Didn't expect it....

Sometime ago, we had a letter saying that Sue's next overnight stay (for drip-fed chemo) would be on December 27th; then a little later we had an identical letter with a date of January 3rd. We therefore assumed that the later date replaced the earlier, although (true) it did not actually say so.......silly us.

Last night the hospital rang to say that they were expecting Sue today (27th), and that there was a bed free, so did she want to come down then and there? We were surprised/confused, and said so - so the nurse said that perhaps it would be better to wait until this morning, and she would try and look into it.

However, when we rang again this morning, we were told that she was still expected, and the bed was still free - so if she came down the doctors could sort out what was going on. In the past we have had to wait until 10:30 before going in, then wait in the dayroom for a while - so to go straight in, and straight to bed, was actually quite good!

Naturally there was a wait before one of the doctors came round, and before blood tests were done; but during the afternoon the first (expected) bag of saline was fixed up, so (based on previous experience) we expected chemo to follow "in due course". Unfortunately not!

The blood tests apparently revealed "an infection" (what or where not stated); so the saline was stopped, and also the 24/7 pumped chemo that was supposed to run until refill day on Friday 29th. Instead, they will treat the infection - a clue to which may lie in the fact that this evening she had to go for a chest x-ray again.

It therefore seems that this early visit is a blessing, if infection can be caught and treated earlier than we had expected to be there again; but it also seems that Sue will be in hospital for at least 2-3 days rather than just overnight!

A strange providence, but at least we had a quiet family Christmas with catering by two lovely daughters!