The test's go on.

Please view older posts to catch up with the story of my journey with cancer so far.

Wednesday up-date; just had my CT scan. will explain the details in a later blog but it was an easy bit. I am meeting my Cancer Team on Friday the 3rd of July at 10:00am when all the results should be in. The big Colonoscopy is Saturday lunch time no food for a while in the lead up to the camera to the bowel, I will be sedated for this one.

Thank you all who are sending me emails of support and well wishes, please keep them coming they help me.

You can get me on skype now my account name is adrian.howarth1 come and have a chat, although I must admit I may get a bit tired and not answer the call.

Last Friday saw me going through a lot of ups and Downs, sorry if I have not replied to the many texts and emails what with the pain and work I am only now just getting time to do a bit of blog time.

So Friday I went into work in the morning but left around lunch time, work is very understanding and supportive. I first had to go to my GP to pick up the script (prescription to you) as my pain killing medication has been changed, I am now on opiate based pain killers, they are really good.

All my travelling I must point out is being done on my £4.00 first day bus ticket, unlimited travel for a day on any bus and did I need it.

After I pick up the script, i catch the bus over to the hospital, took about 10 minutes, nice trip.

As per instructions I arrive early so my personal details can be taken down at the MRI scan suit at the North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) I notice that there are quite a few people asleep in reception, this is due to the fact that i quickly find out that they have been there for hours, we have a delay due to a traffic accident at around breakfast time, I hope the people involved get better. The patience of some people though is very poor and their attitude discusting.

After a good few hours wait and yes I did fall asleep along with the rest of the waiting crowd, bit of drool trickling from the left side of my mouth and a twitch while snoring, do not know if I passed wind but when I woke up I noticed that a lot of people had disappeared.

Adrian Howarth, yes it is my name they are calling, here we go then I said to myself and everyone around me smiled, probably thanking God for the smelly old git being taken away so they can breath fresh air again. LOL.

Time for my MRI scan, I am asked to get down to my underwear and slip into a robe, nice. i then lay down on the trolley, some what I can only describe are protective plates are laid down one on my chest / stomach area and the other over the pelvis area, these are strapped down so they do not move, you then get rolled into the room with the MRI scanner, this is a very big machine, for some reason I notice that it is made by General Electric I just threw that in, the trolley is lined up and clamped to the machine heavy are protectors are placed on you these incorporate a headset for music, you are given an emergency panic button in case you need assistance, the people in attendance then leave the room and the scanner then swallows you up, it is quite an enclosed experience, the machine is noisy and it re-positions you every now and again.

One of the funny things is the music that they play, I can only describe it as trance but it blends with the banging of the machine, I fell asleep, which surprised the attendants as they admitted later, they said it is a rarity, what with all the noise but I must admit I have been dog tired recently. I had no after effects from the MRI scan, well I do not think I did, read on.

After the scan I left to get the bus home from outside the main entrance to the hospital. The 156 bus came along, Alan the driver who is one of the regular drivers on the route says hello, I show my £4.00 ticket and then sit down for the 10 minute or less ride home, now I have never been on this part of the bus route before so do not know which way it goes, I become suspicious when after about 15 min we are still heading away from Manchester, well to cut a long story short the bus does a figure 8 route and the cross over point is the hospital and I sit on the bus for over an hour just to get back to the hospital to start doing the bit of the route I need to be on to get home. Bummer :O)

So I get home, tired, sore, hungry as I had not had anything to eat for about 20 hours and nothing to drink for 9 hours, worse of all I needed the toilet.

Norma and I have our dinner, Norma nips to the 24 hour chemist to get my new painkillers, I eat a stick of liquorish that Sue at work suggested that I eat to help my bowel, Norma brings me the painkillers I take one then all hell breaks loose.

I go to the toilet in agony, I do not know what triggered it, painkiller, Big Mac with Mac flurry, Liquorish, My stomach / bowel erupts, the pain was the worst that I have experienced in my life, I am crying, moaning thinking I am going to pass out. Norma can hear the noises and is very worried, she admits she was wondering about calling an ambulance or just driving me to A&E.

About an hour I spent in the toilet off and on, till the pain eased and all of a sudden all pain was gone, I can only imagine the cancerous tumor had created a block and nothing was getting past it easily, so in the end either the painkiller relaxed me or the liquorish worked, either way the pain just disappeared.

The great news is that the pain that I have been in for months now has also lessened, I do not know if it is the painkillers or what but I feel really good. So good that I do not care if my sleeping cycle is screwed up, the pain that I have been living with night and day has gone for the time being.

I have two more tests in the coming week and lots of pre-medication to take the CT scan is at 7:15 on Wednesday night and the Colonoscopy is at lunchtime next Saturday, I am being sedated for the Colonoscopy and have warned work that I cannot be in work on the Sunday, the information leaflet that comes giving instructions has warned me that I will be poorly for about 24 hours after the Colonoscopy. :O(

Going forward I have bought and installed my new web cam http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/webcam_communications/webcams/devices/3056&cl=us,en
Nifty piece of kit, good performance.

I have also signed up for Skype and anyone who wishes can contact me my account name is adrian.howarth1 download Skype for free and make free Skype to Skype calls / video calls http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/download/skype/windows/

I will make another blog entry as soon as I have something interesting to say, I hope this entry made you smile in places.

Traa dy liooar

Adrian