Up at 5.30 ekkk we had set the alarm to late and so it was up and shower walk the dog and get out just to rush into miles and miles of jammed motorways.

It was from one queue to another so frustrating.

But we arrived at the Royal Marsden at 8.30am. I dashed up in the lift to get booked in at Oak Ward while Ray went and got hot chocolate and something to eat.

Bloods were soon done so I sat in the waiting room waiting for the Doctor.

He came along and he was full of a cold (man flu, he is Spanish and the nurses had convinced him he had man flu )

He turned the computer on and I asked had they got results for me. He thought I meant the bloods that I had just given I of course was waiting for the scan results.

He hadn’t checked and really didn’t know what they were. Gee the most important info needed and it is nothing to him.

He finally gave me the result, after he had made a phone call, that it was Stable. I was disappointed, he couldn’t understand that but I said I’m after a complete response again.

The marker tumour measures 19mm 3/4″ of an inch it hasn’t far to shrink so that is what I’m striving for.

After asking if he would like to sit in my surgery now and talk about his cold making him laugh, we were out and sitting back and waiting for the bloods to be down.

At 12.30pm he came and whispered to me I have just signed your drug off. Oh dear they were so slow and I knew then that it was going to be a late day.

I wish we lived nearer or there were shops around as sitting there all day is the most tiring thing we do. Ray sleeps I people watch and then wake up and Im so scared Im snoring.

I strike up conversations with other patients a lovely man was reading my booklet and then realised it was my photo staring back at him.

We went to the canteen and had another drink bought some sweets all just to drag the day out.

At 2.45 we were at last asked to go to ward.

We were told they are trying to get a new machine in the Pathology to speed up the process of making the drug up and getting it to the patient earlier. It can’t come soon enough.

They have a 5 year plan https://shared-d7-royalmarsden-public.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files_trust/s3fs-public/The%20Royal%20Marsden%20Five-Year-Strategic-Plan_040518.pdf

More than 360,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year, and it is now estimated that one in two people will develop cancer at some
point in their lives.

I can tell these figures are going up as the hospital was so crowded yesterday

So with my Number 9th infusion we travelled off home and we thought we would be in the rush hour traffic but we were able to dive straight through and was home at 6.15pm so not so bad after all. Today we are exhausted even though we didnt do anything yesterday We have to pack for our adventure to Manchester tomorrow the the FAAM

2018 will see the first conference organised by the Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management (FAAM), which will see a combination of plenary sessions, technical sessions and workshops. The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners and regulators, and other experts to discuss the latest developments in asbestos assessment and management.

When: November 8–9, 2018
Where: Manchester, Manchester

There is building work going on and a Modernising infrastructure – Modernise estate and facilities through the opening of the Maggie’s Centre
in 2019 and the Clinical Care and Research Centre in 2021 at Sutton where it will  Maximise opportunities for translational research through the London Cancer Hub
proposal, working with local partners to attract investment in the Sutton estate
They will Increase surgical capacity, and invest in systemic therapy facilities and continue to replace radiotherapy machines to provide
state-of-the-art technology for patients.
The plans are to Invest in diagnostics and leading-edge imaging equipment and genomic sequencing
They will Invest in the Trust’s capital programme, supported by external financing and surplus delivered in excess of plan
Deliver the Information and IT Strategy, including upgrades to the network and Wi-Fi, new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and data
warehouse, and replacement of the Electronic Patient Record and Clinical Research System

So much is planned it is hard to realise this is a Cancer Hospital that relies on its Charity.

https://www.royalmarsden.org/

With your help we can ensure our nurses, doctors and research teams can provide the very best care and develop life-saving treatments which are used here in the UK and around the world.

From funding state-of-the-art equipment and groundbreaking research, to creating the best patient environments, we never stop looking for ways to improve the lives of people affected by cancer.

Money raised by our supporters means The Royal Marsden can continue to provide the best possible treatment and care for patients.

Here’s where we spent that money in 2017-2018.

Life-saving research – £2.7m

Pioneering research is absolutely critical to extending, improving and saving the lives of more people diagnosed with cancer. That’s why we’re dedicated to helping The Royal Marsden run life-saving clinical trials that give patients at the hospital, across the UK and around the world access to the latest breakthrough drugs.

Through the five year, £15 million grant to support translational research at The Royal Marsden, we have funded work in the West Wing Clinical Research Centre, where patients on clinical trials are treated in a custom-built setting with dedicated research staff.

We also continued to fund specialist staff working in the Biobank at the National Institute for Health Research Centre for Molecular Pathology, a facility that is invaluable to research and the future of personalised treatment.