First-time house renovation

andrew-b

TomsMom if your around, has TD started chemo yet? Had a feeling it was this week?

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

TomsMom if your around, has TD started chemo yet? Had a feeling it was this week?

Hi Andy. It's radiotherapy this time. Consultant said it's no good doing more chemo as it didn't work before, it was the transplant that brought about his few months' remission. He is supposed to be having a dry run today, verifying that the computer gets it right from the scans etc. He is waiting for transport at the moment. His appointment is 11.30am, his transport should have arrived at 9.30 as hospital is 2 hours away. No idea now when he will be picked up. We have had a bit of snow but only a fluttering although it is cold. The driver lives about 20 mins away and ambulance control and the hospital are supposed to be chasing him.

The hospital has 3 machines which seem to be booked solid all the time so not sure what happens if a patient turns up late.

He is supposed to be starting the actual treatment on Thursday, another session Friday and he has to travel daily this week but as from next Monday he has a bed on the hotel ward Mon-Fri.

The start of treatment has been delayed a few days (good old NHS but I suppose they are busy and there is a lot of preparation with the scans, making a mask/shield, measuring for the machine, more scans, verification, dry run, etc) so not sure now if it will all be over by Xmas Eve as originally told.

Just hope he gets there today and the treatment gets started this week as the one chest lump is now starting to affect his breathing and although he doesn't say a lot I think he is getting quite concerned.

Thanks so much for thinking of him.

By the way, we've got one coat of primer/undercoat on the pillar top he made so it's functioning. He said he will use a roller for the top coat as that should maybe give it the slightly textured finish you get with chipboard and will sort of look like the window board. You know how I am allergic to brush marks in paint .

P.S. Hospital has just rung. Appointment cancelled for today due to some drivers not being able to get there. Still don't know what's happened to OH's driver as the weather here isn't that bad. Rearranged for Thursday when he will have his verification and dry run followed by first session of radiotherapy. Fingers crossed the weather doesn't get any worse later in the week.

andrew-b

Ahh yes you did say it was radiotherapy dunno why i thought chemo TBH. Hmmm they could have told you sooner rather than muck him around like that...grr so frustrating for you. Though i suppose it could be worse weather at the other end or en-route. Rather than wait until Thursday could you get him there tomorrow (assuming they can find him a bed for the night) to avoid missing appointments again on Thursday if there are delays or weather worsens etc. At least if he was there they could help make his breathing more comfortable.

Either way keep the heating turned up and keep a close eye on him especially if his showing signs of breathing probs ... you really don't need him getting complications with pneumonia to put his treatment in jeopardy!

Still everything crossed that the weather improves and this his back in time for Christmas..remind him his got that flippin' pillar top to paint on boxing day!

ukmaggie45

Build halted at the mo as all hard core and sand is frozen solid and can't be obtained.

Now the floor has been removed we need hard core and sand for it to be remade.

OH went to house this afternoon, builder phoned him to warn that going through front door would be a big step down! Fortunately he went into the house through the side door into the utility room.


Bottom of stairs when floor gone by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Back garden from living room bifold by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Archway in living room from back garden by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

I've caught OH's rotten cold, so not sure if I can make it to meeting our builder tomorrow (or later today depending on how you look at these things!)

Canucklehead

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Build halted at the mo as all hard core and sand is frozen solid and can't be obtained.

Now the floor has been removed we need hard core and sand for it to be remade.

OH went to house this afternoon, builder phoned him to warn that going through front door would be a big step down! Fortunately he went into the house through the side door into the utility room.


Bottom of stairs when floor gone by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Back garden from living room bifold by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Archway in living room from back garden by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

I've caught OH's rotten cold, so not sure if I can make it to meeting our builder tomorrow (or later today depending on how you look at these things!)

Good morning: fantastic photos of your rebuild...gives folks an excellent idea of how to run a renovation. Hope the thaw comes soon so we can see the progression and the finished product.

Canucklehead

latecomer

@TM - hope you got TDs appointment sorted yesterday.
@maggie - making great progress - shame about the materials, hopefully wont slow things down too much. Look on the bright side it could be like this:

TomsMom

andrew-b wrote: »

Rather than wait until Thursday could you get him there tomorrow (assuming they can find him a bed for the night) to avoid missing appointments again on Thursday if there are delays or weather worsens etc. At least if he was there they could help make his breathing more comfortable.

Either way keep the heating turned up and keep a close eye on him especially if his showing signs of breathing probs ... you really don't need him getting complications with pneumonia to put his treatment in jeopardy!

Still everything crossed that the weather improves and this his back in time for Christmas..remind him his got that flippin' pillar top to paint on boxing day!

Thanks Andy. Unfortunately it would have been no good going on Wednesday as there were no beds at all. There was no explanation as to why his transport didn't turn up on Tuesday but he did get there OK yesterday and everything went ahead as planned.

Not a pleasant experience to have the verification/dry run and session of radiotherapy following each other, very uncomfortable as it's a flat hard table rather than a bed, you are held rigidly in one position and for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia then the face mask is not at all nice - holes for mouth and nose but not for eyes and it's clamped to the table to stop you moving. He found swallowing difficult. Goodness knows what would happen if the patient needed to sneeze, cough, scratch an itch! All this took about half an hour or so but future sessions of radiotherapy alone will be about 15 mins.

He has a bed from Monday onwards and his treatment will now last until New Year's Eve thanks to their original delay in getting his "urgent" radiotherapy started. I'm still at a loss as to how an urgent referral to a second consultant can take a month in these cases. He will be home at weekends and will have 4 days off over Christmas.

We're keeping warm, heating is on all day and he's leaving it on low during the coldest nights. We don't have the snow everyone else is getting as we're sheltered by the mountains so we're very luck here at home. There's a light sprinkling of snow falling at the moment so we'll keep fingers crossed that we don't get too much over the weekend and he can get back to the hospital on Monday. We're north west Wales and the hospital is on the north Wales coast not far from Rhyl which was supposed to have more snow than us.

Maggie Fabulous pics as usual, I'm loving following your reno's. Shame about the weather and hope it doesn't hold things up for too long. We were so lucky, we did have snow when the builders came back after their Christmas break but once it stopped snowing they donned two coats, hats, scarves, etc. and were up on the roof fitting the slates.

Latecomer Very pretty! Just wait until little LC is old enough to go out and want to build a snowman :rotfl: , you'll have so much fun!

andrew-b

Glad TD got there ok yesterday..i had wondered.

We got hit by around 2-3inches of snow (few miles down the road wasnt so bad apparently) when woke up yesterday morning...by the end of the day nearer 6inches. Fortunately was OHs day off work so didn't lose pay. Today though after checking out news and weather locally and after much deliberation (its going to affect average earnings for maternity pay) we decided getting her into work wasn't worth the risk of her slipping over so phoned in to say wasn't going explaining why and they seemed happy with that. An hour later get a phonecall from someone else who said it was unacceptable being local and she had to try to get to work because others were getting in from further away..didn't give OH a chance to say anything and left her in tears. I was furious at them trying to bully her into going into work so phoned back someone further up the management chain who was a bit more understanding of having extenuating circumstances...hopefully thats the end of it now. Would have been a whole lot easier to have lied and said she was ill!

TomsMom

You and Mrs Andy made the right decision. It's not worth the risk. Who knows what would have happened if she had slipped - how would the powers that be at work feel if that had happened? Walking in this weather makes you tense up anyway and it's all too easy to slip. Shame on the person who reduced you to tears. Don't get upset Mrs Andy, what you need is a big hug and a cup of hot chocolate.

andrew-b

There's quite a few different stories from pregnant women circulating on pregnancy forums being treated similar and being made to feel guilty because they are sat at home. Legally pregnant women don't have any works rights beyond anyone else in this situation which is all wrong. She'd have gone if she wasn't pregnant and would have dug out the car (as she did back in January) but the police are saying "dont travel unless absolutely necessary".

A few cars have been down our road (not gritted/never is) but all it seems to have done is made it worse by compacting it so making it icier. Just saw someone leaving their car at home and being collected by someone in 4x4..wheels spun a bit before it got enough grip. Mother-in-law made it to work but says off the main roads and in car parks etc it's treacherous.

Still it looks pretty! The dog seems to like it and keep bounding around in the back garden and coming in with snow all over his snout where his been eating it!