Clinic today, which meant that we got up early, and we drove, and sat, and waited, and sat, and talked, and talked some more, and sat, and waited, and sat, and gave blood (just me, Judy didn't have to do this), and then drove home again, and all that was quite tiring enough to knock me out for the day. Not that it takes much.
So, let's recap. So far as I currently understand it, when they drained my pleural effusion and sent the yucky stuff (technical term) off for testing, it came back showing cancer cells; however, the doctors aren't entirely sure where the cancer itself is located. They've ruled out the breast and lung - hence a rather worrisome delay, as then they had to pass me on to another department. The next best guess was ovary, but, after the talk I had with the consultant today, it looks as if they haven't ruled out stomach/bowel/etc. I'm having a laparoscopy (Google it, I had to) next week, so they can see what they can find in there, and have to go back to the Churchill before then to answer some more questions and, no doubt, do a lot more sitting and waiting and talking. After that, they were taking about doing chemo in order to shrink the mass and cut down on the amount of surgery that will be needed.
Not much fun, but it is what it is.
Meantime, I'm on long-term sick leave, having been off work since mid-June - one good thing, my employers can't fire me while I'm sick ... um, I think! - and all I'm getting is statutory sick pay. The HR department cheated a bit there, to be honest - the firm's year end was at the end of July but, because I was already on sick leave at that point, they carried on counting it as last year's, instead of starting fresh. But that's HR for you: it's all just maths to them. At some point I have to look into what benefits I may be entitled to, but I was too tired to go to the help centre at the Churchill today.
Another good thing is that, other than breathlessness and the odd twinge, I don't, at present, feel too bad. I'll hang on to that for all it's worth!
I was thinking of naming this cancer Percy, after the Scarlet Pimpernel (see header). But, on reflection, I have decided to call it Lord Lucan. Because they keep thinking they've found it, but it always seems to slip away again. And because it is an utter bastard.
