Low-tech delay in posting - serious lack of signal in sunny Sutton so laptop and mobile phone not connecting you can all imagine how much I am not enjoying that! First week of post-surgery chemo finally gone up after a new hickman line was fitted here on Tuesday - all very different style to UCH and we are slowly adapting to the Marsden way although we've had a few clandestine calls to UCH to check on dosage and administering of chemo as they have adapted the chemo protocol and it made us a bit nervous.
All very nerve-wracking for Rose too - but she met the coolest paediatric anaesthetist who let her be put to sleep while still wearing her hat and trainers on Tuesday in the most relaxed atmosphere it is possible to create in an operating theatre - we were very impressed as the scariest part of going to theatre for a child is the blokes from transport turning up, throwing you onto a trolley in a backless operating gown and wordlessly wheeling you off to the unknown!
So - first impressions. Totally different in every way - Marsden old and shabby compared to the gleaming glass and chrome of UCH and its lifts are about 2000 years old but it's - as we remembered - a far bigger set up for kids with 19 beds compared to 6 so bit more going on, great playroom, great schoolroom, lots of children, fantastic catering staff freshly making pretty much whatever the children want to eat when they want to eat it. Today Rose woke up at 11 and had them all running around getting her breakfast while they were starting everyone else's lunch - we are going to save a fortune! The wards open onto a garden and the weather is lovely so it's good not to be stuck in a tower block looking at the sky. Things we miss so far - we are all missing the nurses at UCH who really were exceptionally fab but probably we just need to get to know them here a bit better. Generally a bit more relaxed about stuff UCH took very seriously so adapting to that and reassuring ourselves that we are in a dedicated cancer hospital and that they know exactly what they are doing. All I will say is Jenny - if you saw the hickman hygiene here you would have a fit but we're on it!
Hopefully we will be starting to have a more Monday to Friday chemo regime now that Rose is post-op with a few days at home once in each cycle but having had a long list of all the reasons we would have to go to Kings that doesn't look overly likely! At least it will be nearer home!
Rose is busy throwing up while I type so bit disjointed will stop here sorry no new pix as forgot to bring camera with me but could have taken a lovely one of the children yesterday top to toe on Rose's bed playing on their Nintendos - you will have to make do with mental picture! Loads of love from all of us especially Rose who LOVES all the comments that have been posted on the blog xxx
