PICCS, Pressure and Honey for tea!

Tuesday 7th April Well I am all set as they say! This Monday morning dawned bright and sunny and hubby and I set off to the hospital for the next step in my journey- the PICC line insertion. I must say I was feeling rather apprehensive. I think it was the thought of some foreign body being pushed up through my arm to sit near my heart that did it! Would they know when to stop pushing? Would I feel it going in every millimetre of the way? Would I faint? First thing we had to deal with was the parking! Maidstone hospital has concessionary parking for cancer patients which is an excellent thing. Why are hospital car parks generally so expensive though? We can have a week’s pass for £1.80 bargain! We found a space very easily, makes a change! We presented my appointment itinery to the car park attendant who duly made out the form for us to display in the window screen. When we went into to the oncology section to register we were redirected to a different part of the hospital. I have never been to Maidstone Hospital in my life before but I am getting to know my way around better by the day! This time we were directed to one of the wards a level down. I gave my name, incidentally it is pronounced Peter just like the boy’s name, and the receptionist asked my hubby to ‘come this way then Mr Smith! ‘ This is always happening when we are together somewhere where people don’t know us! And once again I had to explain I was Peta! The wait was not too long and in fact we sat and chatted to a lovely gentleman who had just had his line in and was waiting to be told he was OK to go. This passed the time. He was given the all clear and I was called through. I had met one of the nurses last week and it was reassuring to see a face that I recognised. I was introduced to another nurse from a nearby hospital who was there to have her competency checked in inserting PICC lines and I was asked if I would agree to consenting to let her attend to me. Apparently, before being classed as fully competent, a chemo nurse has to perform 10 ( I think that is what she said) supervised insertions. She said she had already done three successful ones that morning and so I agreed. They both talked me through the procedure whilst the anaesthetic cream was left on my arm to do it’s job and then I signed the consent form! No going back now! Hubby was sent off for a coffee and I was taken in to the treatment room. All went well really but I must admit I did feel a bit strange immediately afterwards as I had a ‘heartburn- like’ feeling under my sternum. The nurses asked me what was the matter and I said I felt a bit strange as if I could feel the end of the catheter. They reassured me not to worry and after I had had the x ray to check where it was, if it was in too far in they would pull it back. As they weren’t too concerned I set off to the x ray department to have my photo taken. I was seen quite promptly but getting my upper clothes off and getting into this season’s trendy yellow gown presented me some trouble as the large crepe bandage they had wound round my arm prevented me from bending it to more than a right angle and as the PICC was in my right arm and I am right handed I had to give up trying to tie the back up and come out and ask another woman sitting waiting to tie up my tassels for me! Getting back to the ward the catheter was perfectly placed apparently and so off we went home. The heartburn feeling is still there off and on but is probably just me having a panic! I was worried that in the night I might pull the thing out, but actually I felt slept really well. This morning it was back to the hospital to yet another part! The Treatment Centre where the chemo day unit is. This part is run under the Private Finance Initiative and again is bright, new and modern. I was weighed and had my temperature and BP taken. Apparently my blood pressure is sky high despite being taken 3 times to see if it was just the stress of trying to find a parking space this morning! Not surprising it’s up really after the stress of the past 2 months! I have never suffered from high BP before but they say they will repeat it next week and then see if they have to do anything about it! Just another thing to worry about! We were shown around the ward and also shown the pump that will be used to deliver the 5FU at home. Looks rather like a baby’s plastic formula bottle. Had a long chat about the side effects and protocols, what to expect and look out for etc! This time I was told that I might well lose some hair - so who knows?! Apparently because I didn’t have much morning sickness in either of my two pregnancies this might not be a problem for me. Seems the worse your morning sickness the worse the effects of the chemo can be as regards nausea etc. I do however I get dreadfully sea sick and hate heights so who knows? Will have to wait and see on that one too! We also discussed fatigue etc. Think all these discussions hit home with hubby. Up till now I think he was thinking that the chemo was going to be easier than the radiotherapy and not too arduous but later today he was reading the Macmillan info booklets on both chemo and fatigue that we were given and I think he now realises that I might be a bit more debilitated by the chemo than he thought. He was quite quiet for some time after but I just told him that we will have to take each day as it comes. I just hate to see him worry about me, which is ridiculous, as I know he does even though he tries hard to be upbeat most of the time and keep me humoured which is his way of coping and helping me to cope too. He has as much right to be as worried about it all as I am for god’s sake. The dressing was changed and that awful crepe bandage disposed of and the whole thing very securely fixated to my forearm which is reassuring! The new dressing is much lighter - a bit disconcerting though as it is see through! As there has been some bleeding from the insertion site it has soaked into part of the dressing and looks a bit gory! Not that it bothers me but may be a bit off putting to others who have to look at it and I can’t see me wearing long sleeved tops for the next 6 weeks especially if the weather gets warmer! So now it is sit back, apply the hot water bottle 3 times a day for the next 5-6 days, enjoy Easter and then it’s all go on the Tuesday after. We have been invited out to friends for dinner on Saturday night so am looking forward to that. My aunt sent me a magazine cutting this week relating to taking honey to ease chemotherapy symptoms. The article refers to a research study published in a journal called Medical Oncology and showed that taking a type of honey called Life Mel produced by bees in Israel which are fed a special diet of immune boosting herbs can boost the levels of infection fighting neutrophils ( white blood cells) if taken before, during and after chemo for breast cancer. No doubt Sean will be able to enlighten me about this study if he reads this. I know I haven’t got breast cancer but surely all chemo knocks out neutrophils so I think I might send off for some and give it a try as I quite like honey. I usually have Manuka honey on my toast in the morning as I like the taste. Apparently you have to take this Life Mel honey 10 g (one teaspoonful) morning and evening on an empty stomach. May as well give it a go!