My drops of tears I'll turn to sparks of fire

I recently discovered the hospital where all of my treatment comes from, and most of it has been delivered, has been the subject of a short documentary series.  Velindre: Hospital of Hope is a 4 part documentary looking at the work that they do. Quite a number of the staff who appear on there are ones that have treated me.  Chris the chemo nurse was one who helped me recover when I had my first allergic reaction at Nevill Hall.  Amy in chemo hasn't directly been my nurse, but she's been around and checked my IV line while I've been in.  Frederick who does the bone scan in Episode 4 is the guy who administers my MUGA scans, the room where the bloods are taken, is where my bloods are taken. My name has been called out on the waiting room tannoys in the same way they show. I'll be laying under one of those radiotherapy machines in a couple of weeks time. The series really shows what a fantastic cancer centre this is, and I think people may be able to better understan

Today I had my final chemotherapy treatment, but it nearly didn't happen.  Clinic was yesterday, with Tej, and I reported that my bone aches had been worse but that I'd taken cocodamol and that helped control it.    Tej reminded me that although this is my last chemotherapy, it doesn't end once the treatment has been delivered.  The drugs will be in my system for another 3-4 weeks, and if I have any symptoms or questions, I need to call the chemo page line.   She checked that the medical genetics referral had happened, and that my radiotherapy was all in hand.     She said she would also book my next MUGA (heart) scan for June, as this is done every 4 months during herceptin, and refer me back to Theresa Howe to discuss my next stage of hormonal treatment, as they don't want to put me back on Tamoxifen.   She set my expectations that I may have to have injections of Zoladex to stop my ovaries making oestrogen until my ovaries can be removed.  I'm fine with

Today's excitement was popping back to Velindre to be measured up for my radiotherapy treatment.   It was very quick.   I lay on the CT scanner bed with my arms above my head, in arm holders.  It was very comfortable.   I had to shuffle my hips to the right a bit, and the radiographers were then happy.  They could spot all 3 of my previous tattoos - on my torso, on the right, left and between my breasts - even though they're so tiny that I've never spotted them!  They lined up the one on the right side, but needed to realign the other two so with a tweak of the tip of an inked needle, I now have 2 more tattoos.  And pen marks, so once I've washed those off, i'll be able to see how big they are. They also attached some ball bearings and special tape to me, to show up on the scan, and then the CT scanner itself did its work.   The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes.   They now have the pictures they need to be able to line me up in the same position each time.