On 12th January I had an appointment with Mr Thomas, my consultant, where he did another ultrasound. This was unexpected as I had only just had a mammogram and an ultrasound 10 days previously. He then looked in his diary and said he would like to book me in for breast conserving surgery on 3rd February. Simon suggested that this may not work as both him and Hannah were booked onto a tour at the Tottenham Stadium. Mr Thomas changed the date to the 10th. I still can’t believe my surgery was changed because my family went on a football stadium tour! I asked about my immunotherapy as I was booked in on 13th January for the next course of it. He said that this would continue until surgery and will be postpone afterwards until I was strong enough to continue. We then sat with the breast care nurse whilst she went through everything I needed to do before surgery. She gave me a bottle of antibacterial wash to use which I expected to smell like dettol, it has no smell at all which I found quite surprising. She also said that she would apply for a surgical box from Little Lifts, which turned up a week or so later with more amazing stuff to spoil me with. More Moo Goo cream too, just as I was running out of it.
By the time we got home from the appointment, the chemo unit called to say that my immunotherapy has been postponed as they want me to build up my strength before the surgery. So that was a bonus.
On 21st January I had a telephone pre-op assessment where they asked me hundreds of questions about my health and what tablets I take, then booked me in for a hospital appointment the next day to have an ECG, a breath test and a blood test. So off Simon and I trotted to the hospital again. ECG was done, no problems there. I was a bit concerned about the breath test as I didn’t think I had enough puff in my lungs to do it. As it turns out, my lung capacity is normal, I just get out of breath when I walk around. I was then given a blood form and told to wait with the others for a blood test. I asked if she could take it from a picc line, turns out she wasn’t so I said I would get the district nurse to do it when she comes round on Monday. How can staff at the hospital be unable to do blood tests from a picc line? I was told a picc line would be the safer and easier option. I don’t want to keep being stabbed with needles if I can help it. The pre-op nurse said that my thyroid levels were high and I should get it checked by the doctor as my medication may need adjusting, so I’ll do that after surgery. In the meantime, I was more concerned about my low red blood count as my last blood test showed that it was at 97. We asked her what a normal person is and she said 130. If it comes back the same, they will book me in for another blood transfusion.
I received no phone call after the blood test was done so I can only assume they were happy enough with my levels.
May Contain Nuts 
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