Anniversaries

Back to the usual 10:00 treatment slot today.

I left the house at 09:15, allowing the usual 45 minutes. It was raining fairly heavily and half way there it was clear that the roads were busier than usual. I considered turning off to use one of the back roads through the villages. But the traffic kept moving so I stayed on the main road.

The dual carriageway into the middle of Milton Keynes was also very busy which was annoying because once on it there’s no getting off until the first junction, which is the one I needed anyway. But it moved along slowly and in the end I was still at the treatment centre in good time. Apparently quite a few people had been late for their appointments and the only obvious cause was the rain.

I’d overdone the water a bit again today and there was a short wait so it was a bit of a challenge to hold on until the end of the treatment.

While I was lying on the treatment table I decided to try out some relaxation breathing. Nothing too complicated, jusy breath in to a count of three, hold for a count of three and exhale slowly to a count of three. It helped pass the time. I also tried to count the time the machine took to do its single rotation during the treatment cycle. As far as I could tell it was around 60 seconds. Interestingly, the rotation isn’t completely smooth. The machine starts to rotate and probably goes through about a sixth of its cycle before there is a short pause before it starts again and then completes without interruption. I’ve no idea why and it seems too trivial to ask the radiographers about so, for the time being, it will remain one of the mysteries of the experience.

In the afternoon I went to a business exhibition to meet one of my clients. I first attended this event – which had a different name then – in 1989 so this was a 30th anniversary of sorts. Back then it was my first professional business exhibition and it was all new. What struck me this time was how much the industry has changed – not just the emergence of “technology” but many of the major manufacturers from 1989 are long gone. However, both of the people I was meeting at my client had been there all those years ago although we didn’t meet until a few years later (they have been a client for over 20 years) and I know that at least two of the journalist covering the event were there in the 1980s too.

The event is held every three years and at the last one I had just found out about my illness. At the time, having had an initial diagnosis but no decisions on prognosis or treatment, I wasn’t entirely sure how the future would turn out.

Day Seven

Tiredness: 0/10

Side Effects: I’m not sure but there might be some early signs of bowel problems. I needed to go a second time this morning, which is unusual for me. Certainly everything seems “looser”.