Chemotherapy works by killing fast growing cells in the body (cancer cells are fast growing). Normal cells then grow back after chemo whereas cancer cells don't. White blood cells are fast growing and they don't live long in the body so during chemo treatment chemo kills off the white cells. Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) is a white cell booster reducing the time that the body is left with a low white cell count and so…
Sal's chemo 2 went quite well today although the Hickman line played up a bit. It seems to work only when she is in a certain position. Coughing, moving arms, breathing heavily etc didn't really work but if she sat upright and wiggled her legs then it worked well! As has been suggested in some of the comments, the line did allow blood to be drawn today. It looks like we have to be thankful when it works and accepting…
Today marks the end of cycle 1 of Sal's chemotherapy. To say she had a bit of a rough ride is an understatement! I must say that it hasn't been easy for me either although clearly my experience cannot be compared in any way to hers. However, this blog is specifically from my perspective so it is worth mentioning. I have found that over the past 3 weeks I have become a kind of guardian of Sal's treatment. It is important…
When in hospital last week her mastectomy incision opened up a little. The nurses thought nothing of it and just put a dressing on it. Since then it has opened up further and become infected. I changed the dressing this morning but by this evening it was dischaging and had become rather smelly! Sal has her second chemo Thursday so I thought it better that we get it checked out immediately and so we took a trip to the…
I have got to the bottom of why and how there was a mix up over the day Sal was to have her Hickman Line fitted...
At Derriford they prefer to use PICC lines and they are the normal fitting for people that need a central line. However, because of Sal's particularly difficult veins she needed a Hickman line. When the appointment was made it was assumed she needed a PICC line and so was put onto the PICC line list for…
