Maisy & France

I’m fantasising about a cup of tea, as Nurse Maisy arrives to measure my BP and stuff. 
And bless her she gets me a cup of tea.  

That’s so much better.

Now for a shower, this could be a challenge.

I was given a whole lot of infection detection swabs last night, for various parts of my body 🙄 … and still have one to do in the loo (which gives a whole new meaning to Poo Sticks).

Anyway the shower is ok but the Poo Stick isn’t. It will not go back into its tube, and the whole process turns ugly.  So I put it in a bio hazard bin, and feel slightly guilty, but much better.

Back to my bed, all clean and fragrant (me), and France appears.  France is a male senior Nurse, and he tells me about today’s program of events.  

The star attraction is an infusion of Melphalan, which will happen today 🥴  This is the magic stuff.  It kills cells which divide rapidly.  So, it knocks out any remaining Myeloma cells, and also destroys hair growth cells 👨‍🦲and lots of cells in the digestive system 🤢🤮.

So, it’s an interesting time ahead.

But to cheer things up, ‘Breakfast Shelly’ appears.  She’s delightfully smiley, and points me towards a ‘Full English’ 😊 followed by brown toast and marmalade.  

And it’s good, very good.

Then at 10:00 a Haematology consultant (called Madison, I think) arrives to tell me what’s going to happen, and have me sign my agreement to go ahead.

I sign 🫢

So this afternoon I’ll be infused with Melphalan, and tomorrow I’ll be reunited with my stem cells (that were collected 12 weeks ago) < this is the transplant!!!

And then at 11:30 all five of “ARTHUR AND THE CONSULTANTS” arrive. Arthur is good, and explains the days ahead. “Enjoy the next 4 days”, he says, “because all sorts of stuff happens after that!”

Well on we go, this afternoon should be interesting …