Monday 15th August
I have an appointment to see Dr. Denton who gives me the good news that the results of my mamogramme and MRI were clear, which to be honest I was expecting this to be the case. Still it's good to know that everything is going well. She has a quick check of my lungs and stuff and then I am free to go.
Wednesday 17th August
Those of you who have been paying attention will know that my "odd" herceptin visits do not go smoothly and this being number 7 was to prove the case again.
Firstly, my appointment had to be moved back by half an hour to 11am due to the number of people needing chemotherapy and the limited number of chairs. I arrived at about 10.45am and waited. 11am came and went as did the next 60 minutes. The reason for the delay was, as detailed above lots of people and also the pharmacy was running slowly so it took a while for the chemotherapy drugs to get upstairs. So consequently I got a lot of reading done.
Once I got in the nurse tried for a vein, got the needle in but no joy, so off she went to get the matron who found a decent vein. However the pump to which I was attached kept beeping even after it was plugged into the mains. Apparently it needed a new battery and so another pump had to be found to replace this one. I really am not a very superstitious person but I am getting just a little paranoid about my "odd" visits to the chemo unit.
Anyway the rest of the session went off without a hitch. Once the herceptin has finished they push though some saline to flush through the vein. The nurse said she'd pump through about 100ml from a bag which contained 500ml and said I could drink the rest. I did point out that perhaps this would be a little salty at which point she fell about laughing saying what she meant to say was I should go home and drink lots of water.
So far everything is going well and in comparison with chemotherapy, herceptin is a doddle.
