pay for it.