I made it through last night with minimal sleep. 

I had a blood pressure and temperature test at 2 am and another one at 6 am. I think I slept in between. 

Then came breakfast followed by the tablets.   Three white ones that are steroids called prednisolone, two yellow for gut protection and a pink one for kidney protection. 

John came in after breakfast and brought Saturday’s paper. I also had a Mercury (local newspaper) delivered because I am a private patient in a Public Hospital. 

John picked up his weekly pass for parking  (the other private patient benefit) and went shopping for more food. Lunch arrived, a large, rather unappetising bean salad of which I ate half. I will have to pick fibre rich meals as constipation and weight gain is a side effect of prednisolone. 

I was anxious to know if the grandchildren had made it to The Shiralee. Apparently, they had no trouble picking up the tickets and were happy with their front row seats because they could see the expression on everyone’s face. Cordelia especially was very taken with the performance as she had recently completed work experience with the Sydney Theatre Company. 

John and I sat in a recreation room with a view towards Mt Keira. It was a change from my four walls. I walked around the wards and sat up in a chair the rest of the time. After all I didn’t feel sick so lying in bed seemed a strange thing to do.

The third and final perk of being a private patient was free TV.  However, it was high on a wall and a nurse told me the sound wasn’t very good so I preferred to don my headphones and watch TV on my iPad. The monotony was alleviated by an injection in the stomach tonight with an anti-coagulant. 

The food is not shaping up to be gourmet. Dinner tonight was a boring Indian Butter Chicken with no flavour. As I was about to tackle dessert my grandson rang to tell me all about The Shiralee. The ice cream melted but it was lovely to hear from him.

Now for sleep.

Today was not so bad although I woke at 3.30 and didn’t go back to sleep.

The change of shift seemed to happen just outside my room with handovers taking place as tired medical staff left for home and sleep. Wandering down the long corridor to the bathroom I showered about 7am and felt much better.  Breakfast arrived and was surprisingly good although everything is in packets. The amount of plastic used in hospitals is mind boggling.

I was given my steroid tablets, had blood taken from my hand veins (much easier to get to) and a pin prick blood sugar test.  Blood pressure and temperature were taken and so far all is normal.

My daughter was back from her holiday in New Zealand and arrived with a big bunch of flowers but had to take them away again as they are not allowed in the wards. She and John brought me some lovely pyjamas from Peter Alexander which felt very decadent and drew appreciative comments from the nurses.

A good friend arrived at the same time so it was quite a gathering.  We tried to decamp to the recreation room but that was full of people so we grabbed some extra chairs and came back to my box room. 

My daughter and John went home to cook dinner and I read some of Mushroom Murders. My dinner arrived at 5 pm just as my son rang on his way back to Canberra from Mystery Bay where he had spent the weekend.  I was able to reassure him that everything was going well.

I watched two episodes of the second series of Professor T on my iPad. Now it’s 10.22 pm and time for bed.

Next day

This morning after breakfast I was wheeled to another level and the cannula in my arm was used  for the first time since Friday night.  I had a radioactive substance injected to indicate how well my heart was pumping.

Lunch was a boring tuna salad so I didn’t eat much.  The afternoon’s entertainment was a lumbar puncture.  I had to curl up sideways on the bed and have an epidural before a needle was stuck in my spine.  Some fluid was taken out and some chemo was put in – just a precaution apparently as there is no indication there is cancer in the spinal fluid.

I then had to lie on my back for four hours.  This is to help prevent a headache and so far, touch wood, I don’t have one.  John texted wanting to know if he should come up.  I said “yes” because I needed him to cut up my dinner as I wasn’t allowed to sit up.  I also needed more long pyjamas as I felt a bit silly walking around in shortie PJs.  

Tomorrow will be the first round of chemo. Didn’t I always say I liked to have new experiences!