Partly my mood after yesterday's appointment, but also the cab we took back from London Bridge to Redbridge. It was a fancy new one with a slide-out ramp for the wheelchair. Saves all the "will it fit in the boot?" stuff you have to go through otherwise. I transferred to the back seat once inside.
Yesterday we went to London as planned - drive to Redbridge, Uber to London Bridge - arriving half an hour or so ahead of our appointment time of 12pm.At just about the same time that a batch of emails arrived saying (paraphrased) "Very sorry, we can't do your operation on the 3rd, can't find a top-notch anaesthetist for that time". Apparently the man originally booked for the early morning (0800) operation on the 3rd is on call the evening before and felt had to cancel.They had been frantically ringing around but couldn't find anyone sufficiently qualified and experienced. I understand it's trickier than usual because of the face-down position needed for access to the back of my neck instead of the usual on-your-back position with the head tilted back to help keep the airway open.
We're now moved on to Monday May 9th at 1300, which is a rather better time for the journey than 0800- we have to arrive two hours before. I don't know if it's the original anaesthetist or someone different.
The trouble is that you build up so much mental preparation for something like this, and then it'all blown off course and you go back to square one. I've now got to do it all again...
Started the day vy taking the scooter for what we used to call "the long walk" to the cafe where we met friends of Sue's for coffee an a toasted teacake. Quite a chilly breeze on the way out but pleasantly warmer on the way back afterwards.
Expecting a hospital stay of several weeks, I bought a Windows Surface laptop/tablet before the aborted stem cell transplant in 2020, and it's not really justified itself since. Nice machine and used occasionally but never really wormed its way into everyday life. So I thought I'd take it along for what should be a much shorter stay of just a few nights. I put it on charge for a while, turned it on and got the usual updates for virus descriptions etc.. Finally, one for a "Windows Security Update".Those are usually small and take just a minute or two. This one turned out to be Windows 11.
An hour and a half later...
Tomorrow (or later today) we go to London for the pre-op tests. More about that in tomorrow's post, I expect. Now I should get a not-too-late night.
If it weren't for the nightly stuff I do in and for Myeloma Support UK (Facebook group) I'd almost forget about my Myeloma. Still in remission, off all treatment, and everything overshadowed by the neck thing. And COVID's still out there of course. One positive Lateral Flow Test would throw all plans into chaos...
Even more emails from the hospital and medical secretaries today, most of them needing careful and time-consuming answers as well as posing conundrums such as "is a taxi public transport?" So I haven't done a great deal else. Roll on next Tuesday!
Needless to say, the promised information pack from London Bridge Hospital didn't turn up in the post as promised. So, after much hanging on the telephone (that's a link) I eventually got through to a secretary who made contact with the hospital. Result: a flood of emails and phone calls telling me (1) that it's Friday 1200 for pre-op tests and answering any questions, and (2) that I'm due in at 0600 (!!!) on operation day for the surgery booked at 0800.She did relent a little and said she could make it 0700, but honestly there's not much in it and if I'm going to have a "nil by mouth" night where it's barely worth going to bed, then there's a case for the earlier the better...
We planned lunch and an afternoon out at Langdon Hills Country Park near Basildon. It's a large one with several different entrances and car parks, and we didn't find the right one (with the cafe) until we were leaving... Nevertheless, had a decent walk/scoot through some woods and open grassland, then an ice-cream instead of lunch. Hopefully sorted out the navigational problems for next time.
As for the myeloma, it's faded very much into the background for a while now but must remember to book Springfield bloods next week - we left doing it until the hospital dates clarified. But we still have the pre-op test to do, and probably a period of isolation before the op. So the sooner the better, I think.
Operation date: May 3rd.
When I called the secretary she said "I've just heard from them this morning". What a co-incidence!
Nothing about pre-op tests yet but expect to hear from the hospital (London Bridge) by email soon.
