What a week!

 

As predicted it’s been a busy week.

 

Tuesday saw me off to Kendal to have the PICC line inserted. That was safely done, though there was some bruising around the insertion point about midway up on the inside of my upper arm.

 

I spent an uncomfortable night, unable to sleep on one side due to the PICC line bruising & on the other side because of the pain from the tumours.

 

Wednesday saw me off to Kendal again for the actual chemo. My appointment was for 11am. Under the new system the chemicals are still being delivered to Lancaster then vanned up to Kendal. Unfortunately the chemicals were sent by the second delivery & so didn’t arrive until about 12.15pm so I had a long wait before anything too much to begin. They did all the pre-treatment treatment checks & preparation infusions. Then I waited.

 

When it finally arrived I discovered I had two lots of chemicals to take, one after another, with a quick wash out between infusions, finishing with a further wash out. I was given a package of pills with instructions of when & how to take them. We finally managed to leave the hospital around 2.30pm.

 

It was with some relief I slept better that night. The bruising around the insertion point wasn’t as bad. Even the largest, most painful, tumour seemed to have shrunk a bit & so was less uncomfortable. I’m taking this as a good sign that I am reacting well to the treatment. So far I’m not feeling the nausea I was told was the most likely adverse side effect to the chemicals being pumped into me & for which they had given me some anti-sickness tablets. I seem to remember reacting this well initially last time I had chemo. However, the good effects wore off with the result the tumours re-grew even more vigorously half way through the treatment. I fear this might be going to happen again. We’ll just have to hope and see.

 

Come Thursday, I started the day with 4 steroid pills with breakfast. They are part of the chemo & I must do this for the first 3 days after this treatment. They must be taken with food as otherwise they are likely to upset your stomach. You are advised to take them early in the morning as they tend to make you very alert, making it impossible to sleep if you take them too late in the day. First thing is best.

 

As the day went on I noticed their seemed to be leakage under the dressing around the PICC line entry point & the veins above the PICC line were looking more prominent than usual. These are all possible danger signs & the instructions say to ring the Oncology Helpline at once. I duly did & was told to head straight up to Kendal yet again. There they cleaned up the leakage & re-dressed the insertion area. I was told not to bother to ring again if this is the extent of the leakage as the district nurse has been arranged to come on Mondays to take my bloods & due the line care. I should be able to last to then at this rate. If it gets worse then, of course, ring again.

 

At least it was a quick trip this time & we still managed to get the supermarket shop done. I was not best pleased, though, when I got changed for bed to see there was once more as much leakage already as there had been earlier in the day.

 

Again I slept better though it did take me ages to get off to sleep. I seemed to have the alertness of a teenager & sat talking to the Fox until the early hours of the morning, something I’ve not done for years, really since I began having medical problems in the 1980s. Is this the effect of the steroid pills? If it is, it’s just as well I’m taking them with my breakfast in the morning.

 

This morning I took my second lot of steroids. I looked at the insertion point. A bit more leakage. I’ve decided the best thing to do is to wear a short sleeved T shirt in case I do have to have another rush to hospital but I’ll not ring immediately. I’ll just monitor the situation. If nothing else I have to be here this afternoon for a telephone consultation with Radiotherapy. Someone also has to be to receive a delivery form the chemist which could come at any time today. I’m waiting for a “limbo”, a sort of waterproof covering to put on over the PICC line entry point to keep the area dry when I have a shower. I did say I’d still kept the old one but I was assured I needed a new one as the rubber seals at top & bottom tend to perish with time & would therefore probably let in in water by now.

 

Next week’s dose of chemo is smaller & therefore should be quicker. Only one batch of chemicals will be infused & I will not have the subsequent steroid pills for breakfast. The week after that I will have a break from the chemo though I will have to go into Kendal to see the Oncologist so he can see how it’s going, possibly tweak the dosage a bit before we start the next cycle of three weeks’ treatment.

 

Meanwhile I can only thank those who have sent messages of love & support through these difficult times. Their pillow of love is helping me get through these difficult times.