| Old News from Sue Friday 23rd June 2006 |
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Good news today, parking only cost 20p as we were in the oncology unit, and they get concessions – nice to see Devon does it right!
Dave has to have his mask made for the radiotherapy treatment. Firstly Dave had to strip off his sweatshirt and t’shirt as they did not want to stain the clothing with the rubber stuff they made the mould out of – what are they like with ladies?
Dave was concerned that he may have had to shave again, or have his hair cut even shorter but this was got round by wearing a swimming hat (which was far too small for his big bonce) and large, but still too tight, tubigrip over his chin to cover up the beard bristles.
Then he had E45 cream smeared over the few places where hair was still apparent. Then this orangey/pinky gunk was spread all over his face, starting with the eyes! It is actually the same stuff that dentists used to make imprints of teeth for braces etc. and set really quickly, then plaster of paris put over that which again set quickly.
The whole process took just under 15 minutes, but we had to wait for an hour and a half, so we found RD&E’s restaurant and had an 8 piece breakfast – well it was around 10.30 by then so just right for elevenses!
We finished "breakfast" and then returned to the waiting room to get the finished mask finalised. It came back, totally clear Perspex and the final fitting only took another quarter of an hour, so we then had the rest of the day to work etc. We are expecting visitors this weekend, so I had to try and tidy up a bit, don't think the visitors realised, but I did try.
Overall Dave is still getting tired easily, but he is still on a concoction of drugs including steroid tablets, which interfere with his sleep patterns, and lets him rest for only a few hours overnight, if he sleeps for 5 hours he feels he has a good night.
Unfortunately Dave had some very bad news during the week.
One of his friends died of a heart attack on Wednesday. This was Jim Bagnall, who Dave met at his first job after leaving school, and has known since he was 15 years old, this was Dave’s oldest friend, and it has affected his outlook a bit. I will try to locate a photo of the two of them for this website, but this may prove difficult as Jim seldom visited although we did try to keep in contact, when we went to Cornwall we always looked him up.
We will try to get to his funeral, but we have a holiday planned for the end of next week, and Dave has a CT scan booked for Tuesday, and plans to visit the Midlands on Wednesday, so may not be able to attend, however, if we can we will go
On the same day we had some good fortune too. As Dave is undergoing treatment we have been unable to go to the shows, last weekend we missed the Newark show.
However the traders/exhibitors and visitors held a ‘whip-round’ for Dave and sent that to us. This is truly appreciated and we are very grateful to everyone concerned with this.
I have sent out a thank-you to the Newark promoters to put on their website and also the Cobra replica club website, and Snake Torque, Total Kit Car Magazine, Kit Car Magazine and Which Kit.
If I have forgotten anybody I do apologise, but please let it be known that we are appreciative and THANK YOU ALL, especially Rhiannon (Premier Wiring) and Mary (MM Supplies) who, we believe, instigated this.