Monday
A lovely lady my mam works with organised a chairty fundraiser for the lymphoma assocation after she heard I was raising money for them through shaving my hair off. It was a good family day with kids easter egg competitions and colouring competitions etc that I had to judge (eeek, dread to think how many little kids hearts I broke!) I even had to give a little speech which was quite nerve racking! I think a total of about £400 was raised which was amazing and apparantly one person donated £100 individually!
After the charity do I went to Pools (Hartlepool United Football team) and we won 2-0 woooo!
When I got home, after having pain in my picc line arm all day I decided I'd have to inform the hospital. When I'd taken my coat off I noticed it was slightly swollen above the elbow and I knew pain and swelling indicated infection.
I went on down to the hospital where I thought I would just have the line removed and then be sent home but to my absolute shock they wanted to keep me in over night. They took about 7 tubes of blood to be tested too. I was really upset because I'd suffered with the PICC line for 5 days and now I wasn't even going to get chance to use it and my chemo was due the next day. They wanted to keep me in to start me on IV antibiotics. By taking them through a drip going into my veins they were quicker and more effective than tablets.
The next day I found out they couldnt give me my chemotherapy because of the infection in my arm:
Tuesday
Because my arm was so swollen and painful on tuesday night one of the doctor reccomend I take some tablets...up my back passage!! I nearly died when I heard what they wanted me to do lol but in the end it wasnt that bad, and like they said it would make the drugs be absorbed quicker and so relieve my pain better than if I took it orally.
Wednesday
The doctor who inserted my PICC line came to see me and he looked like he was dreading seeing me haha! He said his main concern was giving me the nect round of chemo rather than the infection. He was saying he didn't want to risk the 90% cure rate which was pretty scary to hear really cos this was the second delay I was having. After he'd discussed my situation with my consultant they had decided they would put a new line in me every day of the chemo and then remove it straight after. I was going to have my chemo on the friday and I had the choice of either another picc line, a line in my neck or a femoral line that goes into a big vein in your groin. I opted for the femoral line because he said it was really easy, quick and the veins down there were the biggest in your body.
Later that day I was told my body wasn't responding to the anitibiotics because my immune system was so low. I just remember crying because my arm was literally getting bigger infront of my arms and it was as if they couldn't do anything.
On the night, my venflon fell out (the small tube you have inserted into a vein to take the drugs) which got me upset again infront of the doctor but he said that the antibiotics were having some effect as I had an infection called Cellulitus that he said could take over your arm overnight and mine was only spreading slowly.
Thursday
My arm started to show signs of reducing size thank god!! They started to cover it in a special cream and bandage it up regularly that was supposed to help the swelling. I dont think much else happened this day apart from the usual IV injections and oral antibiotics taking.
Friday
The day of the dreaded femoral line...
The doctor on wednesday said he would put me down for sedation, I think because of the disaster of the PICC line insertion. Anyway a group of 3 doctors turned up on the morning to insert it and said they wouldn't reccomend the sedation cos it would just leave me feeling sleepy for the rest of the day and the procedure was quick and done with local anaesthetic anyway. I think it was supposed to take about 15mins max...30-45mins later it was in. The only word I can think to describe it is horrific. The tube goes in at the top of your leg in the crease. They had to try both sides because on the left side they knicked my artery so I could feel the blood pouring out of me. The whole procedure was very painful because they had to try that many times and it was on their very final attempt that it actually worked. It's definately something I'd not want to repeat. I remember telling the doctors before they started that nothing ever works first time for me and they were reassuring me how easy and quick it was...funny eh!
Chemo - was painless for the first time yay! However, because of where the femoral line was, I couldnt move my leg for fear of it falling out and then I needed the toilet just after the chemo had finished and because I couldnt walk it meant I had to go in a bedpan. Possibly the most humiliating day ever! The line was taken out and I was sent back up to the ward.
Sunday
Pretty much a week later and finally allowed to go home! Sent home with a LOAD of antibiotics, painkillers and antiskickness tablets to take for the next week. It works out at 36 antibiotics every day. Bleurrrgh, theyve already made me throw up once.
Anyway I think I've included all the important things so hopefully the next entry will be a bit more positive. Hopefully only 2 more trips to the hospital for chemo! Fingers crossed!
