Today I had my first set of appointments to determine how well I’m managing my fluids, and whether or not my electrolyte levels are staying stable. This is done by (yet another) blood test, and a urine test, both of which I can do locally, and have the results sent to the doctors at the hospital, rather than having to go down there in person.
The blood test at our local outpatients clinic turned out to be easy, though to be honest I wasn’t expecting any problems – after the number of blood tests I’ve had in hospital, it seems that my phobia over blood & needles has been reduced to the point where simply drawing a little blood no longer really affects me. So having dispatched that, I called into my GP’s surgery to drop off my urine sample. I guess I’ll hear soon enough if there are any problems with my test results.
While I was there I filled out the form to exempt me from prescription charges. Turns out that this benefit is available to anyone with a stoma or undergoing cancer treatment (amongst other reasons), so I qualify on two counts. I’m not sure that this is going to save me a huge amount of money, but then again, it all helps.
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