That’s today’s hospital visit over.

Only two more this week and a new one next Monday, that I learned of today.

Today’s one is a bit of a non-event but they seem to think it’s important. It consists of two parts – a blood test and a progress interview. The two parts are independent of each other and this leads to glorious confusion.

On arrival, the victim has to register his or her arrival. This is done through a thick sheet of glass which means shouting one’s name several times to the amusement of the waiting room which always seems to be crowded. Take a numbered ticket and then try to find somewhere to sit. This inevitably means trying to get past a load of people to reach the one empty chair in the middle of the row.

The numbered ticket is for the blood test part. That’s fine and easy to understand. Once several tubes of blood have been extracted, the victim returns to the waiting room where inevitably their seat has been taken and they have to fight for a new one. At some stage a nurse will appear through another door and call out a name for the interview part. Again, this is fine, except there is a chance that the prospective interviewee hasn’t had the blood test yet and for reasons best known to the gods in the hospital, the blood test must come first.

Today I hit the sweet spot. I was duly called for the bloods bit when my number was called. While I was in there my name was called for the interview. This led to a panic as the interviewee had to be somewhere but they couldn’t find me. Eventually they though to check in the blood test room and there was a palpable sense of relief. In fairness the chance of being next in line for bloods coinciding with being next in line for the interview are slim but it happened today.

The blood part of the visit was fine except that I didn’t have my bag. This is a plastic bag with my name and details on that has been issued on the previous visit and is printed with a list of tests to be carried out. There was a bit of confusion when I told them that I hadn’t been given a bag on the last visit. Amyhows they issued me with one for today and one for my next trip. The interview bit was fine too. She took my blood pressure and then ploughed through a long list of immunotherapy side effects to see if I suffered from any of them. She was amazed that I didn’t as apparently that’s rare. Then she casually mentioned a CT scan next Monday. This was the first I had heard of it but I dutifully entered it into my phone calendar.

Up until this summer I never used my phone’s calendar. It remained empty and ignored. Since the cancer lark struck it has become quite full, with appointments stretching well into next year.

I have never been so popular.