Exams on August 21
Since I live 50 km from Cochin, Rachida usually arranges for me not to have any appointments before 10:00 a.m. But in August, she takes two weeks off, and poof! I'm scheduled for 9:15 a.m. That means getting up at 7:00 a.m. at the latest. I don't know about you, but “for me, that's way too early.”
Hassan and JP are also on vacation, and that's where things get complicated. After wasting fifteen minutes listening to the soothing messages of a “cooperative” but not very efficient taxi company, I decide to take a train to Austerlitz, then bus line 91 to Port-Royal, limiting my lateness to half an hour.
HDJ once again
Katia welcomes me with a:
— You don't have your nice glasses on today?
She's the one who drives me during HDJ most of the time. I like her, she's calm, attentive, and always pleasant. As usual, she fits me with a catheter and sends me for a CT scan and MRI. But since it's August, the Achard scanner is out for maintenance, so I go to the Ollier building.
Back to Achard for an MRI. Compared to usual, there is hardly anyone there. It should be quick, except that in the examination rooms, it's the same thing: “August mode.” What's more, only one of the two rooms is in use; the other is... “Out”. Waiting...
Back to Cornil Brissaud for lunch. Zeus happens to walk by with someone from the clinical research team (who basically monitors the protocol and bombs me with questionnaires to fill out every time I show up) Zeus is very happy with the results he has just received: everything is stable, the organs are holding up well, the treatment continues to be effective, just a touch of cholesterol, otherwise EVERYTHING IS FINE!
We're also going to stop the morning injection. In one way, that's good, it's one less medication. On the other hand, I think about my Angels, I won't see them anymore. Well, except for the blood tests before my appointments at Cochin, which I understand will also be less frequent. I gonna miss them.
I'm happy because for the first time with Zeus, we had a very frank, pleasant, and reassuring discussion. He deserves to be better known. Katia does a quick ECG so I can get back on the road as soon as possible.
Before leaving, I stop at the pharmacy, located in the hospital, where I pick up the pills of chemo. As long as I wasn't feeling well, the team members did this for me and brought them to me before I left. Now, and this is a good sign, it's up to me and I do it myself. It's surprising the first time: you walk into a small room, sit down at a counter, and there's a pharmacist on the other side. You hand her your prescription, return the previous bottle, and pick up what you need until your next visit. It's always pretty quick, and the pharmacy staff, who are often in a good mood, chat with you about this and that. I like it.
M the Unfindable
On my way out, I'm decided to go see M. I get in the “Visitors” elevator at Achard, oh no... Damn! The 6th floor button isn't working, typical! But Fredd is determined: he presses 7 and will go down one floor by stairs, that's all. No problem! Owelno Datznotall, as the K sisters would say. M's corridor's doors are completely blocked by piles of tape and other signs. I turn around and... same on the other side! Construction work!
That's when I realize that I'm all alone, nicht gut! I walk down to the fifth floor, where they tell me that the department has moved and send me to the third floor. There, the receptionist kindly searches for M, but I realize that I only know his last name, and they can't find him! I describe him, his age and everything, but they can't find him! I give them roughly the period of my hospitalization and specify that he had a much longer stay than me, but they still can't find him. I decide to go to the Alliot building where some of Achard's patients are on the second floor. There I learn that none of them are there anymore: they were transferred because the service closed two days ago. I leave, inevitably disappointed. And I can't believe it: M was known throughout the hospital at the end of March, and four months later, there's no trace of him! Have I fallen into a parallel universe or what?
If everything went well, M is at a musician's house, one of his friends' sons, sunbathing in a garden in the countryside. If not...
