The Emotional Dimension

I’m doing this as a separate item as it deals more with the emotional issues than the mechanical ones.

When I was waiting for my blood results to come through I ran into Stephen who I have written about before. He was due for the short treatment this week but he was feeling very unwell. After a lot of discussion it was decided to proceed with his treatment but to keep him in afterwards to monitor his condition. His wife and brother were there and clearly very worried about him.

This was going to be hard for Ann too since her friend Jill has gone home and she was going to be alone overnight. She had it pretty well planned out and I said I would give her a ring on my mobile if I could. Sadly the network connection from the ward was unusable and we gave up on that idea. I tried to ring her the next morning while waiting for my taxi home but once more without any luck so when I did get home I found her worried to death and in tears because I was a couple of hours later getting home than last time & she was concerned something had gone wrong.

She feels she does need something to help reduce her anxiety levels as she is struggling to cope just now. Her GP is proving most unhelpful pointing her towards councilling than pills but I am not sure how effective councilling is if you start out not believing it does much good anyway. Much of its efficacy is likely to be a placebo which does not matter in the slightest but sceptics just aren’t going to find it works for them.

The district nurse said Ann should contact the MacMillan nurse she had spoken to before which she did but that nurse seemed focussed on yoga, relaxation classes and councilling too, none of which really seem to hit the spot.

So it looks as if we just have each other and will have to get by.