God, I have to say, I lived through hell and back on Wednesday. Pure savagery in a nutshell. it started at 6.30am and needed continual anti-nausea medication. It got so bad, that I had to have a sub-pump. Now, this critter is the evil b*******d that got me on Wednesday. Because I was so sick, they had to put a direct line into me with a cocktail of anti-nausea, and I saw this god dam needle and where the nurse was putting it – in my chest by the mid chest line of a v-neck top, where it is all skinny and ribby. I requested Emla Gel which is a topical anesthetic. She then basically mentioned, it’s not that bad (basically she was not there to stuff around and meant business) and of course, I thought “yeah right, it is gona hurt like sht”) . This was “the stick that broke the camels back”. I just broke down, it hurt like hell, and traumatised the hell out of me. The day just got worse as by the end of the day I was finishing my chemo, and they flush your veins and lines out with a saline/potassium solution and this stung like hell in the last hour or so (for some weird reason as the bag was a 6 hour consumption time) . Compounded by all this, I have god awful veins. They are just pathetic. I have to put them under hot running water for 20m for them to pop up and then they are still a struggle to have a line put in for chemo.
By 8.30pm that night, I had, had enough. I was so pst off and hated the world. I figured, I have to get control and shake this. My only thought was to get the hell up, stop lying down and meet this head on. So, I put my trainers on, grabbed a blanket and made a toga, and off I went, armed with a bottle of water. For the next hour, I marched up and down that ward, and met a couple of true characters in their 50’s and one of them was giving a nurse a good humorous “curry up” – it is amazing all the different personalities of folk in this ward – this bloke was wearing a Ministry of Works t.shirt, and he looked like he could have a good story to tell over a beer or so ! However, I was on my mission, so didn’t really kick back the night with him, and continued on, up and down, back and forth. By about 9.40pm I figured I had walked at least a few k’s and decided this would do. I figured, this had to get the blood moving, the enzymes working the muscles working to get the system into some normality for the new day ahead – it just had to have achieved something. If nothing else, I met two interesting codgers and got out of my room.
Unbeknown to me, my blood count was terribly low, at around 88% (white and red cell count I think) which was making my life crap and wasn’t strong enough for my body to cope with all that was being thrown my way by the chemo.
I found this all out the next day by my Doctor (the 2.i.c to my Oncologist) and she said if my blood count wasn’t up today (Thursday) I would have to have a blood transfusion. My brain instantly went to “more injections” and wanted to run at “warp speed” in the opposite direction ! I then accepted this outcome, however she said she would wait for the blood results.
Well, hallelujah !!! my counts were up in the 90’s and then I got the four magic words “you can go home”, which then lifted me no end. I look a fright with swollen eyes and a ghastly round puffy face…
I am now home, and emulating a cat 🙂 I have been lying down all afternoon chatting away on MSN to friends and doing e.mails 🙂
I am now contemplating to cook dinner……. it might be a steak stir fry with that Watties Sauce mixture.
Hey, my tumor is definitely going down, I am sure it is not so raised on my wrist like it was. So I can report progress here. I am also booked in with my Orthopedic surgeon on the 5th April for a consult to discuss this awesome extraction of my tumor, replacing my bone and fusing my wrist, which will be so darn interesting. My Sister will be with me to sit in so she can ask questions I wouldn’t think of and can also remember this whole consult so afterwards I can re-affirm what was said.
