Positive results with my second line Leukaemia treatment

 "I wouldn't want to be ill and having to deal with the NHS!"

Day 28 of my 2L Leukaemia treatment dawned dull and grey, with rain promised later. Not the most auspicious start to the day for a one hundred mile round trip to hospital through the vagaries that is driving across Devon but as always it could have been worse - at least the Sat Nav wasn't highlighting any major delays en route.

The logistics of the day were as follows; get to Derriford and get parked, blood test as early as possible to allow results to be available for my consultation, pick up next cycle of drugs from the pharmacy, consultation and then get back home. Dogs were walked early and I was underway by 09:45 for the trip to Plymouth.

Dull, dank, dreary Derriford
©Harveywetdog

The trip down was event free and traffic kept moving despite the low cloud as we touched the edge of Dartmoor before Tavistock. After the usual games with people not being able to operate the car park barrier, I was safely parked and out the car by 11:30.

Now the first time I used the Derriford walk in service I'd been the only customer. Admittedly it was late on a Wednesday afternoon but nevertheless I wasn't expecting the queue I faced when I walked in this time. With usual British stoicism I took my ticket and waited. I was told that the bookable blood test services around Plymouth were currently overwhelmed with the result that patients were trying their luck at the walk in service. Now the service is supposed to be for urgent, same day tests but who's going to tell someone that their case isn't urgent.

The arrangement at the Edward Jenner Unit at Gloucester had been that Haematology patients were simply bumped to the top of the queue but Haematology don't seem to carry quite the same clout at Derriford.

After a wait of about an hour (there were roughly 16 people in the queue before me) my blood was taken and sent off to the Lab for analysis. The blood test request was sitting on the system as I'd arranged with Haematology, so that had worked. I just had to hope the Labs had enough time to analyse the sample prior to my consultation.

Next stop was the Pharmacy. When I'd spoken to the consultant at my previous consultation I'd been advised it wasn't possible for them to prescribe drugs without having first seen me, but they had then gone ahead and prescribed them according to EPIC. I was half expecting there to be an issue at the Pharmacy but it all worked smoothly and I was soon heading for a break at Costa clutching my hefty bag of drugs. 

Costa was great (I do enjoy a chocolate Tiffin) and I even had half an hour to read my book via my 'phone. Then it was off to Oncology for my Haematology appointment (having first made sure the drugs were safely transferred to my car).

I was probably half an hour late being called in for my consultation (that's about par for the course) and I was beginning to get a bit tetchy but all was forgiven when I heard the blood test results. Everything is moving in the right direction, Haemoglobin is recovering from the hit it took from the drugs, Platelet levels are continuing to improve (the highest I've seen in the past 12 months) and Lymphocytes are starting to reduce having started to rise rapidly over the last few months.

Haemoglobin Level Recovering Day 28
©Harveywetdog 

 

Platelet count increasing Day 28
©Harveywetdog

 

Lymphocytes falling again Day 28
©Harveywetdog

 

You'll have noticed that I already have the results from the blood test prior to the consultation. This is a great improvement over Barnstaple who didn't release the results until two weeks after they were taken.

The drive back was much more positive than the drive there, the logistics had worked well and the test results had been positive. Of course this is the wrong way round, the main positive should be the test results but somehow our dysfunctional NHS always manages to skew your patient perspective.

My next consultation is in October and I've got a trip to Blenheim to enjoy before then. Fingers crossed the improvements continue.

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©Harveywetdog/Author - David Robinson CEng FIET 

David spent approaching 50 years in Her Majesty's Electricity Supply Industry before retiring

He was part of the highly successful design team on the Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station Project before spending 25 years producing safety cases to keep our aging AGR fleet generating for the good of the nation

He is responsible for the Harveywetdog YouTube Channel which he maintains as an outlet for his creative talents

David is now receiving 2L leukaemia treatment but absolutely refuses to be a victim

All views are of course his own but might be influenced by the medication he's taking