Surveillance

Hello blog, it's been a while. About 3 months and 1 week, really. That's a while. I realize the end of January is not November, but honestly..

.. there's not much to report on, really. No bad news. No good news, but no news is good news, so that's good. News.

I'm currently what the hospital calls "Under Surveillance" which is basically me checking in every few months and having a scan or a blood test to make sure nothing evil and sneaky is trying to regrow anywhere. So far, so good.

I did go to Oxford in November, and again yesterday. In November I had a blood test and another chat with the doctor, along with a quick chest X-Ray. Both tests came back fine, and the talk was over quickly. I received a letter after that chat, just like I did after the first one, summing up what we discussed.

I also had a chat with Gemma, a.. possibly nurse, I don't really know her job title.. about the NHS website. They asked me, when I first went there, to check it out, try using the help files and let them know how it went when I went back.

When I told them, Gemma took down my bug reports (some of the "I survived!" stories were broken, things were in weird orders, etc) and seemed genuinely thankful I'd taken my time to check. Didn't learn anything new from the help files, but that's to be expected at this point.

Had another appointment for earlier this month for a CT scan and a chat, but when I phoned on the day to confirm my scan time.. they told me the scan was a week earlier, and that I didn't turn up. When I informed them that I did not know about the scan, they confirmed they sent out a letter on the 14th of December.

Maybe it went to Santa, instead. I'm not sure.

Regardless, they rebooked the scan for yesterday, the 25th, with another check up on the 30th to discuss the results (and take yet more blood!). I attended yesterday and it went fine (I didn't receive a letter for that appointment, either) and I was out after a few hours.

As mentioned, we're going back on Monday the 30th to discuss the results. We're going to try to make a day of it and visit Oxford's covered market while we are there. Oxford's a very busy, clustered place. I think I've learned that I don't want to live in a big old city.

While there, I'm going to mention this blog to the doctor, or maybe to Gemma. I wonder if they'd be interested in using parts of it in their help files. I'm not sure where they get their "I survived" stories from, but they only had a choice of 2 when I looked, so another one might be good for them. We'll see.

So, how have I been since November? Alright. Coping. Happy that the cancer itself is gone, but still annoyed by it's after-effects, both physical and otherwise. The fact my life has been on hold for yet another 6 months with still no end to the waiting in sight is annoying. The fact that my wife has to return to the USA in a month and I'll have yet another part of my life without her is annoying.

But still, one thing I am thankful for: an annoying life is much better than no life.