Our kitchen plumbing had other ideas and it had taken it upon itself to wash out the cupboard under the sink. Completely.
Alex donned his Professional Plumber badge and set to work diagnosing the problem and then performing complicated surgery. He did comment that it is a tad difficult with a neck brace on, but he wasn't going to let that get in his way.
Once this had been rectified, it was time to head to the hospital. Driving back into the car park again was a weird feeling. We'd both loved NOT turning up there for a while.
Our first meeting was with Dr. Steven Kao, the wonderful Oncologist. He wanted to check that Alex was progressing well and to keep a record of any side effects from the chemo. We made an appointment for a scan on 15th October, and he will go through the results with us before Alex's next chemo session on 16th October.
This will be a major event for us. The scan will show the effects of both sessions of radiotherapy (by that stage, Alex will have finished "cooking" after the radiotherapy); how his C1 fracture of the neck is progressing and how his cancers have responded to the first two chemo sessions. We're already nervous thinking about it. More on that later though.
We had a very long wait today for Alex's chemo to start. He went to hospital yesterday to give blood, and this is supposed to cut out long waiting times. The problem today was that one of the drugs used in his chemo treatment wasn't ready in time and this meant that we had to wait just over 2 hours.
Once all his drugs were ready, his chemo treatment started. Alex chose to sit in the same seat. The worst part of the treatment was getting the cannula in - I don't think Alex will ever get used to needles. Once he was hooked up, he watched James Bond: Quantum of Solace while the drugs dripped through.
The timing was perfect. The movie finished at the same time as the treatment, and then came the best part of the whole experience - unplugging him! The nurse did get a giggle when she realised that "putting the tiger in the tank" was Alex's way of describing the whole experience.
We wondered if Alex would have the same reactions as last time, ie, an appetite and no nausea (at least for the first 3 days). Thankfully, he did (so far). We went to the office briefly, and then headed home. Joe and Leona came to visit and we were able to relax out on the deck and then we headed down to Bay Tinh, one of our favourite Vietnamese restaurants in Marrickville for a late dinner.
Alex's appetite and taste buds were finally reunited and for the first time in what feels like forever, he really enjoyed a full meal.
Fingers crossed this continues.
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