A mammoth undertaking

Once again no chemotherapy this week. Nevertheless it has been a fairly quiet week, where things of note included a CT scan, a trip to the theatre and another increase in the incidences of my back pain.

The CT scan took place early in the morning, which meant that it was hard to get there on time, but easy to park, in direct contrast to our normal trips to the hospital. It was interesting to see that some of the remodelling happening in the hospital was going to lead to an improvement in services to patients this time, as a second CT scanner was being installed as part of the remodelling.

The theatre trip was fun, and much less painful than I was worried it might be. The best bit about going to see a whodunnit is trying to work out who the murderer is, and what is his/her motive. With Agatha Christie you always know that the obvious suspect in the first half of the story is never the one who turns out to have done it, so I found it very satisfying to work out who the murderer was and their motive. (Notice the care with which I’m describing this. You shouldn’t be able to tell anything about it from what I wrote, so no spoilers here.)

Finally, although my back is still painful, I’ve found that Oxycodone, in its liquid form, is a good supplement to the diclofenac, which is the main painkiller I take. I’ve been writing down how much and how often I’ve taken it, with the aim that the palliative care team will be able to titrate a more convenient dosage for me next time I see them, i.e. next Wednesday.

This coming week ought to have a little more interest to it. I’ll get the results of the CT scan; I’ll be having another MRI scan to try to determine the cause of my back pain, and I’ll find out whether the chemotherapy is to continue or not.