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01/05/24 Weds. Phoned Dr Ramesh this morning and made an appointment for 3pm on the 6th. Took Haidee's completed dinghy cover over to the yard.
02/05/24 Thurs. Another day of cable running for the new inverter, it's been a problem as the cable is 70mm2 and the spaces are tight. My new Furuno sailing instruments are on their way from UK.
03/05/24 Fri. Took the laundry into town, then went to the agency to get them to apply for a visa extension for me - it expires on the 5th and I still have doctors appointments!
04/05/24 Sat. My visa has been renewed until the 1st June. The hospital called me and cancelled my appointment for Monday!
07/05/24 Tues. Finally finished installing the new inverter! The hospital called and arranged an appointment for tomorrow at 10.30. Arranged to borrow Richards car for the day.
08/05/24 Weds. Set off for KK at 0600 and about a quarter of the way there, a damn cockerel leapt out into my immediate path and we wiped it out with an almighty bang. Trouble was, it demolished the front bumper/valance! At the hospital, Dr Ramesh asked when I would like the surgery and when I answered 'now', he booked the operating room and I was whisked off into the freezing depths of the hospital. All done by 2pm and I got dressed again, parted with a huge lump of cash and went in search of a late breakfast! Back at the boat at 8pm.
09/05/24 Thurs. Took Richards car back full of apologies that he will have to have it repaired. My Furuno instruments arrived in the yard. My neck is hurting some today, so I can't really do very much.
11/05/24 Sat. A call from the hospital cancelling my appointment for Wednesday and rescheduling for Monday at 11am. Arranged rental car for tomorrow night.
12/05/24 Sun. Collected car at 8pm and filled up with fuel.
13/05/24 Mon. Started our drive down to KK at 0530 and made good time until we reached Tuaran, then the timing went out of the window because of heavy traffic and road works. Still managed time for some breakfast before rocking up at the hospital. The biopsy results are not yet back but Dr Ramesh removed the dressing and the five stitches.
1405/24 Tues. Another call from the hospital asking me to see Dr Ramesh as soon as possible - which doesn't bode well. Arranged a car for tonight and will again drive down to KK in the morning.
15/05/24 Weds. Set off at 0530, the usual bottleneck at Tuaran which took another 2 hours to negotiate. At the hospital at 1030 and the news isn't so good. The lab. pathologist thinks the cancer may have spread although it's in the early stages and Dr Ramesh said they needed to do more tests - a staining of the lump he cut out last week (not sure what that means), an ultrasound of my stomach and a CT scan of my head, neck and chest. OK, so we go down to the ground floor radiology dept and get told to wait a couple of hours as it has to be four hours since last meal. Drove to Segama for some sewing materials for Ana and returned at 1400 to the hospital. Had the ultrasound, then a painful attempt to put a cannula needle in my left wrist - I think the young nurse must have been a trainee! Finally got it in my right wrist and into the scanner room, injected the 'contrast' (dye) into my blood stream and the scanner did it's thing for 20 minutes or so. Now I need to wait for the results again. Drove back to Kudat in heavy rain, arriving at 2100.
19/05/24 Sun. My left wrist still hurts from the aborted needle insert and my neck is still very tender where the op was.
24/05/24 Fri. Following a further summons from the hospital. we drove down again this morning and met up with Dr Ramesh. The news wasn't as bad as I was anticipating! The lab confirmed that the lesion was a squamous cell carcinoma but the doc had removed it all and there were no 'stray' cells in the surrounding tissue. I just have to send him copies of the CT scan that I had done at KPJ hospital a couple of years back so the radiology dept can compare them with the latest ones. He want to keep a check on me over the next year.
29/05/24 Weds. Bad news from the hospital again! Dr Ramesh wants me to go for a PET Scan, and to see another doc in oncology because of a swollen saliva gland. There are a few problems with that, first being visas. I can perhaps get a 30 day extension (the oncologist cannot see me until the 16th June), but a visa would not help with the required scan as it can only be done in Kuching, which is in Sarawak, and my visa would only be for "Sabah and West Malaysia". So I am going to have to abandon the proposed tests and appointments until after I have been to another country.
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