I slept better then normal, and went to breakfast at 7:30. I even managed a better attempt at self-injecting the fragmin, and set off to the Ambicare bay at about 9:00.
The place was deserted! Obviously haematology/oncology daycare is one of the few departments that operate outpatients at a weekend. Whilst I was getting my chemotherapy, Rose arrived to spend the day, and the night with me (she is currently sat on the other bed in the hotel room).
We spent the first part of the morning doing the Telegraph crossword, but it is too easy (compared to the Times). I offered the rest of the paper to the other patients, and one of them had a Guardian in return (all these are national newspapers for my non-English readers). Furthermore, the Guardian crossword was an Araucaria - the doyen of crossword compilers (he of Christmas crossword in my profile pic); it was a good swap.
We decided (after much discussion) to have a fish lunch, and chose a restaurant that is part of the "Tastecard" scheme, which gives 2 for 1 or better still 50% off at thousands of restaurants. I got discounted membership through a perks scheme at the UK office of my work, and thought it might be useful for this stage of treatment.
We took a cab to Fishworks in Swallow Street, and it was a pretty good meal. We shared fried squid to start, then I had whole sea bass with Rosemary, and Rose had whole bream with garlic en papillote. Dessert was chocolate fondant for Rose and creme brûlée for me. The fish was excellent, well cooked and very tasty. The deserts were a bit disappointing. And the food was 50% off, so very reasonable. After lunch, we walked to Eros to take some iconic pictures, but failed abysmally; I will post them when I get them.
We walked up Shaftsbury Avenue thinking it would be a straight run for the taxi home, but oddly there was almost no traffic of any kind in the street. So we kept walking, past Leicester Square, till eventually a taxi arrived coming south, and he took us home. The police had cordoned off the entrance at Piccadilly Circus due to some march taking place.
Medically, I am getting an almost permanent headache, for which I need to keep taking paracetamol. I have told my doctor, and she says we will monitor it, and take action if it gets worse. Aside from this, this stage of the treatment is like an enforced holiday in London, where you get poisoned every morning, and then the day is yours, except you are so weak that you can't do very much!
For dinner I went round the corner for a Chinese take-away. It was OK, and I will probably go again.
Now we can settle down to look at the Araucaria. What a day we had!
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