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Hi Bloggers

Today, as far as I am concerned mentally, was the the real start of my treatment.

It began at St Mary's Hospital where i pitched up at the Nuclear Medicine department where I was to undergo a kidney function test, as mentioned in earlier posts.

As you get rid of Chemo by peeing it out it follows that you don't want to put more into your body than it can cope with and process; hence the test.

I was injected with Technetium 99m an isotope of Molybdenum 99.

http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/tc-99m.asp

It has a half life of around 6 hours which means it decays to become half as strong as it was every 6 hours. So as you can see its pretty low on the radiation stakes.

The fact that it is a metastable means that it does not transmute or become something else upon its decay, (like uranium into plutonium for example).

Other than that it was quite boring as I was free to do what I wanted as long as I turned up for the follow on blood samples at the two and four hour mark, the timing being reasonably critical to accurately measure the reduction of the isotope in my body.

I was directed to the Macmillan day centre where i could sit quietly whilst I changed in to Homer Simpson. This i did; It's upstairs in St Mary's near to the Oncology wards, and it was lovey and quiet and perfect.

They offered me a cup of tea but i had to decline as the caffeine would affect the test results.



However my time sat in the centre did give me a chance to test the MP5 Player. It was outstanding and for £40 at novatech you couldn't go wrong.

Maria, as mentioned in an earlier post, met up with her sister and auntie in Soton and had a girlie day out. A good time was had by all apparently - nice one!



I must at this point mention my chauffeur for the day Kevin - my very good friend of long standing and I can't thank him enough.


My time at the hospital ended just after a quarter to three when Kev drove me to the Hong Kong Tea Bar for a quick fix of my favourite food and the back to Castle Tinkler for a well earned nap.


I don't know if its just me but I felt a lot more sensitive to what was going on inside my body today and my lungs seem bruised and achy again through coughing. Mind you a nap seems to ease things.

Next stop in the treatment phase: Chemo on Thursday.

Bring it on!