Chemo 6

Chemo 6

This has been a rest week for me. The chemo nurses decided that I needed a week off chemo, due to my very tough week of side effects.  Tomorrow I go to my consultant’s rooms to see if I can get the dose put back to normal.  If not, I will have to put up with the increase, but might need to get the dose only every other week. 

My worry this week was about the forthcoming visit of the Stoma nurse.  She is very nice and had lots of helpful advice when I saw her a month ago. I haven’t had any problems with my stoma, so you ask, why were you worried.  I decided that she was not the real deal. She represents an American company, and I was sure my hospital would not choose to support foreign companies over British ones.  I had been getting my stoma replacements from a company which I contact by a phone number the hospital  gave me.  That phone number was different from the one the new company provided.  So in my paranoid mood, I decided that I had to tell her that I didn’t want her company to deal with me, and even though I had signed a contract with her last month,  I wanted to be loyal to my hospital’s wishes.

I practiced my speech for a long time before she was due yesterday.  When she came to the door, all friendly and pleased to see me,  I said I needed to talk to her.  So when she was sat down, I started my prepared speech.  “I must have been misinformed when I saw you last week, as I thought you were representing my hospital group.”

“I do,” she said.

“Oh, that’s good,” I said, suddenly wondering what to say next.

“But your phone number is different from the one I was given by them.”

“Because the hospital  want the best service, they buy in services, and we are one of those chosen to deal with the very large group of stoma users in this area.”

So I had to believe her, and tried to be friendly and pleasant for the rest of her visit.  I’m pleased she’s Kosher, as I really like her. She made an appointment to see me in two months, so I guess that is that.