Waiting - You have to do it

I hate the waiting around. I know that I have exactly three hours left before I get the treatment. I suppose that is better than an Operation when (generally) you only know if it is morning or afternoon. There is a ritual to go through before each. Perhaps I'll look at the operations one as a separate blog. The only ting to say now is how stressful it is waiting to go down to Theatre - it fills you with fear, dread, foreboding.

The treatment doesn't do that but you naturally are going to get nervous. I don't eat well before the event. I have had no coffee today, sipping away at a glass of water doesn't help as my mouth is as dry as the Gobi Desert. I know that all this really isn't necessary as I have done it before. I can't imagine how I am going to feel again waiting for the results of this treatment. I have to wait until April. At least when I found out I had Cancer I knew as soon as I had been examined. It took about 4 or 5 weeks after the first operation to find out how serious things were.

So - whilst you have to hang around to have things done, it builds up the stress levels approaching the time to leave the house.

The sort of preparations include:

• Light breakfast
• No coffee
• small glasses of water
• Lunch an hour earlier than normal
• Water jug and glass beside bed
• Tablets ready beside bed
• Cloths over the bed
• Toilet prepared with books, glasses, CD player ad CDs
• Bleach and Bleach tablets close by
• Disposable gloves, surgical wipes in bathroom
• Cheap toilet rolls ready to use to wipe stuff up if needed
• Stress ball in pocket
• Appointment notes and booklet together by the door
• E-mail auto answer switched to unavailable for two days
• Mobile phone charged but off during treatment
• Shower 1 hour before leaving
• Clothes laid out ready for Hospital visit (easy to get into and out of, comfortable etc)
• No drinking for two hours before going

I'm sure there are more. Having a ritual like this I suppose helps. I get most things ready during the late morning (from now onwards in fact) as it fills the time between now when I start thinking about it and actually going and getting the instillation done.

That will do for now.