I was required to come into the Clinic for a pre admission Blood test early on 24th March followed by insertion of a Hickman line later that morning in the Vascular Clinic. This was not something I was looking forward to as two years ago the procedure had not gone well and had left me very sore and bruised, therefore this time I accepted sedation which the first time I had shunned, however this time it was plain sailing and was done very quickly and was sent home ready for admission on the next day. A Hickman line is inserted into a large vein through your chest and has two Lumens (nozzles) this allows taking of blood samples and input of tranfusions/drips etc without the need of a Canula every time these are needed. On the night of 25th March I was admitted and given my room which was very small and a bit grim but this is used at first until a better room is vacant. The rooms are all pressurised using forced ventilation to prevent outside contaminents from entering as most patients are imuno comprimised due to the treatments. After initial tests and bloods taken I was hoping for a good sleep, however at 1am I was woken and given a four hour infusion of fluids to help balance my system, it is very difficult to sleep when rigged up to an electric pump machine and so hardly slept at all. Thursday morning brought more tests, interspersed by breakfast and lunch. Hospital meals are ok and there is usually a fair choice and you can also have snacks and drinks on request. Late morning I started my first Chemo drip (Fludarabine) this is the start of a weeks treatment to basically bring you back to ground zero and get rid of any lingering cancer cells. This is the easier of the two drugs to be used (more of that later). The room although small has a decent bathroom and tv and wi fi connections and storage for a small amount of clothes and personal possessions (a bit like a junior officers room on a ship if you watch documentaries like that). After the drip it was resting time and then supper (usually served about five ish). Finally it was time for bed after an exhausting start but knowing that Obs are taken every four hours day and night and bloods are taken at five in the morning you never get a long sleep!
Friday was a typical day leading towards Zero day (transplant), it was nice to see some staff from two years ago and some remembered me! The day runs 7.30 rise, shower and dress (important not to just stay in sleeping attire, dont get lazy). Bed gets changed about 8.30 and you are weighed and asked about any problems. Breakfast just after (again a good choice of food) then a Nurse to attend to sort out the daily prescriptions, you can choose to self administer where you keep records and dispense to yourself fom the stock given or let the staff do everything, I had chosen the former and hence the sorting out and timescales. Fludarabine was given again and the usual monitoring during the day, lunch usually around 1pm and Docs visits etc during the afternoon. Another treatment I have to have is blood thinners due to previous clotting the first time around and this is given by injection into the fatty part of the abdomen you can do this yourself or have the nurse do it, having done this before I swap it around for variety, its not painful but does leave a lot of bruising over time. So first two days over and no real problems to report.
To be continued.
