A grand day out......

….with sleeping bag and camping stove!


Well that’s what was intended for yesterday and that’s what I was going to write about but it didn’t quite go as planned, no surprises there then! It wasn’t really a camping trip or anything half as exciting or even exotic, it was a day trip to the hospital. A weird day thanks to the bank holiday messing up the usual schedule.

A normal week would see me either rushing to Gloucester on a Monday morning (about an hours drive) after taking the junior Bad Fairies to school to have a blood test done. Someone from the oncology team would then ring me Monday afternoon to say if everything from the test was ok and I could have treatment on the Mobile Unit on the Tuesday.

As faffy and annoying as this would seem for many, it’s become our “normal” so we don’t get stressed about it and just incorporate it into the week as best we can.

However yesterday was going to be different! We were prepared for a long day, hence the sleeping bag and camping stove. Fairy Godmother was all ready to collect the children from school, a bag with books, snacks and drinks was packed and mobile phones were fully charged!

The plan was … drop the children off at school, rush (within the speed limit!) over to Cheltenham to have the blood test done by 10am ready to see Dr Socks at 12pm and then have treatment at 4.30pm. In between times we were going to set up a campsite in the corner of the waiting room and make it a little home-from-home! Adding in the hour to get home again, Mr Bad Fairy and I were planning on getting home in time for the Juniors to be going to bed!

Remembering that this is the Tuesday after the bank holiday, lots of extra patients being fitted in and staff under loads of extra pressure, we started off well by only waiting until just after 11am for the blood test to be done. Then amazingly Dr Socks was early by a few minutes, a first since I‘ve had the pleasure of visiting him, it’s not unheard of to be an hour late. (As a patient I don’t get cross about delays, I understand that sometimes it’s impossible to discuss all of the things you need to in a short time slot. It’s inevitable that a percentage of patients will take more time on some days, other days you only need five minutes.)

Back to the waiting room for a light lunch and the expected wait for treatment. Sadly the wine waiter didn’t show up but I suppose you can’t have everything. What do you know though ….they provided entertainment! Not entertainment that was to everyone’s liking admittedly but it was different and not offensive. A man came in and played his piano accordion for an hour. Not something you expect in the Oncology Reception “Lounge”. Shame that the lovely elves in reception were so busy, they could have come out and done a nice little dance routine to accompany him. I did volunteer but was told to sit down in no uncertain terms! I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had got wind of our idea to become squatters in the corner and brought him in to scupper our plans!!

Whilst mooching around the corridors a short while later, something you have to do occasionally, I just happened to see the nurse who was co-ordinating the treatment room that day. Knowing that we have Juniors to think about, a fair old trip to and from the hospital, administering my Red Devils only takes about half an hour, my appointment wasn’t until 4.30 and I was (obviously!) already there … she squeezed me in early without putting anyone to too much trouble. By 2pm we were on our way home. How fantastic is that? I think that might cost me a couple of boxes of chocolates next week, well worth it.

So no squatting required, the sun was shining, lounge bar (minus the bar) entertainment and good company in the form of Mr Bad Fairy and the other “guests” , what more could you wish for on a day trip to Oncology?