From Goodwood to A&E

Well, that was an eventful weekend, from the highs of Goodwood Festival of Speed on Saturday, to the lows of A&E on Sunday morning.

So, first the good. My brother was over from Sweden for the weekend and had booked some tickets for Goodwood. We’d decided to head off at 06:30 (whose crazy idea was that?) to avoid the queues, a strategy that paid off, as we were wondering around the Formula 1 paddock by 08:30. We had a superb day trying to decide what supercar to buy……well, at least a cheap plastic model in the merchandise shop!  We got to see the Chris Evans Famous Seven Ferrari collection, a far more impressive set of vehicles than Patrick Hoban’s shagged out 13 year old Subaru Impreza and 125cc Suzuki scooter….err….collection. Clearly my career in engineering has not been quite as financially rewarding!!

Marcus joined us with a friend of his, and neither could contain their excitement at actually touching a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. ‘No, Daddy won’t be buying you one of those for 1.5 million pounds, when there’s a perfectly good Subaru that could be yours if you play your cards right when you turn 18!! The place was awash with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Lotus’, even a Koenigsegg Agera R for our Swedish contingent. Highlight of the day must be watching Jenson Button having a ‘play’ with his McLaren F1 on the track, and pretty much burning through one set of tyres during the first half mile of the hill climb. Not good for the environment, but great entertainment!

So that was the good, now for the bad and the ugly. On Friday evening I’d noticed that my left eyelid was looking a little red and by Saturday morning it had started to swell up more noticeably. Normally, I wouldn’t have worried about it, but during the chemotherapy my resistance to infection is lower, and an infection is something they’d need to treat immediately, before continuing with the chemotherapy. I spoke to my consultant whilst I was down at Goodwood, and he advised that I should go to casualty.

Having decided that Saturday evening in A&E probably wouldn’t be a pile of laughs, I waited until Sunday morning to go up. The fast track card worked its magic and I was  quickly taken through to an isolation room to see a doctor. Having taken my blood, I was put on an IV of antibiotics as a precaution, just in case the blood results showed that I had an infection. Fortunately, the results were good, including a normal white blood cell count that indicated no signs of infection, so after three hours I was let out early for good behaviour!

So that was my Sunday morning, not the best way to spend it, but at the same time, I really appreciated the speed and manner in which the medical team in A&E dealt with me. Probably not the last time I’m up there, but we will deal with each situation as and when it comes along.

Little word of advice and a safety tip for you all....don’t go cycling before 10:00am on a Sunday morning!  When I arrived in A&E there were already two lycra clad cyclists with various parts of their face padded up and bleeding, to be rapidly joined by a young lady cyclist who’d clearly decided to have a go at ploughing the road with her forehead. You’ve been warned!

So, that was my weekend, eventful, but overall I’d say a good one.  Other than my eye, it was fantastic to see my brother again and a fun ending to a really good ‘rest’ week for me. 

So, how am I feeling now? Well, having just returned from my first injection of cycle 2, I’m on a high…..and no, that’s not just because of the steroids!

I’ll take the negative news when it comes, but I also need to be happy with good news, so let me quote you from the letter I’ve just been copied in to from my consultant to my GP. ‘Most importantly, his plasmacytoma has decreased in size and feels much softer compared to that at diagnosis. This suggests an excellent response to his chemotherapy’. 

I’ll take that one!!