More good news

I was originally due to see the radiation oncologist on the 12th but the appointment was brought forward by a week to today. On top of that, I'd got notice of an appointment in the Cardiology department in the Mater hospital, also for today. So it was always going to be a very medical sort of day.

Knowing that I'd be tied up for most of the day, I got out of bed early and got a good bit of work done before heading for Beaumont and my oncology appointment. The receptionist has been really good the last few times, encouraging me not to hang around needlessly when Dr O'Neill is either delayed or has a long list ahead of me. It wasn't the usual girl this morning, but she also suggested that I go away for a while and grab a cup of coffee. So off I went to the hospital restaurant for a not-great coffee, an okay fruit scone and a nice bottle of fresh apple juice. The restaurant was busy enough, with people constantly coming and going, including this pair who may or may not have been together. It was the Santa Claus coat which caught my eye, of course.

Even with the restaurant break I still ended up spending a long while in the waiting room. I first saw Dr O'Neill's registrar, who had to resort to small talk about the weather and the financial crisis and mortgage victims and so on before finally she was able to go into the boss's room for a consultation. He came out, we greeted each other like long-lost mates, and once again the news was good. The recent MRI confirmed what had been suggested by the blood test which showed such a dramatic improvement in my PSA number. The news is that 'the problem' has substantially reduced in size, the lymph nodes are totally clear, and the overall situation is exactly as it should be after six months of hormone injections. Dr O'Neill just wants to study the scans at leisure and chat with his colleagues before making a final decision about radiation treatment, but I'm to see him again at the beginning of January and he fully expects treatment to start pretty much immediately after our next meeting.

All of this took quite a while, and it was approaching 1:00 pm by the time I left Beaumont. From there it was straight over to the Mater Clinic in Dorset Street, a place I haven't been to before. The registration process is very different to Beaumont, but seemed quite efficient at first. I was quickly whisked off for an ECG and didn't have too long to wait before being called in to see a member of the Consultant's team. She was bemused by the fact that I'd had several appointment in Beaumont during the year but now wanted help from the Mater. After a quick chat with the Consultant she came back in and asked me straight out if I wanted to remain with Beaumont or move to the Mater. I'd felt that I wasn't getting anywhere in Beaumont, so said I'd prefer the mater if I had to choose. A longer chat with the Consultant, then she was back again to say that they'd organise an appointment for an angiogram. I'm to go back to them in six months to review the angiogram result.

It was going on for 4:00 by the time I'd got through the process of organising my next appointment, the light was rapidly fading, but I dashed over to St Anne's Park for some (not so successful) late-evening blipping.

A bit of a lie-down, then evening TV and bed around 1:30 am, with only very little further work done.