It's Over!

It’s over!

I’ve had all twenty of my radiotherapy treatments and, apart from a follow up to make sure the side effects are fading, I’m finished with the Christie.

It’s odd because I have little time for hospitals and doctors but I actually felt a little sad as I left on Monday. Unlike most bits of the NHS I’ve experienced throughout my life the staff at the Christie, medical and admin, treated me like a person rather than just another damned case there to make their life difficult. In three months time I will be back at Trafford General or Wythenshawe to let them put a camera into my bladder to check that the tumour is really gone. I’m not looking forward to that, of course, but it’s necessary. Mind you, I am pretty sure that I will spot the symptoms of a return of bladder cancer before they spot it.

As usual on Mondays I saw a doctor after my treatment. I was expecting Dr. W., the consultant, as usual and I had a few questions to ask him about how confident he felt that he had finished the damned tumour off completely but instead of him it was a junior doctor. There was absolutely no point in asking him.

Despite feeling a bit sad I am really relieved not to be spending an hour and a half or two hours on a hospital visit every weekday especially in the early afternoon which is just when my body wants a rest. Today was great as I had a short sleep and felt fine for the rest of the afternoon.

The side-effects have got a bit worse over the last week so that’s another reason I’m pleased the course of treatment is complete. Hopefully things may start to improve after the weekend.

Mind you, I have unwittingly contributed to the rather uncertain state of my bowels. When I was on chemotherapy I suffered from severe constipation and the hospital gave me a box of sachets of stuff to be dissolved in water. On radiotherapy, when I complained of being a bit loose they gave me a similar box of sachets to help that too. I’m an old-fashioned soul and didn’t want to waste the older box so started taking those rather than opening the new one. Unfortunately as I found out this morning the two boxes though similar did not contain the same stuff and I had inadvertently been taking a laxative rather than something to ease my loose bowels. Ah well, at least things should start to improve now I’ve stopped using the wrong stuff.