The day finally dawned when I was to have my first chemo!!!! Oh the excitement of it!
Emmet, our youngest, was really playing up this morning and leading up to saying he didn't want to go to school. We managed to jolly him out of it - which was great because it meant that Brendan could stay at my appointment with me.
Half way to the hospital we got a call from the school saying Emmet needed his asthma inhallers and didn't seem to have them with him..... so Brendan dropped me off and headed home to pick them up and take them into the school.
As we live about half an hour away from the hospital I was exepecting that it would all be over by the time he made it back... I was ok with this but I had wanted him to see the process so that he could be as relaxed about it all as I am.
Oh how wrong I was....!
There I was, with my newly fitted port, slightly anxious about the needle as the wound site was still so sore but looking forward to getting started. I was called quickly and shown to an empty room. It was all looking good so far.
The plaster over the wound was removed and I must say I was impressed with the stitching that was done – it is immaculate! The nurse – Vicki - had to push and prod a bit to find the port as I am still very swollen and very bruised. It hurt... quite a lot....but I was sure it would be worth it. She inserted the 1” needle but was slightly concerned when she didn’t feel the back plate of the port. When she tried to draw blood she got nothing out..... so she tried again but this time used 1 ¼ “ needle. That didn’t work either. Just to make sure it wasn’t her technique she called another nurse who also tried twice without success. The third nurse, one with lots and lots of port experience tried next. After two attempts they decided to call someone else in from the Nuffield Hospital – again someone with lots of experience... he tried twice and by now I was in significant pain with all the pushing and shoving on the port and the surrounding scar and tissue.
At this point my husband reappeared thinking he would just be collecting me – little did he know!
They decided to give me a half hour break – along with some ‘magic cream’ on top of the wound to help numb it before the next attempt. The brought in another expert from the Nuffield who tried once, or was it twice – I can’t remember - but either way - the magic cream didn't work!!!! She concluded that she would not be happy attempting FEC with it because she was not convinced that she was in the right place. At this point they called the doctor who had fitted it – and he said he could see the surrounding tissue start swelling up when he was doing the op and suggested that they leave it for at least a week before trying again....
Well.... after all the delays and all the effort to get the port this was not the best news. The nurse, Vicki, was almost more disappointed than I was and asked if we could try to find a vein to use just this once to give the port site a chance to heal before having another go in 3 weeks time.
Obviously I agreed – anything to get started.... so she tried three veins without success. I then spent 5 minutes or so with my arm in hot water – as hot as I could stand – to encourage my veins to come out to play... another nurse tried another two times without success. Yet another nurse came to have a go and Eureka!!!! She found a vein!!!!
After this the treatment went ahead as expected – first the F then the C then the E. I had a funny taste in my mouth on the E rather than the C – I can’t describe what it was like other than that it reminded me of plants so the best I can say is that it tasted green! The final sickness drug they give you can cause a sensation called ‘hedgehog bum’ i.e. it feels prickly down below.... well... yes I experienced that too – fear not it only lasts a minute and isn’t really painful – just very odd!
In all it took about one hour to push the drugs through – so on a normal day - easy peasy lemon squeezy!
I’m now home with my 3 types of anti sickness tablets. I’ve got my thermometer ready – just in case I feel ill and I’ve asked Brendan to pick up some senacot (?) to deal with the anticipated constipation (caused by the anti sickness medication).
So I’m all set.... I’ll let you know how things progress.
