It is 2pm on Sunday. I am sat in Ambicare all alone, apart from the two nurses. I am hooked up to fluids, always fluids. I am waiting for the results of methotrexate level blood test which will arrive at around 4pm. If they are good I can go home.
Last night we had some fun and games with the backpack pump ...
Rose and I had a nice meal at the Lebanese restaurant just off Goodge Street. We were having a "normal" wee-interrupted night, when Rose woke me up at about 3:40 to say the pump is beeping, which it was. It was not the alarm, just a beep. When I checked it was because the rechargeable battery that powers the pump was running out of juice. There should be a mains cable in the backpack, but there was not! So, I rang the Ambicare mobile, which is held by the nurses on T16, and explained the problem. After a bit of panic, they managed to find a mains cable, so we got dressed and went over to the main hospital. It is surprisingly hard to gain access to the hospital at this time of night, but we managed, and we got the mains cable. After proving it did indeed solve the problem we returned; luckily, at no time did the battery fail!
However, ten minutes after we thought the problem was solved, the beeping started again. It is now 4:15 and I had just fallen asleep. It turns out the mains cable has a loose wire, and we had to position it just so to get it to charge. With the drug timings at midnight and six, the continual weeing and the pump problems, neither of us got much sleep.
We also had trouble on the first night, that was more easily solved. There was a low level beep coming from the backpack, that Rose pointed out but I ignored it. Eventually, in the middle of the night the alarm sounded! The cause was the small nine volt battery in the pump that I guess powers it's memory had run out. Fortunately there was a spare in the backpack, and swapping it solved the problem.
Still, for all these woes, it is much better to have had the treatment in Ambicare than to be an inpatient. At least I could go out to eat with Rose a couple of times, and the hotel is much more comfortable ... and let us not forget the breakfast!
Fingers crossed for the results later on ...
... The results came back at 14:30, and now I am home! I have 9 days at home before going back for the second half of the cycle.
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