Firstly, I didn't see Dr Kennedy straight away I saw Dr Song. She hasn't been there long and was not totally up to date with what Dr Kennedy had discussed with me the day before yesterday - miscommunication one - so I explained to her that I was here for a planning session for both cycles of radiotherapy and therefore wouldn't need to come back the day before the next cycle started too. She needed to get Dr Kennedy in for me to sign the consent form anyway (because she hadn't been there long) and so we were able to clear that up pretty quickly. But it shouldn't have happened. Otherwise Dr Song was lovely, introduced herself to us by name (DD was with me) but had no knowledge of Dr Who at all and so a whole host of witty jokes just fell by the wayside... She had a really pleasant and approachable manner and was willing to answer all our questions. Didn't make us feel rushed at all. She ran through all the procedures and side effects stuff. Dr Kennedy corrected her on one or two things which was fine as she was clearly there to learn. I was reassured by his presence though.
She explained that the pain in my back will get worse before it gets better because the radiotherapy will cause inflammation in the healthy tissue around the tumours before we see shrinkage in the tumours i.e. there will be greater pressure areas. Hopefully this inflammation doesn't last and the tumours shrink so we end up with a better outcome in the end than I have now. Hopefully this happens fairly quickly because its actually a bit painful at the moment.
Then it was off to the CT scanner to await "measuring up" ready for tomorrow. Was seen by Liz and Simon (who introduced themselves) and by a student radiographer who didn't. Liz and Simon were fine and competent and explained everything to me clearly. It was only when they started to confirm my future appointments with me that miscommunication two became apparent. First of all they were under the impression that I was having the two treatments simultaneously but I explained that I wasn't. So they contacted the booking office who informed them that my scheduled appointments were without a week's break in between. I explained to Liz that Dr Kennedy had been clear about a week's break (miscommunication number three). She rechecked with the booking office who stuck to their guns of no break. At this point I asked to see Dr Kennedy again and after much running around I was told that I had been correct all along. Hah!
It's no real biggie (apart from the time and hassle involved for everyone and the knock on effect on later appointments waiting to be seen whilst this is sorted out). But it's this sort of thing that leads us to "never events" (google them - there are 28). And that stuff is a little more serious.... Not 10/10 from me on this occasion.
Sara called round for a cup of tea later and was good to catch up with her but then I've just kicked her out because I'm starting to feel tired and in need of painkillers. May cancel my Helpline session tonight? But if I do I'll just sit at home and get fat (these steroids are making me insanely hungry - I had two breakfasts this morning). This radiotherapy better make me at least a bit nauseous so I can lose some weight otherwise I'm going to have to go shopping again. I'll leave it for a bit and see how I feel after the painkillers. That's all. J x
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