Fast Forward

After Tuesday's marathon, today we were prepared for a longer stay at hospital than expected. As it turned out, everything went smoothly - although the staff had yet to tell the consultant about the first dose of Velcade on Tuesday which had to be thrown away as it hadn't been given in the short "use by" time slot. I'm not surprised at their reluctance to confess - each dose costs around £3000. Fortunately for the NHS, the drug company picks up the bill.

Steve's temperature, weight, heart rate, blood gases and blood pressure all OK, and no evidence of low red blood cell or low platelet count, so cleared to proceed with the chemo around midday. Steve had just started eating his lunch, (and I had gone off to the shop to buy something to eat) when the nurse arrived with the Velcade injection. The procedure was almost completed by the time I had returned to the ward with a sandwich and bottle of juice. Next week, there will be two more sessions like this one, followed by a week off medication.

I have added some photos to an earlier posts. Now you can see what's happened as well as reading about it.....