Vein hunt

It’s a very dark wet early morning. Our car has gone for its service. It was collected at 7am so I was up very early. We haven’t been left a car so I am essentially housebound for the day. The car will not be back until after 6pm. We have brought my wheelchair & blue badge into the house just in case there is some emergency but hopefully that won’t happen.

Yesterday’s trip to the hospital turned out to be more traumatic than expected. This time it was for that all important CT scan which will hopefully tell them whether the tumour has shrunk sufficiently for an op as we suspect & whether it is spread to any other organs.

While I was in the room the Fox went off to deliver a Christmas card to Oncology. He was soon back & was surprised I wasn’t back waiting for him. The scan usually only takes ten minutes. Eventually, some half hour later I emerged.

What had happened? They’d had difficulty getting a cannula into my arm. That was necessary for pumping in the dye. Only my right side can be used as I’ve previously had an op on my left breast. They could not use the PICC line as the dye would have clogged that up making that useless. The dressing holding the PICC line in place extended into the crook of my elbow so those veins could not be used. The radiographer was so pleased when she managed to get a needle into my wrist. However when she pumped in a little water it immediately formed a bubble which duly burst. That vein was therefore no use for the dye. Three attempts later & after rubbing a latex glove full of very hot water around my hand to encourage the veins to expand, between three members of staff, they finally managed to get the cannula in. They were just about to abandon the whole idea of trying further, certainly without further reinforcements. The scan then just took a few minutes.

Now I await the results. I should hear in the period between Christmas & New Year.

One thing is clear, though. With the second cancellation of chemo this week, & the 3 week period to allow the chemicals to have passed through & my body had chance to recover its strength, I would be surprised if any op will before February now.